Proteus

There's a game I played a few months ago that was extremely similar to Proteus, and that's Dear Esther, which I called "the most pretentious game I've every played." Proteus doesn't even come close to dethroning that one, but it is certainly along those lines. Just like Dear Esther, Proteus has you wash ashore on an abandoned island with nothing to do but move around and explore. You don't even get to jump in Proteus, you just wander around. It's a randomly generated island that contains a few common landmarks every time, like a graveyard, a little castle-looking building, and a series of statues of people and animals. The game's most notable aspect is its constantly changing soundtrack- walking around the landscape and into packs of little animals will constantly change the music. Eventually day turns to night, which changes the music some more, and when you stumble upon a huge gathering of fireflies you're whisked into a completely different season, affecting the landscape in all sorts of ways. It's all very passive as every single thing that happens in the game is caused simply by wandering around, and after the game's 40 minutes or so there's no sense of accomplishment or finality, but more of a sense that the island is done with you for now. There's no attempt at a story like in Dear Esther, but I think Proteus is slightly better for that. It's hardly a game and I wouldn't recommend anyone play it like it is; to combine a few comments I saw on a review site, at its best Proteus is a like a brief therapeutic vacation, and at its worst it's more of an interactive screen-saver.