Available on PC (Windows, macOS); Consoles (Steam Deck, Switch 1/2, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S); Mobile (IOS)
A multi-generational curse has haunted the Finch family for so long. Now, only Edith lives. And she returns to the family home to discover and relive the lives her family had once lived.
What Remains of Edith Finch is a 2-hour walking simulator that’s incredibly well-written. I think it’s the best one I’ve played. It’s a collection of stories, one for each member of the Finch family, told through their belongings. The narrative is immediately gripping. As Edith goes through the rooms, presented with the stories told to her and with memories of her own, she gives her own narration, and this adds a personal touch.
There’s no actual danger in the story. No jumpscares or anything like that. But it’s still haunting and mesmerizing. I feel like if you put together Wes Anderson and Mike Flanagan, this is the vibe you get. It’s an eerie kind of magical realism. I couldn’t look away.
I very much enjoyed how well-lived the house seemed as well. It was filled with personality. The clutter made sense based on the people who lived there, and it wasn’t just nonsensical objects scattered around to make the space look full. These were, so believably, items that were owned. There’s one part where you look in the bathtub and find a seat in it, and that’s because the room was for one of the older family members. Such a good detail!
The graphics are also amazing, a nice balance between stylized and realism. I played on medium resolution, and it still looked incredible. I wasn’t wanting anything more.
But it’s the story that really carries this whole game. One story leads you to another, and one by one, the mysterious deaths start to make sense. In the beginning, you might wonder if there’s any truth to the curse that the family spoke of. As you journey through their stories, you’ll start to believe in it, too.
Even so, they lived their lives in their own way. Some of them had lived a life more full than others. Some of them are shorter in span, some longer. I will also say that the deaths in this game can get pretty crazy, and it can get really dark. I remember thinking that every member of this family could have benefited from therapy. Their lives were sometimes filled with so much creativity and potential, and perhaps that much imagination led them to their deaths. But if they didn’t have that, then would they have been who they were?
The other thing that this game does really well is that it presents how each death affected the others in the family, especially Edith’s mom. And her trauma from all those deaths, her grief, affected her interactions with Edith. And all the stories that were held in that house, Edith deserved to know them. She deserved to know the people in her family.
What Remains of Edith Finch is a story of life and of death. We find out what happens when a family is so focused on the end of a life that it prevents living. Here, the magnitude of death is felt, and we see that people aren’t allowed to keep the residents of that grief in their hearts and memories. Here, grief is hidden alongside the people who are buried. It’s a story of remembering those we’ve lost, no matter what, no matter how.
Because people die, they do. We know this all too well. But their stories? The way their life touched the lives of others and changed them? That remains. That stays. That lives on. We have to remember to grieve, but not to let that grief hold us hostage.
This is a beautiful game about cycles and family, and definitely worth a playthrough.
