If you enjoyed the 2008 Half-Life 2 mod, I can guarantee you'll fall in love with this remake. In revisiting the title that put them on the indie map, developer thechineseroom sought to "fulfill its true potential", and some might say they did more for Dear Esther than it deserved.

Level designer Robert Briscoe's vistas are a sight to behold, doubly so because mapping in Hammer is like painting with a chainsaw. As if the eye candy wasn't worth the price of admission, Dan Pinchbeck's purposefully disjointed, loaded prose is as beautiful as ever, and Jessica Curry's excellent soundtrack has received some polish.

I'd advise that you go into this game knowing that it isn't really a "game," per se. Dear Esther has long been at the vanguard of the "Can games be art?" debate, and though the constraints and quirks of this interactive medium might have rendered thechineseroom's impressive vision somewhat lifeless (an experimental film would have been more adequate), Dear Esther's sublime aesthetics make it worth experiencing.