No HDR?

[install gentoo]

I've played through this a few times now and absolutely loved every moment of it, but a lack of HDR jumped out at me. The game misses out on a lot of impressive visual moments due to the lack of it. Seems like something it would benefit a lot from.

[Belgium]

If by HDR you mean the standard bracketed low dynamic range that increases/decreases exposure by scene that is found in a lot of games, then no, Dear Esther does not use that technique.

Instead, Dear Esther has proper tone mapping, which is another form of high dynamic range imaging. If the game is missing anything, it's definitely not "impressive visual moments" - there is plenty of that!

[install gentoo]

It looks like a purely LDR setup. None of the visual features added on by HDR whatsoever even if they eschewed varying exposure and bloom. As an art style choice though adaptation while walking out of caves etc would be pretty great looking. Game is already fantastic but that would push it solidly into the "best looking game ever" range.