Dear Esther started as a Half Life 2 mod. It was going to be a remake but turned out as a standalone 'application'
, like Counter Strike or Team Fortress. I played it first back then.
There are lots of mods for Half Life, Crysis, etc. which tries different types of story-telling. Since they have the luxury to not be liked and sold, they can try anything they can. The Worry of Newport has a similar attitude to the story-telling that I liked a lot.
I don't know, story & story-telling is everything for me in games. Cryostasis is a masterpiece.