Video Game Review: What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4)

A beautiful tragedy . . .

What Remains of Edith Finch (2017)

Format: PS4/Xbox One/Windows PC (Reviewed on PS4)

Publisher: Annapurna Interactive

Developer: Giant Sparrow

What is it: A first-person narrative adventure. Seventeen year-old Edith, the last surviving member of the Finches, has returned to her family home on the coast of Washington State for the first time since she was eleven, determined to make a record of their history. As she explores the sprawling house and its surroundings, the dark and tragic story of her extended family unfolds.

Review: Games in this genre aren't for everyone, that's for sure. Critics tend to call them "walking simulators", seeing as that's what you spend most of your time doing in them. I prefer to call them interactive stories. You don't need extravagant action in a game to tell a fantastic story, and that's exactly what Edith Finch does. If you're familiar with other games in this genre like Gone Home or Everybody's Gone To The Rapture you'll know what I'm talking about.

In fairness, the concept of the game is a simple one: using the analogue sticks to move around and one trigger button to interact with highlighted objects, all the player has to do is move Edith through the Finch home, listening to her narration and interacting with the objects to trigger stories about individual family members. There are no real puzzles to solve, no danger to face. But the story is so enthralling, the environment so fascinating, that the simple nature of the game doesn't matter.

When the game begins the player learns very little from Edith: all we know is that her mother took her away from the house when she was eleven after the death of her older brother Lewis, and she hasn't returned since. Her mother has recently died and bequeathed her a key, which Edith hopes will unlock the front door to the house (it doesn't). And that's it. The real story unfolds as the player explores the fabulously-designed Finch house and its surroundings, and finds objects that unlock the history of Edith's extended family, which she scribbles down in her notebook:

And what a tragic history it is. The Finches, we learn, are one of the unluckiest (and perhaps oddest) families created, with nearly all of them having died in sad and unfortunate circumstances, at various ages. Each bedroom in the eccentric house is a shrine to its lost family member, the doors all sealed previously by Edith's mother. The key Edith received, it transpires, unlocks the entrance to a series of secret passageways linking the bedrooms which allow the player to access them and find the object that unlocks that family member's history.

These moments are the standout of the game. On finding one of the objects, the player is transported into the memory of that family member's last moments of life as they (or sometimes Edith) narrate. Some of these take the form of a character moving around normally, but others are incredibly original: reading the last diary entry of Molly Finch, for example, who died at age ten, she describes herself transforming into various different animals which the player also experiences - at one moment you're a cat stalking a bird through the trees outside the house, the next you're an owl gliding through the air before swooping down to kill a rabbit - until finally you become a tentacled monster devouring human beings on a boat. An odd and unsual experience, until you realise what you're playing is the hallucination Molly experienced before she died of poisioning from eating household substances. All of these moments are tragic. Some are oddly beautiful, while some (like controlling young Gregory Finch, who drowns in a bathtub at age two) are incredibly dark.

Even if you think you might find the darkness off-putting, it's such a captivating story and such a rewarding experience to explore the Finch house that I assure you, you'll want to play. It's a beautiful looking game, with clever uses of sound and incidental music. It isn't long - if you take your time, the story can be run through in around two to three hours - but it's a unique experience.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
A simple game that tells a story that's both sad and beautiful, using some very clever and original moments of gameplay. This is well worth your attention.