Dear Esther vs Linda Brown: Interactive Story
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.
Linda Brown: Interactive Story
Linda Brown: Interactive Story is The Other Guys' forey into the interactive storytelling business after their pretty good sucess with the Sherlock-themed hidden objects game, Sherlock Holmes: Lost Detective. Similar to the latter, this game features an intriguing and immersive, romance-and-mystery-filled story where you'll be playing as Linda Brown herself. Meet a host of interesting characters (and you can even date some of them), travel to various locations as you follow the trail of clues, and make important decisions that will change the path of your narrative.However, unlike games like Episode or Choices, Linda Brown: Interactive Story has a gameplay that is a lot similar to any of the games Telltale Games produced. This means that characters in the game will remember your reactions or responses and act accordingly the next time you meet.
The only major downside in this game is that, like Episodes and Choices, there are special "premium decisions" that you can make to further deepen the storyline, but the diamonds needed to buy these special decisions can be pretty costly - $3 per premium decision. Due to this, it might be great to have the option of earning diamonds by watching video ads.
Overall though, Linda Brown: Interactive Story is still a very well-written interactive story that doesn't only have romantic elements but also an intriguing mystery that rivals most hidden objects games. If you enjoy a good mystery with a dash of romance, this is the game you should play.