What Remains of Edith Finch

...es. Ran out of title space.

This game has two things going for it. Interesting environmental story telling, and occasionally clever character studies. Unfortunately it has too much else holding it back. The environment story telling is largely hamstrung by being on very narrow rails. The moments of interactivity are brief and condescendingly simple. While some of the character vignettes give fascinating insight into the mind of the person, others are a brief letdown. Worst of all, it's short with no replay value. If you want to hold down the 'w' key and be briefly entertained with a quirky and at least sometimes insightful story, I guess it's not the worst use of your money. But you might be better off just reading a book, as it really doesn't make the most of the medium.

An interactive fiction where you experience the final moments of the members of a family that seems beset upon by a curse. Each experience is tailored to the individual family member and is a great way of adding to the player's understanding of the character's personality. Also a nice way of varying up the interactions and keeping them novel for the player. The house that serves as the main location is well done to keep the player unsure about what happened there and what they might experience as the explore the place. Unfortunately I did not really gain a whole lot of empathy for all but one of the characters. I've read many reviews and comments of people who were moved emotionally by their stories, so perhaps it's just that it didn't resonate with me personally. For whatever reason, a similar style game called Gone Home did invoke some strong feelings, so again you could be struck with emotion from Edith Finch or you may be more disgusted with the family like I was. I do wish it wasn't so hand holding. I think this will be something I'll rarely get, if ever in games or interactive fiction, but I would prefer if more was left to the player to derive what happened and why from exploration of the house than to be given obvious places to click to get information. The house adds ambiance and some detail to the stories, but I would have preferred it to be the primary way to find out about the family. In any case, it's worth a playthrough if you like interactive fiction, and I hope we continue to get them and that they continue to evolve.

I do not normally review games but this one is something special. As others have stated, this is a walking game but to simply call it that is to greviously undersell this beautiful game. This is an experience where you live the last moments of the Finch family members. To say more is to spoil it and this is best experienced fresh with no prior knowledge whatsoever. Suffice it to say this is a sweet story about loss and sadness and love. The ending impacted me like a gut punch and left me in tears. If you have not played this yet, please do so and immerse yourself in this lovely story. You will have no cause for regret.

This game touched me deeply. There are only a few games that I have played over the many years which leave me changed as a person in some way, and What Remains of Edith Finch is one of them. This experience will haunt me for a long time and it will take me a while before I'm able to explore it again. If you think of yourself as an experienced, connoisseur of gaming and you don't already own this game, then you simply must. I could praise the game mechanics alone for hours, let alone the artwork, the story and the voice actors. Every single thing in this game is absolutely beautiful and perfect, my only wish would be that it never ended.