Dear Esther is free to keep on Steam right now Rock Paper Shotgun Support us Join our newsletter Visit our store Sign in / Create account If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Dear Esther is free to keep on Steam right now Happy birthday, dear Dear Esther News by Alice O'Connor Associate Editor Published on Feb. 14, 2022 30 comments Ten years ago today, the commercial remake of Hebridean gloom simulator Dear Esther launched. But this year, we're the ones getting presents. The developers, The Chinese Room are giving Dear Esther away free on Steam for 48 hours. Grab it by Wednesday and it's yours for keepsies. All the gloom and guilt and that wonderful, wonderful lonely island are yours! Happy birthday, dear Dear Esther, happy birthday to you. Watch on YouTube You have until 3pm on Wednesday the 16th to claim a free copy of Dear Esther on Steam. It usually costs £8. This is the Landmark Edition, the 2017 Unity engine remake of the 2012 commercial remake of the 2008 Source engine mod. Ten years ago, Dear Esther was strangely controversial for... oh god, even summarising the discourse is boring. Let's skip over that. What I will tell you is that it was notable enough for us to write two Dear Esther reviews. John went first, followed by Alec a few days later. They both liked parts of it, wandering the pretty island in particular, though questioned if they'd recommended it at the price. It's free right now, so... just get it? My contribution (with Pip) to one of the many boring discussions surrounding the game is a tongue-in-cheek protestation that Dear Esther isn't even a 'walking simulator', okay, because it's too objective-driven, and calling it one does a disservice to many great aimless potter 'em ups. Pip offered the feeling-out-a-definition description that it's "a digital staging of a radio play, maybe", which is great. But I'm grateful that Dear Esther paved the way for other walking simulators to look at that path and say, "Yeah but what if I ignored paths, and ditched the overwrought writing, and just wandered about, feeling a mood?" The Chinese Room's latest game is Little Orpheus, a platformer inspired by pulp adventure movies-quite different. After debuting on Apple Arcade in 2020, it's coming to PC and consoles on the 1st of March. Watch on YouTube Looking for more freebies? Check out our list of the best free PC games to play in 2022. More News Jack King-Spooner's next handcrafted game has a teaser demo out Judero brings chat and action in the Scottish Borders Alice O'Connor 17 hours ago 1 If you were hoping for any Overwatch 2 balance changes then you'll have to wait until season two The next season begins in December CJ Wheeler 18 hours ago 3 The Dead Space remake will chuck random Necromorphs at you as you wander the Ishimura In space, no one can hear you proper bricking it CJ Wheeler 18 hours ago 8 Valve register mysterious new Neon Prime trademark in the US It doesn’t seem to be for a particularly colourful Steam Deck CJ Wheeler 20 hours ago 11 Latest Articles What are we all playing this weekend? Well? Alice O'Connor an hour ago 22 Past Wordle answers Here's an archive of previous Wordle words Ollie Toms 2 hours ago 1 Wordle answer today (Saturday 15 October) Hints and the answer to today's Wordle word Rebecca Jones 9 hours ago Overwatch 2 hero tier list Which are the best heroes in Overwatch 2? Ollie Toms 16 hours ago Supporters Only You're probably better than me at One Many Nobody You go on without… uh, you? Sin Vega 17 hours ago Supporter podcast - The Nate Files episode 13: dry bones Bad science is also FUN science! Alice Bell 18 hours ago Japanese dating show Love Wagon has surprising parallels with Yakuza and Persona My new obsession Ed Thorn 2 days ago If you're hankering after Bayonetta 3, Valkyrie Elysium might be a good substitute It's not out on PC until next month, but the console demo has been a surprise charmer Katharine Castle 1 week ago 4 We've been talking, and we think that you should wear clothes Total coincidence, but we sell some clothes Buy RPS stuff here