2 Minute Reviews: What Remains of Edith Finch?

I rarely go to the movies anymore. Is it because they’re aren’t new movies to see? Of course not. There are many movies coming out each week.

It’s rather because, on the whole, they’re all the same. But on rare and precious occasions, I will read a review or hear about a movie that doesn’t deliver what you expect: it does something different. That’s what I want to see.

Life is all about emotions. As I get older, I seek out things that create true emotion in my movies, music, and also in games. When you find a book or a movie that makes you feel something, that’s valuable. All the rest is just filler.

With a game landscape full of AAA titles that all do the same things, but just try to make them look prettier, it is very refreshing to find a game that does something that you’ve never seen done before.

What remains of Edith Finch is this kind of game.

I find myself playing a lot of story-driven games these days, meaning that there is less shooting and interaction, and more of an unfolding of a fictional narrative coupled with a soundtrack, graphics, and hopefully a few surprises. In this genre are games like the Park, Tacoma, Firewatch and others.

What remains of Edith Finch is a digital narrative developed by giant Sparrow. They also brought us other games like The Unfinished Swan, which I had never played before. It was created with the Unreal engine, so I knew it had the potential to look amazing. The winner of many 9 + 10 Or 5 Star reviews, What Remains of Edith Finch?  caught my eye immediately. I read a review and needed to play it right away. It’s inexpensive, and really cool.

What remains of Edith Finch tells the story of the finch family. This game introduces you to each of 10 or so very interesting and unique members of the Finch family . . . and promptly kills them off while you watch. I’ll explain.

The finch family is cursed. The curse doesn’t have a defined beginning, or even an explanation of the type of malignity with which the family is burdened, but the result is the same. Each member of the family, for generations, has lived and loved, and died tragically.

The game involves walking through the wonderfully detailed and genuine-feeling finch home, while Edith narrates the story. Her narrations are also graphically represented on the screen, further enforcing the illusion that you are in a bizarre digital popup book. The deaths took place in the past, and after each incident, the bedroom of each family member was sealed up. Through some minor puzzle-solving, you find access to each of the rooms, where you learn about the life and ultimately the death of each of these family members. Some of them are quite charming, like the story written by a little girl who, apparently, recounted a dream of leaving her room and morphing into a cat, a bird, a shark and even a monster. Told in a charming way with beautiful Graphics, this story and the others are also very creepy.

One story is told in the form of a interactive comic book, with a surprise ending.

Of all the stories told, all of which are unique, several of them stood out As particularly interesting.

One family member was reveal to have lived in the basement of the house his entire life, and many of the children never knew he existed. One day he decided to leave and discover what was waiting for him outside the confines of his room, and the result was the last day of his life.

Another very interesting scene is where a daughter and father are camping, and the player’s job is to use a camera to take pictures of items around the camp. After framing the last shot, you witness the death of the father in the photo you have just taken.

The most interesting of all however, is the family member who works in a fish cannery. It tells the story of his increasing insanity, and does so in the backdrop of the fish Cannery.  The story progressively illustrates the character’s daydreaming as he loses him self in another world.  The game uniquely represents his loss of self control by allowing the player to take control of the character, and, with one hand doing his job (putting fish into the chopper) while the other hand of the player walks through a maze-like game that goes along with The Narrative of what the character is thinking as he works. This is a very interesting mechanic, with each hand doing something different, both things which add to the story. This also has a tragic and very macabre ending.

 

So how can I describe what makes “What Remains of Edith Finch” unique? It is beautifully rendered, including the eccentric architecture of the Finch home, the bay and shoreline, cemeteries, and dream-like storytelling.  The game lets you learn just enough about each character that you start to care about them.  From an infant playing in the tub, to a war veteran battling a disease, to a young boy upset over his parents divorce and remarriage, the characters feel genuine and stir up sympathy in the player.  All of these things contribute to the depth of the game. But for me, this game really captures the elusive goal of all narrative fiction: Making the player feel like he is not only reading, but also participating in, a captivating work of fiction.

Overall, this game is very unique, looks beautiful, and is a breath of fresh air from all the look-at-me titles on the market right now. If you like narrative fiction, or at least a good book, take a look at “What Remains of Edith Finch?.” I will definitely be playing it again in the near future to revisit each of these unique and troubling characters.

-DMikeyl, A-TECH Gaming

 

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