Before Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, indie developer The Chinese Room (TCR) wowed people with Dear Esther. The first-person narrative started as a mod for Half-life 2 in 2008 before the team released it as a standalone game in 2012. At that point, the game sold 16,000 copies on Steam in its first five-and-a-half hours and the team recouped its development costs ($55,000) in one fell swoop. Next month, it'll finally grace the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in the form of Dear Esther: Landmark Edition. Fun fact: Original financier Indie Fund proposed releasing the game on PlayStation Network instead of Steam. So this is kind of a four-years-in-the-making homecoming for the game.
Wander through 'Dear Esther' on PS4 and Xbox One next month
This version will release September 20th with a developers' commentary track and remastered audio.
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Gallery: 'Dear Esther: Landmark Edition' | 10 Photos
Come September 20th, $9.99 will net you the game with "graphical and gameplay tweaks." Remastered audio is on deck in addition to larger subtitles and a crosshair. But maybe the biggest addition here is a commentary track featuring TCR's Jessica Curry, Dan Pinchback and Rob Briscoe detailing the development process and its place in the grand scheme of gaming.
To hear a live version of that, The Guardian is hosting a "Directors' Commentary Directors' Commentary,' according to a press release, where Pinchback and Curry will do a live commentary. As you might expect from the event's name, of course. Tickets for that are £10 ($13.19) and are available directly from The Guardian; it takes place at The Scott room in London.
For a slightly different live version of the game, The Barbican is offering a performance of the soundtrack, conducted by Curry, who composed the score. There will also be a live playthrough (with narration by BAFTA-winner Nigel Carrington) of the game during the October 14th event held at the Milton Court Concert Hall.
Not bad for what started as a mod, right?
