Dear Esther vs The Good Life
Dear Esther
Dear Esther is one of the few rare games that managed to evoke strong powerful emotions simply with beautiful visuals, euphonious instrumentals, and an immersive and narrated story filled with love, loss, guilt and redemption. Previously a cult mod, the game sends you on a journey of exploration and self-reflection as you explore a remote and uninhabited island in the outskirts of Hebrides where apparently a mysterious Esther has summoned you here.The best part about all of this though is that the game is, unlike most heavily story-driven games, very replayable. Every play-through will give you a new experience as the audio, visuals and even the events that happen are all randomly generated. So, if you enjoy story rich games, Dear Esther is a game that will unequivocally captivate you.
The Good Life
The Good Life is a 3D adventure RPG featuring quests to complete, a mystery to unravel, and also a person speeding away in a highly advanced wheelchair that you can’t seem to catch up to. In this game, you play as a rather snobbish photographer from New York who’s in a massive amount of debt and the only way out is for you to complete this mysterious assignment you’re sent on – to discover why a sleepy little town is known as “the happiest town in the world”.As you play, you’ll unlock a feature that allows Naomi to change form. Without giving away too many spoilers, just know that by “changing forms”, Naomi will be able to reach areas she wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise, allowing her to uncover clues that will help in her investigation. The forms will also give her the chance to collect certain materials that she’ll need to complete quests.
The highlight of the game, however, is definitely its photography aspect. If you’ve enjoyed games where the goal is to simply capture nature at its best, then you’ll love the camera action here. Not only can you upgrade your camera (its lens specifically) to allow for more variety of shots, you actually need to rely on your photo-taking skills to earn a living in this game.
The Good Life is a pretty fun and charming adventure RPG with an interesting story to follow. The game’s easy enough for even young children to enjoy, though the protagonist, Naomi, might not make the best role model.