What Remains of Edith Finch

What Remains of Edith Finch is, quite simply, a stunning experience. It takes Gone Home and turns it up to eleven. While it’ll undoubtedly end up being labelled as a ‘walking simulator’, it takes that genre and throws it on its head, giving us an experience so rich, so deep with emotion and meaning, that you’ll probably not quite know what to do with yourself when the credits roll. It’s a story like no other; both very grounded in reality, yet at times other-worldly beyond imagination. It’s touching and thought-provoking; daring to explore dark subject matters rarely delved into by video games...

Republished on Wednesday 1st May 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of May's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows.

What Remains of Edith Finch is what happens when you make a video game about obituaries. On the surface it just looks like a game about death as you live out the last moments of various people's lives. Search deeper, and you find it's a game celebrating how they lived.

A masterful story full of misdirection and sadness that's worth experiencing, even if your control over it is trivial.

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 impressio...

No summary available

It runs in the family.

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.

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.

What Remains of Edith Finch is a short but bittersweet adventure of a family struggling to live with its past. It’s not exactly bombastic but it’ll likely tug a heart string here or two.

Let’s start by getting this out of the way, What Remains of Edith Finch is essentially a walking simulator. Don’t run away, or rather, walk away just yet! Developer Giant Sparrow (The Unfinished Swan) has included some fun little gaming sequences that help it stand out in the walking simulator genre. While it might not satisfy anyone with an itchy trigger finger or a thirst for puzzles – it does offer a pretty compelling story and some sincere moments that just might make it worth your time.

In What Remains of Edith Finch, death is a certainty and life is the surprise. Its stories are enchanting, despite their unhappy ends. I was sad I never had the chance to know the Finches while they were alive, but thankful for the opportunity, however brief, to learn a bit about them. The final farewell left me crying, but What Remains of Edith Finch is, without doubt, love.