What Remains of Edith Finch

[cubik]

Just finished this after getting it on PS+ and not really expecting much.

 

Loved it from start to finish, such an emotional game. I've just mentioned it in the PS+ thread but the bit where:

Spoiler

Gregory is in the bathtub and the mother goes to answer the phone - You know what's coming and it's heartbreaking watching it play out. Beautifully done though.

 

Same applies to her brother's suicide, it's obvious how it will end but it's presented in a really unique way that isn't crass

 

I only realised it was by the Unfinished swan guys when she found her brother's paintings. Loved that game too.

[Plissken]

Downloaded it on Gamepass after hearing everyone raving about it (and not knowing anything).

 

It's glorious.  So inventive, so well written and designed.  Just wanted to post my appreciation for a wonderful game.

[Vorgot]

Nice to see others enjoying it! My 13 year old who only plays shooters theses days is playing through it and enjoying it, after me bugging him to play it for months.

[Gabe]

I finished this a while ago and like any good game/tv show/film that leaves things open to interpretation, a little while back I went hunting for more detail.

 

I'll spoiler stuff just in case, but I read about

Spoiler

Milton's story - I know from reading this thread that he was in The Unfinished Swan. I've also just read that he was the King and that the developer said this fact was canon - so in terms of Edith Finch, he really does just disappear into a painting. Given, then, that magic is a thing, what does this mean for the rest of the stories? Outside of those that were accidental /easily explained (Calvin, Sam, Lewis) does that mean monsters could've killed Barbara? Gregory could've accidentally killed himself using his magic to play with the toys?

 

And what did become of Edith - how did she disappear? Why?

 

Of course, the beauty is that it can be whatever we want I suppose and I do often think about this - it taps into all those times I want to be able to explore abandoned buildings, for starters. But it isn't just that of course, there's a real wonder and mystery to it all and it's presented beautifully. It's also quite haunting, even in the daylight scenes, even before anything happens (and I went into it completely dark, which really is the only way to fully enjoy it).

 

It really is a wonderful creation.

[Majora]

I played it at launch a couple of years ago and then played it again a couple of weeks ago. The second playthrough inevitably can't have quite the same impact or sense of surprise but it was still as good as I remembered; the fear was that I had overhyped the memory of it in my head but I'm pleased to say that wasn't the case.

 

A second playthrough does allow you to pick up on some of the foreshadowing and appreciate some of the details in the house more. More than anything, though, a second playthrough made me realise that it's just so good at creating atmosphere and it has really concise but effective prose.

 

There's no waffle and very little repetition. Edith rarely narrates more than 2-3 lines at once but it feels like practically every line has a purpose and tells you something about Edith or a member of her family or their relationship dynamics, and every so often there's a real gut-punch of a line almost out of nowhere. 

 

It's wonderfully economic. I feel like I've played so many recent games praised for their narrative where they labour the same damn point for tens of hours ('hey, do you think maybe Kratos might be a bit cold to boy? I nearly missed the first twenty hours of icy interactions between them")  that it's a pleasure to experience something so un-showy but so confident and purposeful.

 

Easily one of my favourite experiences from this console generation.

[Mawdlin]

So disappointed. I loved The Unfinished Swan and have been looking forward to playing this for a while now. I can sum it up thus:

 

As an animated narrative: 9/10

 

As a videogame 2/10 (and these points are only given grudgingly for Gregory and Lewis' story which broadly contain game elements).

 

All the things I enjoyed about Giant Sparrow's first game were sadly missing here. The imaginative ways of interacting with the world, using new creative techniques to progress the story and solve puzzles, exploring new, wonderful environments. You know, using the intellect to progress things ie playing a game.

 

Edith Finch is a very good interactive story but it is not a game. It actually annoys me that it's held up to be so and has won awards purporting to be a game.

 

It's one long corridor with an R2 prompt every two minutes.

 

There's no ability to take any diverging path from this singular tunnel and the only way to progress the story is to press R2.

 

Is the story good? Yes.

 

Does it have an emotional kick? Yes.

 

Does it look nice? Yes.

 

Is it a game? Nah.

 

I can't complain about the narrative but when I pay for a game I'd like to play a game please.

 

It annoys me that The Unfinished Swan gets put in the category of walking simulator; it's so much more than that. But this was one long slog with me pressing a single button to move things along to the inevitable conclusion. If a million chimps played this game a million of them would finish it.

 

Emperor's new clothes and all that.

[Opinionated Ham Scarecrow]

Okay let's nip this in the bud quick.

 

Quote

game1

/ɡeɪm/

noun

1.

an activity that one engages in for amusement or fun.

 

Yep, it's a game.

[Mawdlin]

Fails on the fun bit.

[K]

For a game about death, loss, and specifically the death of children and parents, I found the “fun factor” somewhat lacking. 

[Not Thread Owner]

56 minutes ago, K said:

For a game about death, loss, and specifically the death of children and parents, I found the “fun factor” somewhat lacking. 

 

Assassin’s Creed Origins is a lot of fun and has a great deal of death, loss and the death of children and parents. And a lot of other stuff of course.

[K]

Fingers crossed Giant Sparrow use the Assassin's Creed games as a model for Edith Finch: Origins and any future games in the franchise, and introduce upgradable gear, skill trees, finishing moves, and other things that proper games have.

[MK-1601]

LOL @ Mawdlin.

 

Finch is no less a game than the later LucasArts adventures, HL2 or TLOU. All 'story' games veer toward mechanical skill taking a back seat so you can focus on soaking up the world and the characters.

 

This (spoilerific) GDC talk goes into the design process of making the game.

 

 

Surprised how many people have cited Barbara's vignette as one of their favourites, it stuck out as one they couldn't get to work but couldn't really cut because

 

Spoiler

the 'child star' setup for the character, and what happens with Walter subsequently (Walter's vignette was substantially cut!) would then need reworking as well.

 

Also cringed a bit at their joy at their 'genius' mates suggesting how to end it, with the whole 'epilogue' (everything after the car ride) being so clatteringly dumb.

[Mawdlin]

1 hour ago, MK-1601 said:

 

Finch is no less a game than the later LucasArts adventures, HL2 or TLOU. All 'story' games veer toward mechanical skill taking a back seat so you can focus on soaking up the world and the characters.

 

 

 

 

  Hide contents

 

 

 

 

I am being somewhat flippant of course in calling out Edith Finch for not being a game but for me it's not like TLoU or any point and click adventure, which require intellectual input, skill and problem solving.

[peeveen]

5 hours ago, Gizamaluke said:

An activity that one engages in for amusement or fun.

Sorry to be that guy, but watching telly, having a wank, or going for a drink with your friends all match that definition, and none of them are games.

[MK-1601]

3 hours ago, Mawdlin said:

 

I am being somewhat flippant of course in calling out Edith Finch for not being a game but for me it's not like TLoU or any point and click adventure, which require intellectual input, skill and problem solving.

 

I can't believe I'm having to use an argument made by David Jaffe(!) to explain this, but, the intellectual engagement and 'challenge' in a walking sim is you unravelling meaning from the environment and story during and (if it's any good) long after playing.

[Rayn]

I loved What Remains of Edit Finch, even though it's not your standard video game. I see it as a cross between a walking sim and an interactive novel. I found the story highly engrossing and had this been a book, it'd be a page turner for me. Also, complaining about it not being very fun is a bit of a moot point. I'm currently watching "Chernobyl" on HBO and it's as far from fun as you can ever get but it's still some of the best TV I've seen in ages. It's an unsettling experience with a narrative and images that'll haunt me for ages. In a good way. 

[Dudley]

9 hours ago, peeveen said:

Sorry to be that guy, but watching telly, having a wank, or going for a drink with your friends all match that definition, and none of them are games.

 

You're doing at least one of those wrong.

[SozzlyJoe]

I was thinking about this when playing through The Invisible Hours - by many people's metric it's not a game at all, as all you do is watch the same events from a user controlled perspective. But it did occur to me that the actual 'gameplay' was me figuring out WTF was going on in the story - solving the murder mystery to my own satisfaction. I can see why that doesn't meet the bar for some people - it's a little meta. The game itself doesn't know you are playing it, in a sense. It can't pop a trophy saying "SozzlyJoe finally gets it". But it still felt like a game.

[K]

The game isn't challenging, but it does use game mechanics in a clever way to illustrate the themes of the story. Like, in the final story

, the protagonist is carrying out repetitive manual labour, which is replicated through a sequence of button presses the player has to do; gradually, as he escapes into his rich inner life, the screen starts to be taken over by another game, a simple Zelda-like exploration game, which you play simultaneously to the repetitive manual tasks. As you stop having to think about the manual labour and your muscle memory takes over, you can concentrate on the exploration game, while continuing to carry out your "job" in the background.

 

I thought that was an absolutely ingenious method of illustrating how people in dull jobs escape into fantasy. You couldn't do that in any other medium; it's not difficult, there's nothing to master, but it uses the language and mechanics of games to bring its story to life and to make you empathise with the main character. You don't get that with Assassin's Creed.

[Mawdlin]

33 minutes ago, K said:

The game isn't challenging, but it does use game mechanics in a clever way to illustrate the themes of the story. Like, in the final story

  Hide contents

, the protagonist is carrying out repetitive manual labour, which is replicated through a sequence of button presses the player has to do; gradually, as he escapes into his rich inner life, the screen starts to be taken over by another game, a simple Zelda-like exploration game, which you play simultaneously to the repetitive manual tasks. As you stop having to think about the manual labour and your muscle memory takes over, you can concentrate on the exploration game, while continuing to carry out your "job" in the background.

 

 

I thought that was an absolutely ingenious method of illustrating how people in dull jobs escape into fantasy. You couldn't do that in any other medium; it's not difficult, there's nothing to master, but it uses the language and mechanics of games to bring its story to life and to make you empathise with the main character. You don't get that with Assassin's Creed.

 

Lewis's story was genius, no question about it. This is when Giant Sparrow excel. Unfortunately it was the only game element in there.

 

The millennial guy in that GDC video made me laugh; talking about narrative games as if they've invented the medium. "We have to teach people how to play without a gun in their hands."

 

Ignoring the entire history of videogames in the process.

[SozzlyJoe]

Exploration in itself is, to me, very much a gameplay element. Finding new places, understanding the location. Uncovering a story through environmental clues. I think as a game player your position on this pretty much determines where you land on the "walking sim" issue.

[FiveFootNinja]

Finally got round to playing this last night in one sitting. I really enjoyed it, I thought the storytelling and atmosphere was excellent, the ways they played with the FPS interactions and styles to support that narrative was very well conceived and ultimately I very much enjoyed exploring the haunting tales of the Finch family. 

 

It didn't capture me quite as much as Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (still the high water mark for me) but it's a really strong runner up along with the likes of Firewatch, Gone Home and Ethan Carter. I would 100% recommend it to anyone who has an interest in this type of 'game'.

 

I'm not really going to get into the game vs not a game argument. It ultimately doesn't really serve any purpose as it's just a label and will be totally subjective depending on the perception someone has of what a 'game' entails... much like the 'is snooker a sport' conversation. What I would say is as someone who has found a little space in my heart for these "interactive narrative experiences built using game engines and run on computers/consoles" (catchy? - read: walking simulators) I treat them - and indeed judge them - as their own fuzzy niche between a games/films/books.

 

I agree with some of the comments about the comparison with The Unfinished Swan... I thought that was an absolutely lovely and surprising piece of work that, for me, should definitely fit "puzzle game" (alongside things like The Witness) rather than the above (even though it was very narratively driven). Either way though, Giant Sparrow have an 100% record on making amazing titles so far so I can't wait for their next creation!

[Len]

Just finished this the other day after having had it on my to play list for literally years. Wow, what an experience. I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. What an amazing piece of storytelling and game. Found it very poignant, sad, and emotional and such a refreshing change from everything else I’ve been playing.

 

If you haven’t got round to it yet you really should. Lovely stuff. 

[Gabe]

I still think about this game a lot. Might replay it soon.

[Don Wiskerando]

I just got around to playing this on Saturday and fell in love with it.

 

Spoiler

It's like The Royal Tenenbaums had a baby with Hereditary (without the devil worship).  My son watched while I played and was heartbroken by Gregory's story.

 

And on the subject of whether or not it qualifies as a game, of course it's a fucking game.   It doesn't finish itself does it?

[three1ne]

Fantastic. Completed just now, in one sitting.

 

One of those games I'd had in my radar then library for years.

 

Utterly captivating. wonderfully creative.

 

Cried like a big twat as the credits rolled.

[HarryBizzle]

I really enjoyed this. I'm a big fan of games with a good story and this has nothing else to offer, which is sort of refreshing. I hate filler in games like this. 

I was a bit disappointed that:

 

Spoiler

We didn't get to see a story for how Edie died, or even finish the story she left for Edith (which Edith's mum took off her and it tore in the struggle).

 

I also felt Lewis' story was the weakest.

 

Anyone got any theories on what happened to Milton? His and Molly were the only ones which seemed a little unclear.

[Marlew]

@HarryBizzle

 

If you play The Unfinished Swan on PS3/4, you'll find out what happened to Milton. Cool little Easter egg. That was my first walking sim and it blew me away. Something very different for the genre, albeit when it was in its infancy. 

[Not Thread Owner]

Molly died from poisoning. Her’s is the first one you play through - I don’t think she’s one of the missable stories!

[HarryBizzle]

17 minutes ago, Stanshall said:

@HarryBizzle

 

If you play The Unfinished Swan on PS3/4, you'll find out what happened to Milton. Cool little Easter egg. That was my first walking sim and it blew me away. Something very different for the genre, albeit when it was in its infancy. 

 

I've played it and loved it, but didn't know the two were connected or even made by the same people.

 

11 minutes ago, deKay said:

Molly died from poisoning. Her’s is the first one you play through - I don’t think she’s one of the missable stories!

 

I didn't miss it, I just didn't think a tube of toothpaste and two berries was enough to kill someone.