What Remains of Edith Finch

 PC
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 848 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 687 out of 848
  2. Mixed: 111 out of 848
  3. Negative: 50 out of 848

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  1. zunami
    Aug 6, 2019
    6
    A walking simulator, about a family and their tragic story, that shows a lot of initial promise, but doesn't make good on all the suspense it builds (in other words: The Ending was unfulfilling, but the journey was good - though in a game that hinges exclusively on story, that's kind of a big deal!).

    This game takes you on an unrealistic and confusing journey that engages you through    A walking simulator, about a family and their tragic story, that shows a lot of initial promise, but doesn't make good on all the suspense it builds (in other words: The Ending was unfulfilling, but the journey was good - though in a game that hinges exclusively on story, that's kind of a big deal!).

    This game takes you on an unrealistic and confusing journey that engages you through little "mini-games" placed at the exact right moments and just enough suspense in the building story that you're able to forgive the game its intolerable walking speed and the unnecessary internal monologues of the main-character (the main character is a very pretentious and self-sanctimonious).

    If you can find this game on sale for less than $10 and you enjoy walking simulators, I think you'll probably enjoy this title - but don't expect fireworks.

    ---{Graphics}---
    ☐ Cartoony, but functional
    ☐ Beautiful
    ☐ Good
    ☑ Decent
    ☐ Bad
    ☐ Retro or Voxel
    ☐ Not Applicable

    ---{Gameplay}---
    ☐ Very good
    ☐ Good
    ☐ Decent
    ☐ Mediocre
    ☐ Bad
    ☑ Not Applicable (Walking Simluator, Text Game, etc.)

    ---{Audio}---
    ☐ Bonus: Great Sound Track (subjective)
    ☐ Very good
    ☐ Good
    ☑ Average
    ☐ Bad
    ☐ Sound issues or effects that caused me to feel unwell.

    ---{Audience}---
    ☐ Kids
    ☑ Teens
    ☑ Adults
    ☐ Target Audiences

    ---{PC Requirements}---
    ☑ Not Tested, but ran on my system without issue, as it should according to recommended specs.
    ☐ Not tested, but did not run on my system, as it should not according to recommended specs.
    ☐ Not tested, but did not run on my system, though it should according to recommended specs.
    ☐ Not tested, but did run on my system, though it should not according to recommended specs.
    ☐ Runs fine on lower than recommended specs.
    ☐ Does not run well on recommended specs.

    ---{Difficulity}---
    ☑ Not Applicable (Walking Simulators etc.)
    ☐ No Challenge (when there should have been!)
    ☐ Challenging in Multiplayer, but not in Single Player.
    ☐ Recommend Others to play on Higher difficulty.
    ☐ Challenging and Engaging. ☐ Marketed on Difficulty (Dark Souls, Rogue-Likes etc.) ---{Grind}--- ☐ Not Applicable ☑ Achievements/Ranking/Leader-Boards etc. ☑ Grinding is entirely Optional ☐ Grinding is Beneficial to Gameplay ☐ Grinding is Part of the Gameplay ☐ Grinding is Part of the Marketing Strategy to increase playtime and reduce access to new content. ---{Story}--- ☐ Not Applicable ☐ Immersive ☑ Story-Focused ☐ Good Story (subjective) ☐ Confusing Story ☐ Partial Story, but confusing and senseless. ---{Content}--- ☐ Graphic Content ☑ Dark/Gritty ☐ Adult Themes (sexual content etc.) ☑ Political Content and Opinions Forced on Player ☐ Hollywood Logic ☐ Other: ---{Game Time}--- ☐ Extremely Brief (1-2 hours) ☑ Short (One Evening) ☐ Average (2-3 days) ☐ Long (weeks and weeks) ☐ Never-Ending (ish) ---{Replayability}--- ☐ Competitive/Online Multiplayer Game ☐ Never Ending Gameplay ☐ Multiple Campaigns ☐ Multiple Endings ☐ Multiple Choices ☑ Linear ---{Budget}--- ☐ It’s free! ☑ Worth $5 ☐ Worth $10 ☐ Worth more than $10 but less than $40 ☐ Worth $40 or more. ---{Bugs}--- ☑ None to Speak of. ☐ Minor bugs ☐ Buggy ☐ Extremely Buggy ☐ Unplayable in Current State.    … Expand
  2. Renovatia
    Oct 31, 2018
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This was presented to me as a game, but it isn't. It's a story driven "walk-through".

    Basically you explore an eerie yet beautiful house and when you click on one or the other object, a part of the story is told by the protagonist, a young pregnant woman. You begin with the bottom of the family tree and move up - so to speak - discovering how each family member came to die untimely.

    To keep you awake, occasionally you have to open a door, lock or window yourself by moving the mouse in some direction. Or you control an animal for a moment. It's all at rudimentary level and not intended to challenge you. Again, it's only to keep your attention.

    To explore everything, the "game" takes about two hours. And that's it. Suddenly it's over, and you're left with a nice story, but haven't played a game or anything, because there is no game to play.

    For two hours (or three if you're slower) of story telling, this "book" is kinda expensive. I don't know exactly what to think of it. But I'm left unfulfilled, hence the lower score.

    Graphics is nice though. No glitches or anything. A huge negative is the bratty way the young lady communicates. You have to listen to her voice for the next two hours or so. Another negative is the open end more or less. The unlikely weird deaths by the family members aren't explained, although everybody claims it because they read upon the family history. So suspicions of their ill fate (untimely deaths of all family members) is based on superstition.

    But nothing conclusive will be presented. This family is simply dying because that's the story. Meh.
    A good thing I have to say is that the story doesn't try to push some liberal agenda such as "Gone Home", which pushes the gay agenda. Edith Finch is an original mystery story (without answers).

    All in all this "game" is a walking simulator/spoken story book with decent graphics. It's not a game - just to make sure. It lasts for 2 hours. If that's worth your $12 or so then go for it.    … Expand
  3. beeanadou
    Nov 9, 2018
    5
    The stories are too scattered and hardly linked to each other. Picture is great though but besides it cannot find much selling point.
  4. JimmyJams
    Apr 26, 2018
    6
    A visual story told through the eyes of the last remaining member of a family cursed with early deaths. The best part of the game was the graphics as it ran smooth with essentially no tweaking to the original settings. Environments were detailed and helped paint the story with color. The game takes you through each family member's room and tells, briefly, their story.

    Outside of that I    A visual story told through the eyes of the last remaining member of a family cursed with early deaths. The best part of the game was the graphics as it ran smooth with essentially no tweaking to the original settings. Environments were detailed and helped paint the story with color. The game takes you through each family member's room and tells, briefly, their story.

    Outside of that I can't really say there's much more to this story game. There was no gameplay to speak of; no puzzle elements, navigation, or problem solving of any kind. Just press forward to advance through the house.

    The story, the main aspect, was... kinda boring. There were about 3-4 family members whose deaths still remained a complete mystery and you're left guessing at how they died. Most of them died in pretty mundane ways too; no one died doing anything heoric, strange, or interesting. Each family member lived pretty mundane lives that most anyone could have lived. Nothing wacky or stimulating. I mean, yeah, their family is a bit DIY-ish and ambitious (painter, house builder, artist, child actor, etc), but no one achieved any greatness or did anything significant other than dieing clumsily.

    Each family member's story is told very briefly from either their eyes or some artistic recreation, which was cool, but again, brief. Their stories didn't link up too significantly and you didn't get too much of a picture of their full life with the family who clearly is very close with one another.

    There was one part of the story where I became genuinely interested in what was going to happen next (the one concerning Edie and the old house), and then, bam, that story ends, ok on to the next...

    The end was a bit touching, the rest was a snoozefest.    … Expand
  5. Deadraque
    May 17, 2017
    5
    It is pretty, it is well done, especially the Comic book part and the Canary, but it's short and honestly I found it pretty boring, I hoped the story had a surprise in the end but overall it's bland....
  6. yokerclown
    Apr 30, 2017
    7
    Really worth it, than the other titles, that came out at the same time.

    Shortly said: Video game in video game.
    The only thing, that i hated was the ending... BECAUSE IT ENDED. But everything, needs to always end somehow, one way or another.

    WORTH THE BUY!
  7. Idiota150
    May 14, 2017
    5
    Extremely overrated ... what's good is that it's short. The "game" tries to tell a story, but I find it relatively bland and it feels unfinished in the end. "Game", yeah it's not really a game ... you move along a narrow path as the story is being told ... as interactive as turning pages in a book.
  8. patrickstaight
    Jun 2, 2017
    7
    A good experience but not breathtakingly beautiful.
    Mostly I was bumbling around an old house looking for hidden content but finding none. I appreciate the story was going for a subdued elegance and wasn't trying to be a game that rewards you for looking under things. I gave up alt-pathing about half way through and just went along for the ride. Still the game did not reward my    A good experience but not breathtakingly beautiful.
    Mostly I was bumbling around an old house looking for hidden content but finding none. I appreciate the story was going for a subdued elegance and wasn't trying to be a game that rewards you for looking under things. I gave up alt-pathing about half way through and just went along for the ride. Still the game did not reward my compliance.
    As a story, the main theme was basically "yolo". The story didn't challenge my worldview or cause me to think about new things. I didn't find it particularly emotional. I didn't really care about any of the characters and their deaths seemed rather meaningless.
    I felt like it was building up to a big reveal explaining why everyone keeps dying but that release never happened. Maybe I just didn't understand the ending,
    Overall, the void in my life remains. I will keep searching for my perfect game. This one isn't it.    … Expand
  9. sashang
    Nov 17, 2017
    5
    This shouldn't have been a game, it should have been a book instead. Just go read a book. It will be more rewarding then slogging through this crap to get to the game equivalent of the next page.
  10. lagomorph
    May 20, 2017
    7
    Several beautifully-rendered, acted, and told vignettes about strange deaths in a family with a surreal, fantasy style. The storytelling and technical execution of the game are outstanding. However, I rate this as only a 7 for two reasons:

    1) there simply is no gameplay. Halfway through the game, my girlfriend and I realized that we weren't actually "playing," but just walking and    Several beautifully-rendered, acted, and told vignettes about strange deaths in a family with a surreal, fantasy style. The storytelling and technical execution of the game are outstanding. However, I rate this as only a 7 for two reasons:

    1) there simply is no gameplay. Halfway through the game, my girlfriend and I realized that we weren't actually "playing," but just walking and reading, so we switched to Youtube to watch a playthrough (only somewhat frustrating as the player didn't stop to examine the world as often as we would have liked...). There were no decisions to make, no way for the player to influence the story in any way. This was not really a game, but an immersive visual novel. Selling it and rating it as a game is problematic.

    2) The vignettes, while effective, evocative, and beautiful - were ultimately pointless. *SPOILERS* Why and how were the family cursed? What was the mechanism of "breaking" the curse and why did we believe the child would not also die pointlessly? While some of the deaths seemed meaningful - illustrating, perhaps, unhealthy lifestyles [canning factory, hiding in a bunker] - most of the deaths were more style than substance, and ultimately pointless (albeit visually "fun"). The fatal flaw of this story was that the author seemed to have thought of wonderful CONCEPTS for SCENES in a story, or story elements, but did not COMPLETE the story with a unifying message, theme, or plotline. The fatal flaw is that the story leaves you with a feeling of confusion, incompleteness, and frustration, rather than wonder, being intrigued, or thoughtfulness...    … Expand
  11. kezzyhko
    Aug 5, 2020
    7
    ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍
  12. Underpants158
    Feb 21, 2021
    7
    A good solid walking simulator. Basically you are exploring your family house which goes back a couple generations and learning about the lives and deaths of these people. In most of the vignettes about your family members you play as them for a brief snippet of time. Some of them change the tone/visual styling of the game which can be interesting. This game wants to be a moving andA good solid walking simulator. Basically you are exploring your family house which goes back a couple generations and learning about the lives and deaths of these people. In most of the vignettes about your family members you play as them for a brief snippet of time. Some of them change the tone/visual styling of the game which can be interesting. This game wants to be a moving and emotional game. But nothing ever hit me that hard. I can't really say why. This is a game that's quality is defined entirely on how hard the story vignettes hit you. For me it was good, not great.… Expand
  13. ComandanteCobra
    Aug 27, 2019
    7
    An interactive film, almost a demoscene.
    Strange and different, with nice graphics and ideas but very short ( less than 3 hours..like a movie), with no challenge of whatsoever, few interactivity and limited replayability.
    You will play as Edith (in a first person view) during her exploration of the weird Finch family house, learning about the story of Finch unusual family members. The    An interactive film, almost a demoscene.
    Strange and different, with nice graphics and ideas but very short ( less than 3 hours..like a movie), with no challenge of whatsoever, few interactivity and limited replayability.
    You will play as Edith (in a first person view) during her exploration of the weird Finch family house, learning about the story of Finch unusual family members.
    The interesting part of the game is that each story is narrated in a different way, based on some peculiar trait or behavior or skill possessed by that person.
    Some stories are better and longer while others are just weird and last just few minutes.
    To trow an example without spoilers imagine that Edith "uncle Bob" was a skilled glam rock guitarist.
    The player will learn about Bob story while playing an interactive minigame based on music. During this minigame the game graphic (Backgrounds, fonts, point of view, but also ost) will change to resemble a 70's album cover.
    Try it if you like unusual things and sad romantic stories...but beware that is barely a game...and the price of the game should be no more than the price of a dvd movie    … Expand
  14. WhiskeyStories
    Jul 28, 2019
    5
    Ugh... Even though I love "games" of its ilk (Firewatch, Ethan Carter etc.), Edith Finch just wasn't my cup of tea. It's a wonderful display of creativity in its beautiful aesthetics - with its fantastic production and environment design - it is in service of a quirky, yet mediocre story I never really felt invested or engaged in. It's a bad sign when fun is very much already in sparsityUgh... Even though I love "games" of its ilk (Firewatch, Ethan Carter etc.), Edith Finch just wasn't my cup of tea. It's a wonderful display of creativity in its beautiful aesthetics - with its fantastic production and environment design - it is in service of a quirky, yet mediocre story I never really felt invested or engaged in. It's a bad sign when fun is very much already in sparsity in your "gameplay" (it does show up occasionally in cute little ways, though), courtesy of your genre of choice, but when the tale your unravelling isn't the least bit interesting in your VISUAL STORY, you have some big problems.

    While I personally did not enjoy it, I still would recommend What Remains of Edith Finch to certain people i know. It's sort of cute, easy to just jump into and beautiful to look at.
    Don't get the hype, though.    … Expand
  15. passionne
    Jan 8, 2019
    6
    Good :

    - interesting story
    - voice acting

    Bad :

    - gameplay too poor
    - graphics : low resolution textures
    - bad optimization : the game requires a high-end graphic card to play in 4K at 60 fps while graphics are not very good
  16. Hyperactivebuff
    Jan 10, 2019
    7
    [There are no actual spoilers here, but there are references that will have more meaning if you've played the game.]

    You should play this game. Let me get that out of the way straight off the bat. You should play this game. I only gave it a score of 7/10, and I will explain why below, but do not take this to mean I don't think this game is worth experiencing. "What Remains of    [There are no actual spoilers here, but there are references that will have more meaning if you've played the game.]

    You should play this game.

    Let me get that out of the way straight off the bat. You should play this game. I only gave it a score of 7/10, and I will explain why below, but do not take this to mean I don't think this game is worth experiencing.

    "What Remains of Edith Finch" is one of the best arguments for the place that so-called "Walking Simulators" have at the table of gaming. It is a compelling narrative, told by an urgent speaker who is compelling and authentic. At its heart, What Remains of Edith Finch is eulogy. It doesn't try to tell its story with words, because you know the person about whom it speaks. It doesn't show you. Instead, it reminds you of what you already know, and it allows your emotions to make the connections from its few words.

    "Something about the story was familiar", Edith says at one point in her story. And in that quote, you have an excellent summary of the game itself. Throughout this story you are left with emotional stirrings. Evocative, and emotive, rather than logical. You often know what is coming, and more importantly, you often know what is being felt. Whether it's dragging your palm along the air streaming out the passenger side window, or kicking your legs to pump higher and higher, this game is experiental. You live it, and you live it through your own snippets of memory. We have all lived these lives, we have all known these stories, we have all loved this person, and as any good eulogy does, the words and snippets of What Remains draws these memories out of you.

    It's a touching tale, and one you will remember. You should play this game. And luckily, it should be easy to do. Why you ask? Because despite the asking price, it takes about 120 minutes to 100%. And it isn't a perfect experience.

    There are snags. There are moments where you can't tell how to continue the tale and have to backtrack and retrace. There are other times where you backtrack and retrace, and the game lets you do so, only to find that you shouldn't have. These SNAFUs have become expected with walking simulators, but they're frustrating and they take away from the experience. The graphics are suitable, pretty, but not standout. The score is likewise suitable but never particularly compelling. Except maybe with the frog. The lack of a 'run' button is intentional, but cumbersome. It makes areas that were already bordering on frustrating moreso, when they are being experienced. The lack of a 'display clues' button is also intentional and just as cumbersome for all the same reasons. This is not a game that should attempt to 'hide achievements'. It wants you to get the whole story, and it wants you to get the whole story step by step, in an organized manner rather than disjointed and backtracked. Refusal to aide its own design in this regard, perhaps as some defense against the tired 'Walking simulators aren't games' blathering of the unwashed heathens, does the team at Annapurna no favors.

    This is a good game. Some will even consider it a great game. But it's a 2 hour experience that costs as much as $40. If you get this game free, you're right to say it was great. If you bought it for $40 or even $20, you may very well feel far less pleased with it. I think you should play it, but I think you need to understand how brief the play is. And it doesn't benefit from any replaying. I am glad I played this game. I enjoyed it. I would recommend it to anybody. But I don't think it's worth more than about $10 for most people, and it usually goes for a lot more than that.    … Expand
  17. LVCIVS
    Apr 10, 2019
    6
    Its not a bad game. It is focus in the story of this family and the atmosphere of the house, This atmosphere is very important in a walking simulator. So, showing a house with a collection of repeated books without a justification in the history of the family, is ridiculous and breaks the good atmosphere that the game could at first offer.
  18. Mehrshad_MB
    Aug 16, 2021
    7
    What Remains of Edith Finch Is a short but entertaining game with a deep sad story. The game is about a girl who seeks the reason behind the deaths of her family. Mysterious atmosphere all over house of The Finches, the story itself and on top of all the music... they are simply amazing.
    However the main reason I didn't give this game higher score is that it's not really a "game", it's a    What Remains of Edith Finch Is a short but entertaining game with a deep sad story. The game is about a girl who seeks the reason behind the deaths of her family. Mysterious atmosphere all over house of The Finches, the story itself and on top of all the music... they are simply amazing.
    However the main reason I didn't give this game higher score is that it's not really a "game", it's a movie! The only actions you can do in the game is moving around! So it's a walking simulator with a great story.
    Also ending is disappointing in my opinion. It is surprising for sure, but it didn't answer to most of the questions.
    (August 2021)    … Expand
  19. Crimert
    May 6, 2020
    7
    This game isn't as amazing as people mostly claim. But the story-telling is smooth and also the gameplay is really interesting. It is basically a Walking Simulator game but it is a good one. 2hrs on record.
  20. forfeitbee
    Jun 25, 2023
    7
    A captivating story, narrated through genius gameplay choices. However, after the first rooms, it starts to become repetitive and obvious and the drama struggles to be plausible. A good game with a good story, nothing more, nothing less.
  21. hoanns
    Feb 6, 2021
    7
    A beautifully made walking simulator. Audio visually it's great and has some gameplay variety. The story is emotional but a bit absurd and somehow lacks deepness and development.
  22. FRIST_008
    Jun 14, 2021
    7
    Очень необычная игра, но я ожидал большего. Я бы сказал проходняк
  23. Richard_dias
    Aug 15, 2023
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. That game was not for me. The only time i got interested on what was happening were when a boy swung so hard on the tree swing that it went flying and died, and that was probably because I was thinking that I should do it myself instead of finishing the game.
    All jokes aside, I don't know a single person that see this game as bad as I do, so I would say that everyone should give a fair chance, specially those interested in "walking simulators".    … Expand
  24. zyllus
    Mar 16, 2022
    7
    Its a very different game than what I play but it was a good game. The game is very short, about 2 hrs long. It is basically a walking simulator where the character Edith tells and explores her old weird house. You find stuff around the house that lets you see what became of your huge family. Some stories are amazing with their own mini-games while others totally feel like the devs wereIts a very different game than what I play but it was a good game. The game is very short, about 2 hrs long. It is basically a walking simulator where the character Edith tells and explores her old weird house. You find stuff around the house that lets you see what became of your huge family. Some stories are amazing with their own mini-games while others totally feel like the devs were high when they made that story. The game ends with a cliffhanger and you never get to know the story of your father which left a sour taste in my mouth as I was looking for more… Expand
  25. Raul0
    May 2, 2022
    7
    Great soundtrack, brilliant atmosphere and very immersive. Though the presentation of the story was immaculate, the story itself left more to be desired. It was pretty short (only 2 hours) and lacked depth. We couldn't spend long enough with any of the characters to care for them and the game ended without really saying anything meaningful. Still not a bad experience at all and wouldGreat soundtrack, brilliant atmosphere and very immersive. Though the presentation of the story was immaculate, the story itself left more to be desired. It was pretty short (only 2 hours) and lacked depth. We couldn't spend long enough with any of the characters to care for them and the game ended without really saying anything meaningful. Still not a bad experience at all and would recommend buying this if it's on sale.… Expand
  26. MrVali
    Apr 12, 2022
    6
    It promises a good 2 hours. It's just that the story didn't impress me like everyone else. But that doesn't change the fact that you should try.
  27. Thorgils
    May 4, 2023
    6
    It was engaging, but kinda depressing, without really getting something out of it at the end.

Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Best PC Game of 2017
20
#20 Most Discussed PC Game of 2017
64
#64 Most Shared PC Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Jul 5, 2017
    79
    Leisurely exploration of the estate is interspersed with stories about the last days of different Finch family members – and these moments show that developers didn’t just proclaim their love for H.P. Lovecraft, Neil Gaiman and other masters of magical realism, they really know that stuff. Giant Sparrow draws you into the little girl’s dreamworld just as easily as it paints a picture of kingly ambitions of a factory worker. [Issue#221, p.81]
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jul 5, 2017
    80
    Beautiful, bittersweet, artistic, frank and engaging game. Just a shame of the scope that does not allow to move from a captivating start into a completely satisfactory final. [Issue#275]
  3. CD-Action
    Jun 30, 2017
    70
    The game tells intriguing stories and leaves room for interpretation but is short, linear and devoid of true tension. [07/2017, p.60]
See all critic reviews »