Explore a house full of stories in What Remains of Edith Finch
What Remains of Edith Finch is a first-person adventure game with a focus on dark, eerie storytelling. Teenage Edith Finch is returning to her family home to explore the now-empty house. Each room contains the effects of a member of her family, and each room functions as a minigame in which that character's life -- and tragic fate -- are interactively brought to life.
A game and a meditation
What Remains of Edith Finch owes a lot to other narrative exploration games like Gone Home. This means that it doesn't feature much in the way of challenging or exciting conventional gameplay. Most of the interaction is just there to increase your sense of identification with the story. There isn't much that can slow down the story, so the experience is only nominally interactive. On the other hand, it's gorgeous, with a well-realised house in which each segment differs. No two of the minigames are quite alike, which helps keep the narrative experience feeling fresh. The level of detail in the house's design helps it feel simultaneously like a strange dreamscape and a real, lived-in house.
Unusual but impressive
What Remains of Edith Finch is certainly an unusual game, and if you're looking for a more conventional first-person adventure game you may be disappointed. But it presents a moving and well-crafted magical-realist narrative through the medium of a lovingly-realised virtual building.
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