I was about a quarter way through “What Remains of Edith Finch” when I realized that I was looking for fear in all the wrong places with it. Much like “Gone Home,” I kept waiting for a ghost to materialize or the famous Finch Family Curse to rear it’s deadly head, but that moment never came. I had to sit on it for a little while, but I slowly realized that deep down “What Remains of Edith Finch” was giving me a sense of loss and painful nostalgia for people I’ve never met and a place I’ve never been more than any game has before.
From the start of the game to its somber-yet-uplifting finish, you’ll play as Edith. She’s made the trip to the home her family inhabited for three generations, the tradition ending with Edith and her mother. The reason for their premature departure isn’t clear early on, but a big contributing factor is the supposed curse I mentioned earlier. Oddly enough, members of the Finch family tend to die in extreme and bizarre ways. Basically, as long as its not old age, it’s fair game. That’s why as the game goes on, the journal Edith fills with the tragic history of her family’s past grows more and more important.
What sets this game apart from other “walking sims” as they’re (sometimes fondly, sometimes not) called, is that it finds a way to insert varied and inspired gameplay throughout it’s three-hour duration that is not only fun to play around with, but is also integral to understanding its story. As Edith makes her way through the Weasley-esque mansion, she relays the various personalities, and of course deaths of her family members. The cool thing about it is you actually get to play through these various memories.
As I played through the game, I kept waiting for one of the different mini-game memories to let me down. While the fun factor varies with each one, I’d be lying if I said I got bored with any of them. My favorite in particular involves a comic book inspired by the classic film, Creepshow along with a creepy classic theme song that I’m positive every player will recognize.
Despite the somber undertones in the game’s narrative, most of the stories will plant a grin on your face. Hell, some of them will even make you laugh. I felt a little conflicted at first about the tonal shifts, but I realized that if I kept dwelling on the fact that I knew these characters were going to die sooner rather than later, I’d miss out on the fun that I should be having during my brief time in their shoes. I think, and hope that I was meant to feel that way because it shows how firm Giant Sparrow’s grasp is on their narrative.
It’s kind of crazy that with such variation in the different playstyles in “What Remains of Edith Finch,” you’ll only need to master the use of the two thumbsticks and the R2 button. it doesn’t matter if you’re an owl hunting for its prey, a shark rolling down a steep cliff, or a scream queen hobbling through her house looking for an intruder, you’ll only use those three input methods.
On a technical level, I braced myself for the worst (frame rate stutters, slow-loading textures, etc), but I’m happy to say that the game ran flawlessly on my PS4 Pro and my custom PC. It looks incredible too. I can’t stress enough how much this game makes you feel like you’re actually visiting a real place. Giant Sparrow’s Ian Dallas was kind enough to tip me off to the fact that the game’s setting, Orcas Island, WA is in fact a real place, but the work they’ve all done to make an impossible house feel possible is astounding. There are some navigation problems that crop up, since the layout of a real house doesn’t really give you much in the way of contextual cues on where to go, but I never found myself stumbling around for more than a couple minutes at a time.
Since the vast majority of the story is delivered by Edith speaking (or thinking, it’s not really clear) to herself, the writing and voice acting are much more important than in most games. Luckily, Dallas and Tom Bissell’s writing skills paired with Valerie Rose Lohman’s vocal performance are a dream come true. Finally, when you throw in a score by Jeff Russo (“Legion,” “Fargo,” “The Night Of”), the game shapes up almost perfectly.
At first “What Remains of Edith Finch” felt a little too ambiguous and I was preparing myself to be let down, but as the credits rolled I felt a hole in my gut bigger than any game has left me with in a while. Family sticks with you no matter what, and we never know when our time is going to be up, and “What Remains of Edith Finch” is more than happy to show you. You just have to let it.