Dtoid just had another review of it, scored it at 4.5/10.

https://www.destructoid.com/review-dear-esther-386921.phtml

It's not my cup of tea, Walking sims rarely are, though Firewatch was an exception. I wouldn't exactly call it a hidden gem though. 

I played Dear Ester for five minutes, wandered into the water and got stuck in the void...

Yeah if you liked myst then I would have to say Obduction is the game to buy, go support those guys.

I'm surprised that a Myst fan hasn't heard about Obduction. It's from the Myst company Cyan, was kickstarted in 2013 (they got $ 1.3 mio from backers) and released just one month ago.

http://obduction.com

EDIT: Legendary Myst designer Robyn Miller even composed the soundtrack for Obduction (just like he did way back for Myst, I mean, what a can a Myst fan ask for more): https://robynmiller.bandcamp.com/releases

I have Dear Esther (which invented the genre of walking simulators 4 years ago afaik), i.e. I will get the Landmark PC upgrade for free, but don't really care. I didn't like the 3 walking simulators I played so far (DE, The Stanley Parable*, Home Is Where One Starts) and if I ever play another one from this young, strange adventure subgenre, it certainly won't be Gone Home or Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (two other famous WS), but rather Firewatch, the only WS that sounds interesting to me.

As others said before: Obduction is the modern Myst, not Dear Esther.

As I assume the TC is a console-only gamer, I recommend to try Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Gone Home or Firewatch to find out if you're into walking simulators.

(*Yes, I said it, I didn't really like The Stanley Parable, though I admit that it's a way better than Dear Esther).

I bought it yesterday and played the first chapter. It feels empty, hollow and boring and doesn't even look appealing. I'm going to finish it for easy 1000 gamerscore but what a waste of money.. should have bought a six-pack of beer ffs.