Review What Remains of Edith Finch — tour of house of the dead

Hardly in the whole of human culture is the concept more universal than “home” and “family”. Home is the place where we return to rest from the miseries and troubles of the big world. Family is people who love and understand you, who always support in difficult times and not hide secrets. And let the outside a raging storm — in the concrete walls of the apartment, under the stone arches of the castle, in an ice Igloo or a grass shack always prevail warm and at rest. In any case, it should be.

The valley of the shadow of death

To find this idyll Finchy tried in vain for several generations. Odin in search of a better life fled from his native Norway by the epidemic and of the family curse, but the safe Harbor did not see. His daughter Edith and son-in-law Sven built on new American soil spacious and beautiful home, but did not find in it happiness — Edith is survived his children. Someone she was buried as adults, someone is in infancy… some died because of the ridiculous coincidence, the death of the other remained a mystery. As the years passed, the mansion overgrown with new floors, the younger generation grew up and returned to the old house, in order not to leave him. Edith had to put a new headstone, now for the grandchildren and then great-grandchildren. And the memory of them the woman has not ceased to cherish, leaving bedrooms intact gone and drawing their portraits.

This continued up until the entire family left only one girl in honor of the great-grandmother was also called Edith. Her always carefully concealed family history, hoping thereby to keep out of trouble. But years of silence, burden on the fragile shoulders: silence raises questions, doubts and guesses, sows distrust — but not save, but kills. And the last of the family will have to find answers to their questions in the long-vacant building.

The house that built Finch

Almost unthinkable in architectural terms the house — the main treasure What Remains of Edith Finch, a living organism, and a character biography which we will learn during the trip, Edith. From the side it looks more like a fantasy Wes Anderson, rather than the real structure — should be inside, as you know — here you were born, breathed, ate, slept and died real people.

Each room is fully decomposed whimsical detail that say about the character of the occupant, better than any words. Here is a hastily discarded uniforms the waitresses, the pictures from the magazines and the unclosed tube of lipstick in boudoir beauty Barbara. Here military posters on the walls, encyclopedia of the generals and the army of toy soldiers, frozen in anticipation of orders in the bedroom, little Sam. Here Sam grew up, served, married, built like a barracks floor for its own negligent offspring, the walls hung tight schedule (after nine in the evening no noise!).

Plush zoos, piles of collections with recipes thrown handcraft, rusty tools and bottles of wine — all of this is here. Anyone who has ever been in the apartment, which is divided among several generations, will feel like home from the Finches learned in one of the family members themselves, their relatives or friends.

It seems, in this sense of acquaintance, in this intimacy lies the beauty of What Remains of Edith Finch. All her characters — ordinary people with, in General, very simple, familiar lives and even their deaths bear the imprint of the ordinary. In any other game they would be deprived of replicas extras, against which there is an exciting and extraordinary adventure of the hero. Here they find their own voice and not to feel sorry for them, not to smile in their joy and not share with them their sorrow just does not work.

“What dreams in that sleep of death will dream…”

And all the more will come to stay indifferent at the sight of death. A total of twelve — and each is represented by a separate mini-game. Despite the abundance of sad events, What Remains… is not slipping neither dill, nor in the monotony — an incredible achievement, especially considering that the outcome is known beforehand.

Each vignette its own gameplay and style. The mechanics are very simple and for the most part sacrificed of history — but this story is worth it. And minor flaws like not too convenient control — on the contrary, are loud complaints. All the other elements: and incredibly beautiful, full of different parts of picture and text and voice intertwine perfectly complementing each other.

From the story of little Molly has weird cold Lovecraftian horror, the fate of starlet Barbara tells a comic, and the disappearance of Milton’s shown through the cute hand-drawn cartoon. Most of the tragedies here is easily explained, predictable and even somewhat ridiculous. But even the most simple, exactly what the tears welling in his eyes. After all, we are somehow faced similar losses, or at least know of those who moved — and these feelings are transferred with incredible precision. As the emotions that each character experienced before the inevitable death.

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But despite this, What Remains of Edith Finch — not about grief and death. It’s incredibly precise and expertly directed interactive story about the people who desperately tried to find their family happiness but didn’t know how. The story of how, despite the endless, seemingly suffering, they found the strength to rejoice, endowed than their fate. That sometimes you just have to look around, learn to appreciate what you have and accept your fate for what it is. And above all it is the story of that life always continues.

Advantages:

• very believable and beautiful interiors;
• all mini-games intuitive;
• great job voice actors;
• even everyday stories exciting;
• atmospheric soundtrack.

Disadvantages:

• not too responsive controls in some segments;
• small duration, which may seem insufficient;
• fans of challenging gameplay here is nothing to catch;
• localization is somewhat disappoint.

Output

• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4
• Developer: Giant Sparrow
• Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
• Release date in Russia: April 25, 2017
• Localization: Russian interface and subtitles
• Similar games: The Unfinished Swan, Gone Home, Dear Esther, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
• Is it worth buying now? Yes

Download for PlayStation 4

Download for PC

Author: Pauline Esakova

Source: 4pda.ru