What Remains of Edith Finch

Welcome back fellow Steemians, this week we explore something more magical and mysterious.

Our game centers on the character of Edith Finch, who is the last in the Finch family line, which has a perceived curse that causes all but one member of each generation to die in unusual ways. There was a very familiar feel to this game as well a nostalgic one, almost like a foggy childhood memory you can't remember properly. It took me a few day to finally recall exactly why this game felt like déjà vu, it was all because of a computer game I sort of played when I was still young, which was called Myst.

What Remains of Edith Finch is an amazing first-person, story-driven experience that tells the incredible, tragic, and constantly surprising generational history of the Finch family. As you progress through the gorgeously detailed home, you get a guided history of each family member and delve into what may or may not be a familial curse. You are constantly questioning if what had happened was due to pure circumstance or if there is some dark hand of death at play causing the family members to die. The game gets you emotionally invested from the get go and as you learn the story of each family member, you experience a beautiful roller coaster of emotion and mystery. Ultimately the entire story is tale about death, but with each story the beauty of life is what shines through the darkness.

^source

Our story begins as you, the player, takes a ferry to Orcas Island off the coast of Washington state with the journal of Edith Finch in hand.

We begin the story by reading through the journal of Edith Finch Jr's recollection of her last visit to her family's home on the island in back in 2016. The journal starts with explaining the Finch family curse which goes back at least five generations, all but one child of each generation die, leaving a sole child to continue the family. She accounts the story of her great great grandfather Odin, who after losing his wife and their newborn baby, tried to escape the curse by moving from Norway to the United States in 1937 with his remaining daughter, Edith, and her husband Sven and daughter Molly.

Odin insisted on bringing their home with them which was tied to their ship, but as they got close to the shore a tsunami hit, capsizing the house and cause Odin to drown. The remaining family decided to build a new home on Orcas island along with a family graveyard, overlooking the ocean and within sight of the original house wreckage and in memory of Odin.

Edith and Sven then had four more children Barbara, twin brothers Calvin and Sam, and Walter. A few years passed and Edith believed they avoided the curse, but things turned for the worse when Molly ate toxic holly berries and died at the young age of only ten years old. Barbara was killed during an unsolved home invasion, and her brother Walter became so traumatized by her death, that he moved into a secret bunker below the house. Calvin died after falling off a rope swing into the ocean, and Sven was killed while trying to construct a dragon-themed slide onto the side of the house. Edie decided to memorialize each death, each of their bedrooms would remain a shrine to them, and she would leave writings about their death, typically exaggerating the details to make the death seem more fantastical than it really was.

^source

^source

---

"For 500 years the Finches have been famous through Norway for their fortune... and misfortune. Odin Finch buries the latest victims of the family curse: his wife Ingeborg and their newborn son Johann. On January 7, 1937, he sets sail with his family and his house hoping to leave the curse behind... But 40-foot waves off the coast of Washington send the house and Odin to the bottom of the sea. Odin's daughter Edie, with husband Sven and baby Molly, step ashore on their new home, Orcas Island. Odin Finch is the first to be buried in the new cemetery. His daughter Edie is already dreaming of a new Finch house." - Edith Finch

---

^source

The game is relatively short and it took me about three hours of casual playing, but what it lacked in duration it made up for with a thought provoking story.

There are one or two puzzles and the biggest one was trying to find a way into the house at the start, which you eventually do by finding some secret passages. What the developers did well was making the house look and feel lived in, each and every tiny detail was thought of, it was like an animated pop up book. The biggest criticism I had was that with there being so much detail in the house, but very little you are able to interact with, kind of like a museum where you can't touch anything. What was most memorable was how each of the family members story was presented through a completely different gameplay experience, touching of different art style, perspective, and genre, surprising you each time.

All in all, this was a breath of fresh air and a move away from you stock standard action adventure or shooter games. What Remains of Edith Finch is a masterpiece of a story, using a very real subject matter we all have or will one day deal with, and leaving you feeling inspired even though it mostly ends with tragedy.

^source

^source

What Remains of Edith Finch is an adventure game developed by the good folks at Giant Sparrow and published by Annapurna Interactive.

They are a relatively new production company with only one other game under their belt thus far, The Unfinished Swan for the PlayStation 3, which very much has the same artistic look and feel as this game. There is a predominate style to the games from Giant Sparrow, much in the same way a Tim Burton film stands out from any other, it has a very specific tone and signature to it. What Remains of Edith Finch was released in April 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game won the British Academy Games Award for Best Game 2017, and won the Best Narrative category at both the 2018 Game Developers Choice Awards and The Game Awards 2017, among other awards and nominations.
As this game is now just over the two year mark, you will definitely be able to pick this title up at a pretty reasonable price at most online retailers or for next to nothing as a pre-played game at your local game shop.

I'm giving What Remains of Edith Finch a rating of 7/10

^source

In case you missed it, here is the previous game review

Thanks for popping in, hope you liked the post. Please leave me your thoughts and or opinions in the comments below, have a beautiful day.

Game review for ADSactly by MorkRock

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the official policy or position of ADSactly

✯ ✯ ✯

---

Vote @adsactly-witness for Steem witness!

Witness proposal is here:

Witness Proposal

Go To Steem Witness Page

In the bottom of the page type: adsactly-witness and press vote.

Thank You