What Remains of Edith Finch 12+

I’ve been playing for a couple of days now and it seems like an interesting storyline (if a little disturbing), but I’m finding the interface very frustrating (I’m playing on an iPhone 7). Trying to master how to move around, especially when you reach the stage of being the animals, I am finding to be really quite fiddly and time consuming. I’m hoping I become more comfortable with it as time goes by!

UPDATED. The crashing bug now seems to have been fixed in a recent update.

What remains of Edith Finch is an interactive series of short stories about the demise of each member of the Finch family, believed to be cursed. The gameplay mostly involves a narrative driven, first person exploration of the family home, attempting to gain access to the rooms where each story unfolds. It takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Some of the stories are easily understood and logical, whilst others are quite strange, and are left to the player to use their own imagination as to what might have happened. I found all the family tales entertaining, and although most of them are tragic, parts of the stories and interactions whilst experiencing them brought a smile to my face. Each individual story can be replayed once you have completed the game, with my favourites being Barbara's, Lewis', and Gregory's (though this one is very sad). As stated, it's more of an experience rather than a game, there isn't a great deal to do other than minor interactions which move the story along. Overall, an enjoyable exploration game with an interesting story to enjoy.

So after much difficulty trying to play this game on my iPad I encountered a crash I couldn’t pass so got a refund, however I still longed to play this game and decided to take a risk and buy it again on my iPhone, this time it worked and the game was worth all the frustrations, it is an absolute marvel of creativity, probably my favourite game experience along with Dear Esther, so much variety in gameplay and story telling ideas. I was completely absorbed by the family of finches. It is beautiful and poignant and I absolutely adored Barbara’s story…very clever, and quite creepy. Such a shame not to be able to do this game justice on a bigger screen but I’m sure the bugs will be ironed out as it is an absolute masterpiece. Well done for such originality!

Edit: I’ve just finished and wow completely blown away the ending was perfect and I loved seeing all the pictures especially Megan’s. What an incredible experience such imagination and I loved every minute, I feel so lucky to be given such enjoyment from talented people such as these.