More Thoughts From Me #170: Experiencing What Remains of Edith Finch

Dear Reader, if you are reading this, then I probably made it through What Remains of Edith Finch. Of course I may have just published this before dying in some strange manner. In which case, at least you’ll get my impressions of What Remains of Edith Finch. I have a lot to say about this game. Warning! There are spoilers for What Remains of Edith Finch Ahead.

If you’ve never played What Remains of Edith Finch, stop reading this right now. Just stop. Go buy this game, download it, and play it. Then please come back here. I have things I want to say about What Remains of Edith Finch but I don’t want to tip toe around the spoilers. Ok? I’ll wait right here.

Done yet?

Ok, you have to be done now right?

Hello?

Yeah, I’m just going to dive right in. You’ve been warned.

What Remains of Edith Finch is not really a video game. Sure you control characters and you get to move things, but this is more like an interactive movie or interactive storybook. You control, first of all, the main character, Edith Finch, who goes about her old home and finds stories of dead relatives. And then you get to find out how those relatives died.

That may sound pretty grim and depressing…

Surprisingly What Remains of Edith Finch is not a grim, depressing experience. Yes, it is a sad one. It has a very sad ending. However, the story or stories really are all quirky, funny at times, terrifying at other times, and mostly wonderful. How can death be wonderful? I’m not sure but What Remains of Edith Finch tries its best to present stories that are so odd and gripping that you can’t look away.

Its not just the stories though. Its also the way the stories are told. There are a lot of stories that are in a pretty realistic graphical style but not all of them are. One of the stories that stands out the most to me is a story that is told like a comic book. Actually its like a EC Horror Comic. Think Tales from the Crypt. It even has an crypt keeper like narrator.

This story is pretty scary. I wouldn’t say its wonderful (that’s why I added the ‘mostly’ earlier). But its a gripping, very tragic, and quirky story and told in a unique way. And it has comic book panels and you don’t even control all of the comic. When you do take control of the comic character, its sudden and it works so well.

There are many stories here. I won’t spoil them all. I just want to mention one more…

There’s one near the end of the game. It starts out with a pretty simple graphical look and that looks changes and becomes more detailed and pretty amazing. I know I’m being a bit vague on this one. I just didn’t want to spoil this one in case you’re reading this despite my warnings…

What Remains of Edith Finch tells its stories with different looks, with words in the sky or floating in the hallways, and with its heart on its sleeve. It feels like the player is reading a book or a letter. While What Remains of Edith Finch isn’t really a video game, it does have moments of video game qualities and some interesting controls.

This is not a hard experiance. I think just about anyone could finish it. What Remains of Edith Finch is about challenging your ideas of death, challenging your ideas of life, and finding imagination in the most unexpected places. This is such a creative and amazing experience. I highly recommend What Remains of Edith Finch. Its a Playstation Plus game right now. If you haven’t played it and even if you read all of this without playing it (shame on you), go play it anyway.

I will never forget What Remains of Edith Finch.

Next week: Since I’m always wrong in my predictions about Nintendo’s E3, I thought next week I’d tell you what the worst possible E3 2019 could be. So if it happens, don’t blame me. I warned you right?

More Thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. I will wait a little bit and then play What Remains of Edith Finch again.