What Remains of Edith Finch

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 880 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 702 out of 880
  2. Mixed: 132 out of 880
  3. Negative: 46 out of 880
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  1. Leon2012
    Sep 9, 2019
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After finishing this game within 1.5 hours I was left with a sense of disappointment. The whole narrative is built around this "curse" that's killing off members of the Finch family and as you play through the story you very quickly see that there is no curse at work here but instead more of unfortunate events.

    A little girl that doesn't get fed properly and eats whatever she can find which causes her death. There is some speculation as to whether she ate poisonous berries or choked to death but if she was allowed to have dinner then this would have been avoided.

    A baby drowns in the tub after being left alone. I knew how this event was going to unfold the second the story for this child began as I noticed a lack of supervision. Supervise the child and the baby lives.

    Another child plays on a swing. A gust of wind later he finds himself soaring over the edge of the cliff. Don't place a swing anywhere near a ledge and this problem doesn't occur.

    A child perishes while playing with his kite during a storm. The rest of the family took shelter but the kid that just gave his father the finger stays outside to play. Maybe if Dad or anyone else present would've made sure everyone made it inside (or discipline the child that just gave you the finger!) then this tragedy would've been avoided.

    Milton disappears so there is a mystery there which I was kind of hoping the game would elaborate on but... it doesn't.

    Then there's Barbara and her significant other. We're left believing that her fans killed her and all that was found was her ear. A chilling tale that leaves us wanting to know more.

    A father that goes hunting and after his daughter shoots a deer he poses with it after his daughter states that the deer is still twitching. The deer knocks him off of a ledge. Solution... Always check to make sure what you shot is dead. I thought that was something most people did after they shot something. I always do.

    One guy gets hit by a train, another drowns, one is under the influence of drugs and eventually commits suicide, one dies of drinking alcohol with medication, and another dies from an unknown illness.

    The only one I had already read about prior to playing was Edith's death which occurs while giving birth (at least that's what I was lead to believe).

    Some of these contain something of a mystery like Barbara (killed or disappeared), Milton (missing), Dawn (unknown illness), and maybe Edith since I don't believe that dying giving birth is very common even though it is still possible.

    Many of these stories can easily be explained and several of them could have been prevented. It didn't take long for me to see that there wasn't a curse at work and I was left hoping that one of those unexplained deaths/disappearances would work their way into the current story to prove that a curse was at play or something more interesting.

    After finishing this game I got 2 trophies and looked at the others as I thought that I might go collect the others but replaying the death of children just seemed kind of sick. Especially the baby. This game has no replay value. I understand that many people enjoyed the change of style that this game brought to the table and it could've been a great story but in the end it just wasn't. It definitely needs a solid mystery that unfolds. Let player's solve the puzzle or do something besides walk and listen.

    This game is unique but just because it's unique does NOT mean that it is good. I got it for free and I wouldn't recommend that anyone even play it for free. It isn't worth the time. Most reviews I've read people put up to 3 hours into and I was baffled. I put just under 1.5 hours into it and can't imagine wasting any more time on it. It could've been a great game. But there just isn't anything in this game to really pull you in especially when you realize that the next death is most likely an easily avoidable one.    … Expand
  2. psylife
    Nov 23, 2017
    0
    A slow and boring interactive story, where the user walks around a house as the narrator delivers on the grotesquely absurd tragic demise of the Finch family. There is absolutely no point to the story, there is no interesting or thought provoking ending that might justify the pain of having to sit through it. You just finish the game with the sensation that you just wasted 3 hours of yourA slow and boring interactive story, where the user walks around a house as the narrator delivers on the grotesquely absurd tragic demise of the Finch family. There is absolutely no point to the story, there is no interesting or thought provoking ending that might justify the pain of having to sit through it. You just finish the game with the sensation that you just wasted 3 hours of your time walking painfully slowly through someone's house. I found FIrewatch far more interesting, and I would easily recommend it above and beyond this game. This is a truly laughable, pointless, time-wasting experience, that tries hard to tear jerk you and eventually fails even at that.… Expand
  3. Mars1922
    Apr 29, 2017
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I couldn't be more disappointed with this game. What the trailer presented and what the game turned out to be were completely different things. I wish I could get a refund of my time and money. I like walking simulators. I like graphic novels with a great story. And therein lies the problem with this game. The visuals are top of the line. Beautiful and realistic graphics. Well designed controls. The sound is without any faults. The story? Not so much. It centers around a teenage girl who comes back to her creepy and mysterious family home after being suddenly forced to leave years ago. She enters the house where all the rooms had been sealed by her mother years ago, and finds her way inside. There she finds journals and documents that explain the family "curse" if you can call it that.Everyone, dating back several decades, is dead. And all of them died disturbing and bizarre deaths. Reading the documents transports you into the final moments of each deceased member of her family. The first, a demented little girl who thinks that a sea monster killed her. A teen former child star whose grim and morbid ending plays out in what I can only describe as a scene stolen directly from Tales of the Crypt. Where she's murdered by...Halloween monsters? A giggling monster with a high pitched voice laughs his way through her story, and at the end, jokes about the only thing left of her being her severed ear. A little boy who kills himself by jumping off a swing in a scene that's over in less than 5 minutes. A toddler who kill himself by drowning in the tub in another 5 minute scene. The scenes are all mostly a few minutes in length, and then you crawl through secret passages into the next hidden room with a new morbid story. The problem is not that it's short. It's the story or stories. You finish the game and learn what happened to the protagonist- which is predictable- and you're still several stories short of what happened to several distant family members. But I couldn't care less. The brief several minute long glimpses into each family member's morbid and disturbing deaths feel short, empty, and pointless. Yes, the deaths are tragedies. But many of them aren't even based in reality, and you learn virtually nothing about each character. Except a short bio and then how they died. In the end everything is perfect...except for the story. If you think you'd enjoy a story about a girl who searches a house and finds journals that has 5 minute playable death scenes, then feel free to spend your time and money. I wish I hadn't. If not? Get Firewatch instead.… Expand
  4. boroddino
    May 27, 2018
    0
    Really bad game. One of the dullest experiences since NMS. The only creative thing are subtitles. Doesn't worth the price, even for free it does not worth playing. It adds nothing substantial at all. Dear Esther had more story and depth.
  5. brunopersio1986
    Apr 6, 2020
    0
    Boring and has some bugs in thophies. A huge waste of time. At least i got it at psn plus.
  6. chr1so
    Oct 21, 2019
    4
    I played this with my wife and I guess pretended to enjoy it for her sake but really, found it boring and just wanted it to end. In saying that, the story is nice (in a tragic kind of way) but the gameplay, while creative & unorthodox, just had me playing through it for the sake of it, without finding it fun. Can see arty types & casuals loving it tho, just not for me.
  7. fadingtrails
    Sep 27, 2022
    3
    The amount of animal cruelty in this game is striking. It's never questioned, or commented on; it's just there.

    Most people will be numb to it, but the lack of empathy (towards non-human animals) on display is significant. "I want you to be amazed that any of us ever had a chance to be here at all." If that's the message the developers want to convey, their portrayal of    The amount of animal cruelty in this game is striking. It's never questioned, or commented on; it's just there.

    Most people will be numb to it, but the lack of empathy (towards non-human animals) on display is significant.

    "I want you to be amazed that any of us ever had a chance to be here at all."

    If that's the message the developers want to convey, their portrayal of unquestioned violence does it a disservice. If the above is true, surely all life would have value, and people would choose not to cause suffering.

    As such, I can't imagine the developers made a conscious choice depicting this amount of gratuitous brutality.    … Expand
  8. danield80
    Nov 18, 2022
    1
    A Morbid, cynical and death-glorifying "game" for suicidal mfs. The gameplay revolves around committing suicide and watching people (mostly children) die.

    Every brainlet would say something very like this "ABSOLUTE AND UNMISSABLE MASTERPIECE, MOVING AND INCREDIBLY IMMERSIVE." Yet, the game is a walking simulator with a "commit suicide" button, the stories about characters' deaths are    A Morbid, cynical and death-glorifying "game" for suicidal mfs. The gameplay revolves around committing suicide and watching people (mostly children) die.

    Every brainlet would say something very like this "ABSOLUTE AND UNMISSABLE MASTERPIECE, MOVING AND INCREDIBLY IMMERSIVE." Yet, the game is a walking simulator with a "commit suicide" button, the stories about characters' deaths are very bizarre, easily avoidable and glorified by the narration.
    The game is a two hour long emetic experience made by immoral sick bucks. There are games that tell dead people's stories without repulsive elements. Kena Bridge of Spirits.

    And on the top of that you play as 20 weeks pregnant 17yo girl.    … Expand
  9. Returnofthekang
    Feb 6, 2020
    2
    An anti-game, an ungame. A 2-hour's worth of an interactive non-entertaining piece of entertainment that won't let you play it as a game and a movie that won't let you watch itself.
  10. KettoKetto
    Jul 10, 2021
    0
    Honestly the worst game I ever played. Super overrated. Everyone loves the story, I dont. And the gameplay is objectibely horrible
  11. ReadFoxx
    Nov 20, 2021
    0
    If you're going to write a book, write a book. If you're going to make a movie, make a movie. If you're going to make a video game, please, for the love of God, make it interactive.
    I just sat through a three hour movie that forced me to hold a controller the entire time for no reason. But hey, I actually played through it, unlike 99% of the reviewers here who are sniffing their own farts    If you're going to write a book, write a book. If you're going to make a movie, make a movie. If you're going to make a video game, please, for the love of God, make it interactive.
    I just sat through a three hour movie that forced me to hold a controller the entire time for no reason. But hey, I actually played through it, unlike 99% of the reviewers here who are sniffing their own farts after watching a trailer.    … Expand
  12. MasajaMasta
    Apr 27, 2023
    3
    All style. Very little substance. Overrated. Definition of oscar-bate for a """"game""""". No wonder it got such "high prise". It's an ideal product for a pretentious critic who wants to think about herself/himself as an art critic connoisseur.

    Actually pretty dumb. All that creativity could have been something great if someone had an actual direction for these people instead o    All style. Very little substance. Overrated. Definition of oscar-bate for a """"game""""". No wonder it got such "high prise". It's an ideal product for a pretentious critic who wants to think about herself/himself as an art critic connoisseur.

    Actually pretty dumb. All that creativity could have been something great if someone had an actual direction for these people instead o everything everywhere at once and "every idea must be used" tossed into a blender. Surface level artsy-fartsy for people who think of themself as "open-minded".

    If this game was a person it would be a person that just talks a lot, doesn't bring anything into the end, and is not able to control it's own emotions, just without any consistency or self-control jumps from subject to subject on a whim, while also being addicted to self-adoration and in need of validation. Like a borderline or something. Maybe it actually is a game for borderline or something. For such high prise that this game got it was one of the blandest GAMING experiences, I had in the last few years. If not for the high prise the game it would be 5 not 3. That is all.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

5
#5 Best PS4 Game of 2017
29
#29 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2017
29
#29 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 65 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 61 out of 65
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 65
  3. Negative: 0 out of 65
  1. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Jun 24, 2017
    90
    It may have little in the way of a challenge and takes around two hours to beat, but this is a masterpiece in storytelling and a game that will punch your feels in their feels. [July 2016, p.97]
  2. games(TM)
    Jun 23, 2017
    90
    A tender exploration of memory, death, and mystery. [Issue#188, p.85]
  3. Games Master UK
    Jun 20, 2017
    90
    An exploration of death and memory, Edith's narration makes the family come alive again. [June 2017, p.79]
See all critic reviews »