Dear Esther has the holy trinity. Beautiful graphics, a heart-wrenching soundtrack, and wonderful writing that deeply invested me in the character.
The thing with Dear Esther is that everything is supposed to invoke the feeling of isolation, of being completely and totally alone. There are moments when the music drops out and leaves you with nothing but the crunching of stones underfoot and the wind desolately howling in your ears.
These introspective moments serve a very good purpose, and it's not to make you uncomfortable or out of laziness. Dear Esther isn't a game where you'll be running from enemies or killing things but is one for the player to interpret their experience themselves. It's not that straightforward of a game.
Full story from the WindowsCentral blog...