For my critical play, I played What Remains of Edith Finch. Although I know many friends who had played this game, I didn’t really know much about the story going into it, which I believe heightened the experience for me. What Remains of Edith Finch is a game developed by Giant Sparrow and published by Annapurna Interactive. As of now, the game is available on all platforms including consoles, iOS, and PC. I played this game on Steam for my critical play. Due to the heavy nature of many of the topics involved, this game is probably best suited for a mature audience that enjoys immersive, narrative-driven experiences. In What Remains of Edith Finch, walking tells the story by immersing the user into the lives of each character in the story, providing little verbal narrative other than snapshot-like events from their memories.
In this game, players are immediately thrown into the story. Unlike other walking sims in which you might only play as one character, in What Remains of Edith Finch, you play as each member of the Finch family. The immersive aspect of this story is amplified due to the fact that the player unlocks memories and the stories of the Finch family as the game goes on. Since Edith herself is walking through the house to try and figure out the reason behind their misfortune, the user “becomes” Edith Finch because they start off with the same amount of information regarding the story. By filling in blanks little by little, the whole story is eventually revealed.
Compared to other games in this genre, I find What Remains of Edith Finch to be unique in that the game itself is narrated in almost a storybook-like way with the user always being the “main character”. Heavy topics such as suicide and depression are shown first-person and players are often thrown suddenly into cutscenes and minigames where they must infer information about a player’s life. A notable gameplay mechanic is using the physical layout of the screen to portray ideas like distraction and imagination. An example of this is the sequence in which the player plays as Lewis Finch in the cannery. First, the player becomes Lewis as he goes to work each day.
This sequence begins with the user chopping the heads of fish with a knife, the repeated motion almost becoming rhythmic. Then, as time goes on, the user must juggle between Lewis’s imaginary world that begins to take over his reality. As I was playing this part of the game, I almost didn’t notice that the imaginary world was becoming more in focus than the chopping of the fish. I found this to be a brilliant yet unsettling way to show how repetitive motions soon became muscle memory, prompting depression and mental stress on Lewis. By utilizing mechanics like this, the player is literally put into the shoes of characters in the story, being unable to separate reality from game. Throughout the entire game, similar situations occur where the player comes to learn exactly what the motivations and desires of each character are.
In terms of the 8 kinds of fun, I believe that What Remains of Edith Finch is a strong example of Narrative, Discovery, and Sensation fun. Through the simple mechanic of walking, this game is able to tell a rich, meaningful story about the Finch family, allowing the player to form quick, but strong, bonds with each character. Because of the indirect method of story-telling used in this game, players build emotional connections with the personas they act as and feel the grief and loss of each character. Additionally, I find that this game takes the idea of “walking in another’s shoes” to an extreme level, turning the simple walking game genre into something that blurs the lines between story-telling and immersion. Since the player is also constantly filling in clues and realizing what is happening as the game progresses, there is strong motivation related to discovery. Although the game is relatively straight-forward in regards to the storyline, there is still discovery in that players must play through each sequence to fully understand what is happening. Regarding sensational fun, I find that the aspect of playing as each character in first person makes it very immersive and appeals to players who want to feel as though they are truly living another life. Through mechanics such as sound, camera movement, and physical actions on the keyboard/mouse, the user is immersed not only visually, but physically as well.
What Remains of Edith Finch was a great game to play and it opened my eyes to the various, creative mechanics that could be used to get a story across. If I could adjust anything in this game, I would probably want to incorporate more exploration within each story. Currently, the stories for each character follow a relatively strict timeline and story line, but I believe the immersion could be enhanced if the user could act longer experiences or even play in mundane situations as each character to better grasp the intentions behind them.
