The Path vs Dear Esther vs The Stanley Parable

Art games are a bit of a controversial topic. On the one hand, they sometimes offer beautiful visuals with the potential for an emotionally moving experience. On the other hand, they sometimes don't offer anything resembling worthwhile gameplay. Balancing the two is always a difficult task, and many art games often wind up sacrificing one for the other, for better or for worse.

Since I've recently played a number of more prominent, artistic indie releases, I figured I'd examine the relative strengths and weaknesses of each one. How do indie games like The Path, Dear Esther, and The Stanley Parable compare to one another, and how does each one represent the "art game" genre? How can we improve future game design by learning from these three examples? Continue reading to find out.

In Defense of "Artistic Indie Games"

I recently stumbled upon two Destructiod articles in which Jim Sterling criticizes a number of "artsy fartsy" games. In summary, he says they're pretentious, self-righteous, and lack any redeeming quality in their gameplay. Ordinarily I would've disregarded this rant as a pretentious, self-righteous farce, just because it's Jim Sterling, but in the hundreds of comments that followed, a lot of people shared Jim's sentiments. I even found a few other articles and forum discussions with people up in arms over these games.

I don't understand why people are so intolerant. Is art not a free expression unchained by conventions and restrictions? Is beauty no longer in the eye of the beholder? Who says that games have to be necessarily "fun" to be enjoyable? Can we not appreciate something just for its aesthetic expression? If you're one of those who disdainfully looks down on games like The Path, then I think you've missed the point.