Dear Esther vs S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
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.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat is the third and final installment of the pretty successful survival-horror first-person shooter franchise, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Assume the role of Agent Alexander Degtyarev, a undercover modern-day treasure hunter, a "stalker", as you once again venture into the vicinity of the highly-contiminated zone of the ill-fated Chernobyl nuclear explosion in 1986 in hopes of finding out what happened to the five military helicopters that went missing around the area. The game is as brilliantly creepy as ever with the addition of new yet equally gruesome monsters as well as a world environment that's built based on real-life photos captured in the exclusion zone. The survival aspect of the game has also been revamped with the addition of a sleep function, a new A-life system and emissions that can influence the game environment.There is even a free play mode after you've completed all the main quests, as well as a slew of side quests that you can pick up and do. Interestingly, the game has a Battle Royale-like multiplayer component that can support up to 32 players, has four different game modes along with multiple maps.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat has been hailed as the best S.T.A.L.K.E.R game yet, and obivously, it is for good reasons. If you think you'll enjoy playing this, you might be interested to get the S.T.A.L.K.E.R bundle which includes all 3 games.