In the early days of gaming, not much thought was given to what was or wasn't a game. Some games required a special controller while others revolved around text commands, but it didn't matter how they were played. People just enjoyed them.
These days, things aren't so simple. Gaming is bigger than ever, and the gaming world has gotten a lot more complicated. Games are categorized as "casual" or "hardcore", as are the people who play them. Titles like The Fullbright Company's Gone Home are lauded as game of the year by some, while others don't see them as games at all.
The Chinese Room's Dear Esther goes free on Steam to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this foundational title.
Eh.
I mean free is free, but I found this to be a boring slog.
Not to mention this remasters actually made the game look worse in multiple areas.
I did quite like their A Machine for Pigs and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture though.
On Valentine's Day a decade ago, Dear Esther went from a Source Engine mod to a full-fledged indie game, catalyzing the "walking sim" genre. How does it measure up today?
"The China-based indie games publisher Secret Mode and Brighton-based (the UK) indie games developer The Chinese Room, are today very pleased to announce that they will celebrate the tenth anniversary of "Dear Esther" by making the genre-defining 2012 narrative exploration game free to download from February 14th to February 15th via Steam." - Jonas Ek, TGG.
Adventure games have existed for years, many of which in much flatter and less vibrant terms than any of these 2 games.
I can understand the question, just not any kind of animosity or negative connotations that goes along with it. These experiences are just as valid as as many games are in this industry.
Yes, they are by definition games.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
Can title like flappy bird be called games
I think the word "game" should be inclusive. Some games feel more like interactive movies, others are fairly simple, and then you have the more traditional games. But, either way, they're all games. As long as there's some kind of interactivity, I don't see why Gone Home and Dear Esther wouldn't be considered as games. If anything, variety is a great thing. People complain about how every game nowadays are CoD-clones and lack creativity, let's not discredit those who try to be something else.
The same could be said about books. You have traditional books, comic books, mangas, etc. They're all books, but their content is very different.
Dear Esther plays out in the same way each time and handholds the player into the exact same situation each time. The "game" plays the player as much as the player plays the "game".
Gone Home, however, is very much a mystery game and requires a lot from the player to unravel the story.
I definitely consider Gone Home a game, whereas Dear Esther . . . I am not quite sure.