Topic: What Remains of Edith Finch. A discussion.

So after the critical acclaim of WROEF from both Pushsquare and accross the interweb I decided to give this game a go. Im intetested to hear everyones thoughts.

Spoilers ahead I am sure if anyone gets involved in the discussion. So look away now if you havent played it.

Oh boy - I could wobble on about this game for ages.

Without too much details on plot etc., why I think this game deserves its accolades is the variety in its gameplay. Though I am not a fan of the term, 'walking sims' are often very passive in terms of the players interaction - normally, walk here, look for something, trigger something, move on. WROEF has this but it also changes the interaction, almost like a set of mini games. For example, controlling an animal, or the cannery section. I would actually say that the cannery section is one of the best bits of game design I've ever seen where the repetetive side of it reinforces the boredom of the character while the other side shows the creativness they have in their mind.

It is also short, which I think means it comes closer to a movie style experience which actually worked quite well.

The cannery section blew my mind. I just love the way it manages to put you in the shoes of Lewis Finch and his monotonous daily routine then gradually escape it into his alternate reality. It was an absolutely amazing piece of gaming art.

I too played this last week after I grabbed it in a sale, just because of the accolades it received universally across the web. I was not disappointed. The game is quite short. I 100%’ed the game (no platinum ) in 3 hours, but it was a very high quality 3 hour experience. Blows Gone Home out of the water.
I agree with the above statements but I’ll go ahead and spoiler tag just in case ...
that the cannery section was the most impactful to me. Perhaps because as a gamer who turns to gaming as an escape from daily life, I could relate most to Lewis (was that his name?) and the way he dies was just a shock. With the guillotine chopper thing, I kept thinking the hand would get chopped off, but didn’t see that coming with the head. It was a great tension builder and delivery. But also the little girl / animal section was great, I really felt sorry for the hungry little girl. And the bit about the swing with the astraunaut kid was also well done. Those are the ones that stick out
My biggest complaint was just the difficulty in keeping track of all the characters, who was who and what the inter-relationships were. Who was an uncle, who was in the house at the same time, etc. It was all very confusing because they were already dead.
Oh and ... that’s got to be the first and only time in a video game that you get to play as a fetus coming out the birth canal, right 😂

I absolutely loved this game. It was one of my favourites of the year. I think it pushes the walking simulator genre about as far as you can feasibly push it. The constant reinventions of the gameplay and the aesthetic are so well done, and while some work better than others, the sheer ambition of it all needs to be applauded. The cannery section is tremendous, but I was also a big fan of the bit with the horror comic book.

I think though, more than the way the game reinvents itself and the way it constantly surprises, my favourite thing about it is that it just tells a totally compelling story about a bunch of incredibly unlucky people. It's all very sad, but it manages to be quite funny too. Really cool game.

My favourite thing about it, too. The whole thing's really dark, but there's plenty of levity to counteract the sadness.

Wonderful game.

A cool little Easter egg is Neil Druckmann was one of the playtesters in the credits!

I liked Lewis story, I was unsure if he had pot psychosis.

Anyway, I have come to the conclusion that the finches suffered (and still do) from a chronic misunderstanding of safety. Just look at the shape of the house!