I just played through this again and noticed an NPC in two places in this game. One time the dude was moving and holding a lantern. I found that dude at this spot (I couldn't catch him again though so I don't have a screenshot of him..)

But I did capture him here. Here's two shots;

He's way up on that cliff. Who is that dude? The narrator compares himself to Paul on the road to Damascus when God spoke to him and converted him (the narrator's Damascus being the road where he had the car crash that killed his wife). Is that supposed to be God or a God surrogate?

It's not an NPC, it's a G-G-GHOST!

The original post would be a lot more impressive if I could catch him the first time. I'll try again when I have more time. BUT it's fucking NUTS DUDE!

@jasonr86: Wait, WHAT?! I didn't even notice that dude in the two run throughs I went through. Dammit, now I kinda want to boot this game up again.

Sorry folks what you've just witnessed is swamp gas rising from the inland area, igniting as it interacts with sea air, creating forms and lights that people have been mistaking as malevolent spirits or God. Nothing to see here, move along. There is no mysterious wanderer on the coasts of Dear Esther, please return to your homes.

I assumed it was Esther's ghost. Regardless, a very cool moment in the game, especially considering how easy it is to miss.

oh man now I Totally have to go back to that game. I assumed I was alone in that world.

Sit tight, the black helicopters will be arriving shortly.

Honestly though, I know the Chinese Room gets a lot of shit for their interactive-art-game-instillation-thing but its cool how many little things you can see in Dear Esther, these ghosts are an excellent example.

You should noclip and get a closeup shot.

It's wild how many people are just now finding out about this. It was actually in the original version too, and there's a bunch of places where you can see him, though I'm not sure if his showing up is randomized like the voiceover bits. For example, I'm pretty sure he shows up at the top of the stairs in the lighthouse at the beginning sometimes. But yeah. It's pretty cool. Like it really gives the game this super creepy vibe when you think about how there's this shadowy figure who might show up around every corner. Especially when you figure in that creepy music that starts playing from time to time. I don't actually know what it's supposed to symbolize, since the story sort of means different things depending on how the voiceover plays itself out and whatnot. I kinda got the vibe that it was the narrator himself. But like I say, it's kinda hard to say.