The longevity of Half-Life 2 and the other games it has directly and indirectly responsible for since its release way back in 2004 is almost unbelievable. First off there’s the game itself, and then the two episodes that followed, not to mention TF2, which was originally released on The Orange Box, and of course Portal (which ran on the Source engine). This is to say nothing of the truly overwhelming amount of mods that sprouted up in Steam once the public got their hands on Source, not to mention Garry’s Mod. Which brings me to Dear Esther.

Dear Esther was a successful Source mod released a couple of years ago, which has since been polished up by the team responsible for the original plus some guys who splintered off from DICE (Battlefield) and is now prepping for release on February 14th. I’m very excited for it. Much like Flow and Flower, Dear Esther doesn’t necessarily have a “play mechanic” but is instead a lightly interactive ghost story that is apparently strikingly beautiful and moving. Never something I would want from a full length game, but a $9 downloadable title? Count me right the fuck in. That’s the first trailer above.

- Whole Milk