Postplay : Dear Esther

Dear Esther, it took me a few moments to realize where I was after I had opened my eyes. I could hear the waves breaking on the rocks behind me while I watched the lighthouse and a cold onshore breeze played with my clothes. The loud call of a gull made me turn my head and in the distance I saw a blinking red light that grabbed my attention. It was somehow calling me, so I put my left foot in front of my right and started my hike towards its bright, flickering promise. The chinese room's Dear Esther is a hard thing to talk about for multiple reasons. First of it's difficult to say anything meaningful about the game or show screenshots without getting into spoiler territory. The value of Dear Esther relies solely on atmosphere and story,...

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Preplay : Dear Esther

When reviews for Dear Esther started hitting the internet back in February 2012 the game immediately grabbed my attention. They described something new, something different and I'm always on the lookout for these kinds of innovative experiments.  After doing some research it turned out that experiment was the right word to describe Dear Esther. It was originally developed and released by Dan Pinchbeck as a Half Life 2 mod in 2008. Dan is a researcher at the University of Portsmouth. The mod was created to explore experimental game play and storytelling and was funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council. When it was clear that the mod was becoming a success, a team of game industry professionals was added to the project...

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Postplay : Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD

In 2012 developer Robomodo released Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD (THPS HD), a game that set out to celebrate the heydays of the Tony Hawk series. If you've read my preplay for this game then you'll know that I have warm memories of those early THPS games. This made me a bit anxious to start playing THPS HD. You'll find out if my fears were grounded when you read on, but one thing is for sure, my love for the source material made this game one of the hardest for me to review so far. This has resulted in a longer post than usual, please keep in mind that everything is written from the viewpoint of an avid THPS 1, 2, 3, 4 & Underground 1 fan. Career and single run are the only two modes available when you first...

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