edith finch is the most creative & moving narrative game i've played in a while

I spend a lot of my time immersed in some kind of narrative game - from unexpected narratives peeking from the side-lines in Pokémon to games that have won awards for how wonderful their writers are, like Life is Strange. But, one game that I'd been putting off for a while was that of What Remains of Edith Finch. Boy, was that a mistake.

Let's start with a quick recap, no spoilers required, about the story. Edith is a seventeen year old girl who has just inherited her family's old (and impressively large) house as the last Finch left alive. She has questions about what happened to her family, and this 'curse' that keeps picking them off this plane of life in quick and tragic succession. There's a room in this house for every member of her family, and we have the opportunity to explore the lives of her family through each room, every one holding a secret to the tragedy of their lives and their untimely deaths. Edith attempts to find the missing piece to her puzzle, the questions she has about where she's come from, and we discover just as much as she does through this interactive storytelling experience.

Honestly, this is one of the most moving games I've played for a while.

As a sci-fi and fantasy enjoyer, it takes a lot to pull me back into the mysteries of what simple reality has to offer, and this game does it so beautifully that it inspires me to investigate the possibilities of reality in my own writing more often. There's mystical qualities, sure, but anything mystical is down to the interpretation of each of Edith's family members, and doesn't necessarily suggest it's rooted in reality. None of us are, really. The way we interpret the world is much more magical than what reality really is, and I think that's part of the point that this game successfully makes. None of the tales told by the storytellers are every truly dismissed as untrue; occasionally Edith would mention that perhaps that's not how reality really played out, and that's probably true, but she never dismisses the fact that this is how each person saw their experience and their life. That was their reality. Magic and all, that's how they saw life. And, at the end of it all, reality is only what we perceive it to be - there's nothing that we can experience outside of our own perception, so even if our realities are different to others, that doesn't necessarily make them untrue. I think that's a good point that this game makes, and it reminds us, as the players, that magic can be part of simple life, too. Not everything is as bleak as we believe it to be.

And the creativity! It really has been a while since I've seen someone use the tools they can command in this world to create a new world so creative. The house itself is, though dangling on the edge, is bound by the laws of physics. This house can exist in our world without being a major safety hazard. And it's so incredibly beautiful and creative. The way each room tells such a massive story about its inhabitant, and how every room connects in some way - there must have been a pretty good architect behind this. The way we travel from room to room is so smooth, and it's almost natural the way we find each hidey-hole that leads to a new passage. The way that these rooms were created to flow from one to another, from the shape of the room to the locations of player interactions between the entry and exit, is extremely well done. Considering how unobvious the passages are, it felt so obvious where I was supposed to go next, like the flowing of water down the twists and turns of a simple river. I especially loved how Edith's narration, which appears in text on the screen consistently throughout the game, is used to direct us. When her words appear on a wall and perspective slightly turns to accommodate for the text and redirects us in case we may have lost our way. I think that's a major factor in why our travel feels so smooth. I truly applaud the writers, designers, the UX team - actually, I applaud all of the people who went into this game's design, because I can't fault it.

The narrative itself is so moving that I had a little cry at the end. They created such a deep bond between us and the characters. As the player, I felt like I'd truly seen a snapshot into the tragic lives of her family members, and as all the revelations about Edith herself unfolded, I could predict what would happen at the end. But, all the same, it still made me think that our time together just wasn't long enough. And besides, the mark of a good narrative is not being able to describe what might happen at the end, but to be able to feel it before reaching the conclusion. There's a balance between being so obvious that you can describe exactly what happens at the end and concluding a story on a totally out of place note. This game has achieved that - I could feel from half-way through what might happen, but I couldn't bring that feeling to words. I couldn't tell you exactly what would happen, but I felt it would be bittersweet. The use of environmental descriptions and character voice were flawless. I can only hope to achieve something so effective in my own narrative writing career.

This game has truly inspired me to create something in our own world, and apply the mysticism that entranced me so deeply into the way I perceive my own life. I leave the game feeling a weird sense of sadness and grief, but also a sense of thankfulness that it exists and that it offered me that feeling of wonder for the time that it did. Also, with my new aspirations to build something as effective for myself, to view it as my fond competitor in the world of game writing.

This might be one of my favourite games.

< 98% baked >