["< sod > the gameplay in'' dear esther'' is minimal, the only object being to explore an uninhabited [ [ hebrides | hebridean ] ] island, listening to an anonymous man read a series of letter fragments to a woman named esther. the letters suggest that esther was his wife and that she is dead, killed in a car accident. < ref name = accident > { { cite video game | title = dear esther | developer = [ [ the chinese room ] ] | date = 2012 | platform = pc | quote ='''narrator''': i first saw him sat by the side of the road. i was waiting for you to be cut out of the wreckage. the car looked like it had been dropped from a great height. the guts of the engine spilled over the tarmac, like water underground. } } < / ref > < ref > { { cite video game | title = dear esther | developer = [ [ the chinese room ] ] | date = 2012 | platform = pc | quote ='''narrator''': [... ] and you were rendered opaque by the car of a drunk. } } < / ref > as the player reaches a new location on the island, the game plays a new letter fragment relating to that area. different fragments are played in each playthrough of the game, revealing different aspects of the story each time. several other unseen characters are referred to by the narrator : a man named donnelly, who charted the island in the past ; < ref > { { cite video game | title = dear esther | developer = [ [ the chinese room ] ] | date = 2012 | platform = pc | quote ='''narrator''': reading donnelly by the weak afternoon sunlight. he landed on the south side of the island, followed the path to the bay and climbed the mount. he did not find the caves and he did not chart the north side. i think this is why his understanding of the island is flawed, incomplete. he stood on the mount and only wondered momentarily how to descend. but then, he didn ’ t have my reasons. } } < / ref > paul, who is suggested to be the drunk driver in the accident in which her esther died ; < ref > { { cite video game | title = dear esther | developer = [ [ the chinese room ] ] | date = 2012 | platform = pc | quote ='''narrator ' '': is this what paul saw through his windscreen? not lot ’ s wife, looking over her shoulder, but a scar in the hillside, falling away to black, forever. } } < / ref > and a shepherd named jakobson who lived on the island in the 18th century. < ref > { { cite video game | title = dear esther | developer = [ [ the chinese room ] ] | date = 2012 | platform = pc | quote ='''narrator''': the bothy was constructed originally in the early 1700s. by then, shepherding had formalised into a career. the first habitual shepherd was a man called jakobson, from a lineage of migratory scandinavians. he was not considered a man of breeding by the mainlanders. he came here every summer whilst building the bothy, hoping, eventually, that becoming a man of property would secure him a wife and a lineage. } } < / ref > as the player explores the island, they find the derelict remains of buildings, a shipwreck, and a cave system whose walls are adorned with images resembling chemical diagrams, circuit diagrams, neurons and bacteria. at various points a figure is seen walking away from the player in the distance, but disappears before they can be reached. the identities of the characters become more blurred as the game progresses, as the narration moves between topics and relates the characters in different ways. < ref name = pcgamer / > the ambiguity of the randomly played letter fragments forces the player to draw their own conclusions of the story. < ref name = gamespot / > < eod > < sod > the gameplay in'' dear esther'' is minimal, the only object being to explore an uninhabited [ [ hebrides | hebridean ] ] island, listening to an anonymous man read a series of letter fragments to a woman named esther. the letters suggest that esther was his wife and that she is dead, killed in a car crash. < ref name = accident > { { cite video game | title = dear esther | developer = [ [ the chinese room ] ] | date = 2012 | platform = pc | quote ='''narrator''': i first saw him sat by the side of the road. i was waiting for you to be cut out of the wreckage. the car looked like it had been dropped from a great height. the guts of the engine spilled over the tarmac, like water underground. } } < / ref > < ref > { { cite video game | title = dear esther | developer = [ [ the chinese room ] ] | date = 2012 | platform = pc | quote ='''narrator''': [... ] and you were rendered opaque by the car of a drunk. } } < / ref > as the player reaches a new location on the island, the game plays a new letter fragment relating to that area. different fragments are played in each playthrough of the game, revealing different aspects of the story each time. several other unseen characters are referred to by the narrator : a man named donnelly, who charted the island in the past ; < ref > { { cite video game | title = dear esther | developer = [ [ the chinese room ] ] | date = 2012 | platform = pc | quote ='''narrator''': reading donnelly by the weak afternoon sunlight. he landed on the south side of the island, followed the path to the bay and climbed the mount. he did not find the caves and he did not chart the north side. i think this is why his understanding of the island is flawed, incomplete. he stood on the mount and only wondered momentarily how to descend. but then, he didn ’ t have my reasons. } } < / ref > paul, who is suggested to be the drunk driver in the accident in which esther died ; < ref > { { cite video game | title = dear esther | developer = [ [ the chinese room ] ] | date = 2012 | platform = pc | quote ='''narrator''': is this what paul saw through his windscreen? not lot ’ s wife, looking over her shoulder, but a scar in the hillside, falling away to black, forever. } } < / ref > and a shepherd named jakobson who lived on the island in the 18th century. < ref > { { cite video game | title = dear esther | developer = [ [ the chinese room ] ] | date = 2012 | platform = pc | quote ='''narrator''': the bothy was constructed originally in the early 1700s. by then, shepherding had formalised into a career. the first habitual shepherd was a man called jakobson, from a lineage of migratory scandinavians. he was not considered a man of breeding by the mainlanders. he came here every summer whilst building the bothy, hoping, eventually, that becoming a man of property would secure him a wife and a lineage. } } < / ref > as the player explores the island, they find the derelict remains of buildings, a shipwreck, and a cave system whose walls are adorned with images resembling chemical diagrams, circuit diagrams, neurons and bacteria. at various points a figure is seen walking away from the player in the distance, but disappears before they can be reached. the identities of the characters become more blurred as the game progresses, as the narration moves between topics and relates the characters in different ways. < ref name = pcgamer / > the ambiguity of the randomly played letter fragments forces the player to draw their own conclusions of the story. < ref name = gamespot / > < eod >"]