openSUSE 12.3 64-bit KDE 4.11 Nvidia blob
Dear Esther native linux compilation *dearesther-linux-06082013-bin *run OK except there’s no music and voice (narration), only sounds and sound effects like steps, sea and wind noises, bird calls, etc. On the other hand the Dear Esther codeweavers package (a wine bottle) has sound, music and voices, but is not easily customized with translation packages, speed cheats, etc., besides running a bit slower, apparently, and not reaching my primary monitor 1920 x 1200 resolution.
To fix sound in the native version, it’s enough to start the game with:
SDL_AUDIODRIVER=alsa ./Dear_Esther
If installed from steam I think this wouldn’t be necessary as steam itself will require this fix - or another - to have sound.