An anthology of tragic tales wrapped in a walking simulator that makes great use of environmental storytelling to deliver an experience that I think no other medium could properly replicate. Players that enjoy the more artistic side of video games will almost certainly love it, but the slow pacing and bare-bones gameplay mean that it might not be the best pick for those that still have reservations about the walking sim genre.

What Remains of Edith Finch is a story-driven "walking simulator" that follows the story of the titular Edith Finch, the last in a long line of Finches that all suffered tragic, mysterious, and even seemingly cursed deaths. After inheriting her old family home, where three generations of the Finch family once lived, she returns after several years to the now-abandoned structure to try and understand why she's the only one in her family left alive. It's actually more like a collection of stories, as Edith's exploration of the house also gives you the opportunity to glimpse into the lives of the other family members that lived there. Walking sims aren't really my cup of tea, but Edith Finch is considered one of the best both for its story and the unique ways it presents it, so I wanted to at least give it a chance.

Much of the story comes from the first-person perspective of Edith herself, told in the past tense via journal entries written shortly after the events you're playing through. As you explore the old Finch house, you're fed snippets of narration where Edith reminisces about her time there as a child, with subtitles that paint themselves on points of interest as she speaks. Aside from Edith herself, there are also twelve other family members, each with their own room in the house, whose stories you can view by interacting with memorial shrines found scattered around the house. These short stories experiment with the presentation by using some combination of altered visuals, a shift in perspective, and unique gameplay segments. These changes aren't just there to break up the monotony of walking from point A to point B, they're carefully tailored to fit thematically with each family member and their life's story, giving more personality to both the family and the game as a whole.

I think where Edith Finch excels the most, however, is in its use of environmental storytelling. As Edith's narration creates the outline of the story, the near-claustrophobic clutter of the house is used to fill in the details. For example, Edith calls her great-aunt Barbara a former child star that fell into obscurity as she got older; but her room, littered with memorabilia from a breakout role long forgotten, visualizes her struggle with a past she can't let go of and the sense that her best days are long behind her. Each family member's life is laid bare by their respective rooms, and the spaces between give insight into the events they collectively experienced—natural disasters, personal tragedies, and so on. This is even used on more than one occasion to clue the player in to story beats they haven't uncovered yet, like the dilapidated swing behind the fence at the very beginning.

When it comes to the game's artistic side, it has all the polish you'd come to expect from an AnnaPurna title: pretty visuals, lovely (albeit sparse) music, and solid voice acting (especially from Edith's VA, Valerie Rose Lohman)—not much to complain about there. I think it's a good game overall, but it does have its sticking points, subjective as some may be.

• Those subtitles I mentioned earlier that paint themselves onto the environment—it's a nice aesthetic touch, but players with hearing/vision impairments may find them to be an accessibility issue as there's no option for just a static subtitle box. The game will try to force the camera towards a block of text if you're not looking at it when it shows up, but that's not always enough to catch what's being said (plus it's just kind of annoying having control wrestled away from you).
  
  
• This is a game about the untimely deaths of a family—including the deaths of children—and as such it depicts scenes that are going to be especially uncomfortable for some people. There's no gore or explicit visuals for any of them, but it's not left ambiguous either. There are content warning guides[wroef.tumblr.com] if you think you'll need them, but those obviously come with a heavy spoiler warning.
  
  
• Moreso an opinion in regards to the story, but I wish the ending was a little less ambiguous about certain plot points. I understand that trying to solve every mystery isn't the point, but it left a few too many questions unanswered for my liking.
  
  
• The price is rather steep for how much you'll get, sitting at $20 for roughly 2 hours of gameplay (or "gameplay", I guess). If you're at all on the fence, it might be best to wait for a sale.

Side note for achievement hunters: you'll have a pretty easy time getting that blue ribbon, but it's unlikely to be on the first attempt as most of them are from optional (and easily missed) easter eggs during the family stories. Luckily, beating the game unlocks the "Replay a story" option that drops you in front of the memorial shrine of your choice, so you can come back to get anything you might've missed without starting the whole game over. I missed most of the achievements in my playthrough and it still only took maybe 20-30 minutes to go back and get the rest.

I'll be honest and say that playing it wasn't the life-altering experience for me that it was for many others, but I do understand now why it gets so much praise. It's not a game I could see everyone enjoying, but the heartfelt and bittersweet journey of What Remains of Edith Finch is an easy recommendation for players looking to explore what video games can offer as both an artistic and storytelling medium.

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[h3][b][u]Short Answer:[/u][/b][/h3] An anthology of tragic tales wrapped in a walking simulator that makes great use of environmental storytelling to deliver an experience that I think no other medium could properly replicate. Players that enjoy the more artistic side of video games will almost certainly love it, but the slow pacing and bare-bones gameplay mean that it might not be the best pick for those that still have reservations about the walking sim genre. [h3][b][u]Long Answer:[/u][/b][/h3] [i]What Remains of Edith Finch[/i] is a story-driven "walking simulator" that follows the story of the titular Edith Finch, the last in a long line of Finches that all suffered tragic, mysterious, and even seemingly cursed deaths. After inheriting her old family home, where three generations of the Finch family once lived, she returns after several years to the now-abandoned structure to try and understand why she's the only one in her family left alive. It's actually more like a collection of stories, as Edith's exploration of the house also gives you the opportunity to glimpse into the lives of the other family members that lived there. Walking sims aren't really my cup of tea, but [i]Edith Finch[/i] is considered one of the best both for its story and the unique ways it presents it, so I wanted to at least give it a chance. Much of the story comes from the first-person perspective of Edith herself, told in the past tense via journal entries written shortly after the events you're playing through. As you explore the old Finch house, you're fed snippets of narration where Edith reminisces about her time there as a child, with subtitles that paint themselves on points of interest as she speaks. Aside from Edith herself, there are also twelve other family members, each with their own room in the house, whose stories you can view by interacting with memorial shrines found scattered around the house. These short stories experiment with the presentation by using some combination of altered visuals, a shift in perspective, and unique gameplay segments. These changes aren't just there to break up the monotony of walking from point A to point B, they're carefully tailored to fit thematically with each family member and their life's story, giving more personality to both the family and the game as a whole. I think where [i]Edith Finch[/i] excels the most, however, is in its use of environmental storytelling. As Edith's narration creates the outline of the story, the near-claustrophobic clutter of the house is used to fill in the details. For example, Edith calls her great-aunt Barbara a former child star that fell into obscurity as she got older; but her room, littered with memorabilia from a breakout role long forgotten, visualizes her struggle with a past she can't let go of and the sense that her best days are long behind her. Each family member's life is laid bare by their respective rooms, and the spaces between give insight into the events they collectively experienced—natural disasters, personal tragedies, and so on. This is even used on more than one occasion to clue the player in to story beats they haven't uncovered yet, like [spoiler]the dilapidated swing behind the fence at the very beginning[/spoiler]. When it comes to the game's artistic side, it has all the polish you'd come to expect from an AnnaPurna title: pretty visuals, lovely (albeit sparse) music, and solid voice acting (especially from Edith's VA, Valerie Rose Lohman)—not much to complain about there. I think it's a good game overall, but it does have its sticking points, subjective as some may be. [list] [*]Those subtitles I mentioned earlier that paint themselves onto the environment—it's a nice aesthetic touch, but players with hearing/vision impairments may find them to be an accessibility issue as there's no option for just a static subtitle box. The game will try to force the camera towards a block of text if you're not looking at it when it shows up, but that's not always enough to catch what's being said (plus it's just kind of annoying having control wrestled away from you). [*]This is a game about the untimely deaths of a family—including the deaths of children—and as such it depicts scenes that are going to be especially uncomfortable for some people. There's no gore or explicit visuals for any of them, but it's not left ambiguous either. There are [url=https://wroef.tumblr.com/tw]content warning guides[/url] if you think you'll need them, but those obviously come with a heavy spoiler warning. [*]Moreso an opinion in regards to the story, but [spoiler]I wish the ending was a little less ambiguous about certain plot points. I understand that trying to solve every mystery isn't the point, but it left a few too many questions unanswered for my liking.[/spoiler] [*]The price is rather steep for how much you'll get, sitting at $20 for roughly 2 hours of gameplay (or "gameplay", I guess). If you're at all on the fence, it might be best to wait for a sale. [/list] Side note for achievement hunters: you'll have a pretty easy time getting that blue ribbon, but it's unlikely to be on the first attempt as most of them are from optional (and easily missed) easter eggs during the family stories. Luckily, beating the game unlocks the "Replay a story" option that drops you in front of the memorial shrine of your choice, so you can come back to get anything you might've missed without starting the whole game over. I missed most of the achievements in my playthrough and it still only took maybe 20-30 minutes to go back and get the rest. I'll be honest and say that playing it wasn't the life-altering experience for me that it was for many others, but I do understand now why it gets so much praise. [b][u]It's not a game I could see everyone enjoying, but the heartfelt and bittersweet journey of [i]What Remains of Edith Finch[/i] is an easy recommendation for players looking to explore what video games can offer as both an artistic and storytelling medium.[/u][/b] [quote]For more game reviews, check out my [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42524563/]Curator page[/url]![/quote]