What Remains of Edith Finch Reviews
Touching, sad, and brilliant; a story worth forgiving the limited interactivity to experience.
What Remains of Edith Finch is another triumphant effort from Giant Sparrow, complete with an engrossing story, innovative gameplay features, and gorgeous visuals.
Though it only took me just under two hours to complete, the second the credits stopped rolling I immediately restarted What Remains of Edith Finch. Each of the vignettes is so distinct and surprising that I didn't have enough time to absorb and dissect what I had just played before being whisked away to the next one. But after fully piecing together the threads of the family and sifting through the allegories of their final moments, I was left with a beautiful, heartbreaking mosaic that exudes life, even when mired in death.
An elegiac, memorable and affecting tale of the misfortunes suffered by the members of a deeply eccentric family.
The diversity in the Finches' final moments means you've always got another cool story just around the corner, and Edith's personal journey is also interesting
What Remains of Edith Finch is beautiful and bittersweet
Giant Sparrow's follow-up to The Unfinished Swan is a beautifully melancholy collection of parables.
Even as I rolled my eyes at the chilchéd final moments, as the credits rolled, I found myself remembering the dark, cluttered halls of the Finch house, and the way the game denied me closure on every mystery they may contain.
What Remains of Edith Finch is about being a human being. Human beings like to press buttons.
Despite being left wanting a bit more, What Remains of Edith Finch is a one of those examples of truly interactive storytelling.
What elevates it from a fascinating and gorgeous experiment in presentation to an immediate contender for my game of the year is the way that the broader narrative informs the stories it contains, just as the house is home to its many rooms. Without casting judgement or becoming didactic, Edith Finch explores both the good and the harm that stories can do, and how folktale, imagination and superstition can lift us up and dash us down.
What Remains of Edith Finch is a 'Walking Simulator' that doesn't just tell an unforgettable story – it's genuinely unforgettable. As tragic as its tale is, it always manages to entertain. As one section ends and as you fight back tears, you'll always carry on, because the next story is as engrossing as the last. If you want a strong feature-length story that doesn't waste a minute, Edith Finch is the one you need.
It goes without saying that this game sets a new benchmark for storytelling, and the imaginative ways in which it's done, all the while dealing with death in a delicate and poignant way.
First-person, narrative-driven games generally follow a pattern. What Remains of Edith Finch plays with those established conventions to create a beautiful story that breaks your heart, while making you smile just as much. A triumph in the genre.
What Remains of Edith Finch is filled with excellent writing, striking visuals, and a significant sense of place, of people, of life's ephemeral nature and our relationship to it. And I do hope you'll play. When you're done, and while we're privileged enough to still be here, we can talk about how strange, fleeting, and frustratingly beautiful existence really is. There will be cheese, there will be wine and there will be the unfathomable reality of our own bright-but-brief short stories.
The game takes players off into some far-off places when it comes to its dream sequences and vignettes, and while they're purely based in the fantastical, there are plenty of elements that every player will relate to on some human level throughout the journey; sadness, disappointment, heartbreak, love, joy, and most of all, the will to experience life to its fullest. What Remains of Edith Finch may only provide a brief glimpse into the lives of its characters like a family photo album filled with moments that have long since passed, but by the game's end, it's sure to leave a lasting impression.
Different, beautiful and unique albeit too short and not very 'interactive'. An experience that it's worth playing if you are into the walking simulators.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A compelling story well told, and although it's still not very interactive the variety and artfulness of the presentation feels like something only a video game could do.
A perfect example that video games, as a form of expression, are something unique with a lot to say. You haven't seen, read or listen to anything that can compare to What Remains of Edith Finch.
Review in Spanish | Read full review