“If we lived forever, maybe we’d have time to understand things.” Guided by the voice of Edith Finch and her handwritten journal entries, the player character of the game What Remains of Edith Finch treads through the eerie yet somehow familiar residence of the Finch family. As the character explores the tragic death of each member through media such as diaries, comic books, and firsthand simulations, the truth behind the mysterious family curse slowly comes to light. With a perfect storyline seamlessly woven into a creative gameplay, What Remains of Edith Finch provides a refreshing take on the genre of adventure games.”

Specializing in creating stunning visuals, developer Giant Sparrow – the mastermind behind the artistic first-person painting game The Unfinished Swan – has created yet another model example of video games as an art form through What Remains of Edith Finch. Upon its release in 2017, What Remains of Edith Finch was met with a positive reception from both critics and ordinary gamers with an average score of 89 out of 100 according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. Since its debut on Windows and PlayStation 4, the game has been brought to more platforms, including Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and most recently this year, mobile.

Minimal Interactivity at Its Best

The Finch family in What Remains of Edith Finch suffers from a so-called family curse that leads to the untimely deaths of all but one member of each generation. Hoping to leave the curse behind, they move from Norway to Washington but find this fruitless as the pattern of unusual deaths persists. Being the last Finch alive, the player character returns to the Finch manor and opens a secret passage hidden in a bathroom using an unknown key inherited from her late mother.

The player progresses through this game by discovering playable firsthand vignettes hidden in the house, which explain how each Finch family member passed away. Without the ability to run, jump, nor duck, the player has no choice but to walk and explore the house in a slow pace. However, basic navigation is quickly taken over by much more interesting game controls in different vignettes. Sometimes the player’s point of view changes to a camera perspective during a scene in a family outing; other times it transforms into the perspective of a hungry snake slithering across a deck to hunt for its prey.

The unexpected shifts in time, place, and perspective allow the player to experience each family member’s story directly. Although the player is aware that each segment will eventually end with the character’s death, the fact that no two scenarios are exactly alike intensifies both the level of immersivity and suspense. Creative director Ian Dallas explains in an interview with journalist Bounthavy Suvilay that “by creating 13 very distinct family members and showing players how each of them dies, the hope is that at least one of these characters and perspectives feels familiar enough that it reminds them of something in their own life.”

At the same time, all segments share one common factor: the player’s lack of control within the game. Even though each vignette displays its own imaginative scenario, the level of interactivity essentially gives the player the same choices as they have in the rest of the game, which amounts to simply walking onwards. With no onscreen button prompts given, the player must figure out the flashback trigger using their own creativity, with options ranging from moving the perspective controls to look down to pressing on rubber ducks floating in a bathtub.

When Death Becomes a Certainty

What Remains of Edith Finch is mainly composed of different vignettes that display how each Finch family member passed away. However, the tone of the vignettes is far from being somber despite its relation to death; in fact, they focus on how each member lived a unique and vibrant life. Each vignette seems to capture the most enchanting moments of their lives, and each bedroom is decorated accordingly to preserve their most memorable characteristics. Observe the room fully, and the player can instantly tell who it belongs to without ever meeting the owner.

Although the Finches believe they suffer from an inescapable deadly curse, their focus lies on celebrating the beauty of life instead of mourning over the losses. Accepting death as a certainty in life, each Finch family member is remembered through personal stories that are often filled with adventure and imagination. Even the hallways and common areas of the house are sumptuously detailed with an overwhelming number of books and family photos, as if the house itself was a memorial to the Finch family.

As cliché as it may sound, the comparison between the portrayal of life and death in What Remains of Edith Finch gives weight to the popular quote by Dr. Seuss: “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” Whether these deaths are caused by a mysterious spell or are simply a string of accidents is up to the player to decide. Regardless, with the weight of these tragic deaths shifted from the individual Finches themselves to that of a family curse, the fear of death transforms into fearing a deadly curse. This allows the game to showcase the inevitability of death and thereby suggest that players treasure the colorful characteristics of each Finch.

Ultimately, What Remains of Edith Finch is about a young woman returning to her abandoned childhood home to unravel the mysteries surrounding the deaths of her family members. The game is a perfect embodiment of veni, vidi, vici, or “I came, I saw, I conquered” in Latin. Although the player may never know whether the player character overcomes their fear of the family curse or not, the game is an invitation to join them on the adventure of finding out the many secret passages and hidden messages of the Finch mansion. With an ending open to interpretation, the game is a magnificent work that leaves its player questioning their own values on life, death, and family.

Game Information

Developer: Giant Sparrow

Publisher: Annapurna Interactive

Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS

Release Date: April 25, 2017

Price: Steam: 21,000 won / iOS: 5,900 won