Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: annapurna pictures, game review, Giant Sparrow, What Remains of Edith Finch

The Depression And Fulfillment Of Playing 'What Remains of Edith Finch'

Published Wed, 26 Apr 2017 16:45:21 -0500

When you get a story that captures your interest and holds it, it becomes one of the best experiences you can have in gaming. Nothing else matters in the world except finding out how it all ends. Those type of games are becoming increasingly difficult to find as we keep pushing for games with a quick punchline and ending as we hammer through all that's thrown in front of us. But once in a while, we get a story wrapped in a nice box with a bow on it that makes us want to stay a little longer. That's what I got when I played Annapurna Pictures' latest title, What Remains of Edith Finch.

What Remains of Edith Finch is a narrative adventure game which you explore through first-person. Your story begins on a boat where you start reading through a journal as you make your way back to Washington state and venture into her family's old home. Some recent events in your life have pushed you to head back and go over your family's history as you explore the property and the stories it holds. Even if some of the areas require a little bit of work to make your way to them.

As you play through the game, a lot of what you do is controlling where your character goes and interacting with objects. Each time you find something to interact with or come across a new area, the story unfolds a little more. Whenever you go into a new area, you learn about another piece of the family and eventually start writing out your family tree in the journal you're reading. The home and surrounding properties aren't too difficult to navigate and will often point you in the right direction you need to travel down, even if it's by force.

The story itself is pretty fun to watch and read. The family you belong to has a long history of unfortunate deaths. Without giving too much away to the plot, your family members have a habit of dying in some peculiar circumstances and the contributions they left behind to your family name are both interesting and tragic. The tales woven in front of your eyes as you act them out have a haunting way of capturing your imagination and putting depth behind their development and passing. This is the kind of storytelling that I wish existed in more video games as you're drawn into the world and given a reason to care about what takes place rather that just be supplemented as the next set of eyes behind a faceless character.

The one problem I had with the game was that the further back you go, the more tragic things get, even if they become ridiculous. Still not giving away anything, but there's a couple of kids in this that seem like they were added for unnecessary measure. Now before you think I'm going to start being a prude, keep in mind that I slaughter zombies and laugh hysterically at games that put the world and people in jeopardy because that's what you do in video games. You enjoy them because of their nature. When you start throwing a bit of reality into the mix from accidental deaths, that kind of stuff starts to hit a chord in people that you can't go back from. And there's at least two examples of this as you get further into the story that just seem so pointless that the only purpose for being there was to make you cry. I can look past it for the sake of storytelling, but it still hurts.

What Remains of Edith Finch is an interesting game with a great story, even with most of it being tragedy. It's told well and the family you encounter are all interesting in their own ways. The ending to it is both saddening but fitting, with the lesson that no one can escape death, so take the time to enjoy everything you have now and realize how cool but fleeting life can be. It's a hard lesson to learn, but if you can learn it from a video game, then please play and open your heart for what's to come.

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