Dear Esther launching on Valentine's Day at $10

There's no time more lonely, confusing and woeful than Valentine's Day, and next year's will be especially so. English indie thechineseroom announced today that Dear Esther, the commercial revamp of the acclaimed melancholy mod, will be released on that fateful day, priced at $9.99.

"We are finishing off Steam integration and you can expect to see a page arrive on Steam in the very near future,including system specifications and a shiny new trailer," thechineseroom adds.

Dear Esther is... best explained by thechineseroom: "Dear Esther is a ghost story, told using first-person gaming technologies. Rather than traditional gameplay the focus here is on exploration, uncovering the mystery of the island, of who you are and why you are here. Fragments of story are randomly uncovered when exploring the various locations of the island, making every each journey a unique experience." You see? It's lovely.

February 14, 2012--add a little smiley face next to that scribbled-out black mark in your diary.