What Remains of Edith Finch: A powerful tale full of melancholy

The game is essentially a walking simulator at first glance with a really heavy emphasis on the narrative. What set it apart for me was the inclusion of the narrative very well into the mechanics of the game (in the form of some very well thought out minigames) that really makes me as a player feel very well connected to the story (in fact ensuring a deeper immersion than a novel at times).

Story: "An estranged woman (Player) revisits her old family home in hopes of untangling what is known as the Finch family curse, causing every member of the family to die unexpectedly."

The game took an effort to make the story & narrative as tangible as possible, going to an extent of making the narrative subtitles not only appear on screen in unusual places to help guide the player to next objectives and interesting objects (to deepen the lore) but also in many cases these subtitles served as actual interactable objects (player can go through them, breaking the words, control the words in certain minigames etc,.)

Right from the get-go, the game enchants me as a player in its unique narrative style. The game is essentially a playable novel/book, narrating its story through game as a medium. This had its own Pros and Cons though:

Pros- The narrative was very impactful as me as a player was guiding the actions and feeling very much a part of the story. It becomes a very unique hook and players have a stake in discovering what the story is (broken down very well into parts). 

Cons- If a player is lost (not able to find the next objective easily), the immersion is broken instantly, also breaking the narrative flow completely. They have tried to make a very easy flow, but I could see points where a player might struggle a bit and make the experience annoying for them.

The tone of the game is hopefully melancholic. Oscillating between the sadness that Edith feels about her lost family and the hope she has for the future (spoiler: On finding out that Edith is platforming around the house 5 months pregnant, added so much urgency to her need as a character and made me think more carefully as I controlled her).

Gameplay:

The game is divided into two types of gameplay going back and forth. First and major part is a walking simulator puzzle as Edith roams around the house trying to get into different rooms. This is not a very hard puzzle and mostly focuses on absorbing as much lore as you want on the Finch family, gameplay wise nothing too breathtaking.

Second part of the game involves minigames based on the story of each of the family members. 

THE MINIGAMES IS WHERE THE GAME SHINES THE MOST!!!

The minigames are very well crafted small experiences, but each of them having a nice learning curve, its own unique mechanics again still making the narrative deeper. Some of the mechanics really stand out. 2 specifically for me.

One revolves around Edith's older brother who was a recovering addict, struggling to cope with the reality. You as a player have to balance his mundane job as a factory worker along with his wild fantasies of a kingdom. The fantasy keeps growing and at some point overtakes the mundane game (yet you continue to play both). The game trained me effectively to not even need to look at the screen for the mundane activity and learn to completely focus on the fantasy (exactly like the character). Very well done!

How the minigame starts: The fantasy game is much smaller than the mundane activity.

How the game is near the end: You cannot even see the mundane activity BG, the fantasy has gotten much more vivid and bigger as a game.

The second mechanic that stood out for me was the minigame for Edith's grandfather...whose whole arc and story is shown from behind the camera. The minigame involves a narrative adventure on a hunting trip and you have to look around taking pictures of the next relevant event in the narrative.

Visuals & Level Design:

The base level design is not very challenging (like most walking simulators), the focus is just to explore the bizarre design of the Finch household. Some puzzles are interesting, but never hard. Annoying and not intuitive at their worst and adding to the rich world at their best.

The family members are not present in the game, so the environment (mainly their sealed rooms from when they were alive) does the job of character building. This is done very well, I spent a long part of my playthrough just analyzing the stuff in the room (combined with the anecdotes and remarks Edith has), this added a lot of depth to the characters, relationship and in general the world for me.

I also loved how they teased many of the rooms through the peepholes at the start of the game, well placed foreshadowing for what's to come in the game. 

Stray Thoughts:

The game's melancholic and hopeful mood created a perfect hook for me as a player and also for the story. I enjoyed the experience both as a game and a very uniquely told story. I believe this story would not have such an impact on me if told through a traditional medium of books or movies.