THE GREAT ESCAPE
Also for: Nintendo Switch, Windows, Windows Apps, Xbox One
In my dreams, I often revisit places in my past. They are the homes I grew up
in, or houses of relatives I frequently visited as a child. The situation feels familiar and comforting, but things don't look quite the way they used to in the waking world. The rooms
are rearranged. New ones have emerged where they logically couldn't, and
sometimes I discover new spaces behind panels I didn't know were doors.
Something is different. It has expanded. But since I see signs of my family living there, it feels like a warm embrace. I'm glad to see
everybody is alive and happy. It feels like I'm back home.
What Remains of Edith Finch (developer Giant Sparrow's second
game) plays like the depiction of such a dream, except it is not my home.
You control Edith Finch, a girl returning home to an empty house after many
years of absence. The Washington State house dates back to late 19th century,
when her great-grandmother and namesake, called Edie Finch, moved in with her
parents from their home in Norway. She was a lover of stories, as is evident
by the absurd amount of books contained within. A great number of relatives
has lived there ever since, and the house has grown as a result.
Your purpose there is to dig into Edith's own unfortunate lineage and discover
why, in such a big family, she's the only one still standing. Why does but one
single child of each generation survive? Is the family cursed? Or is it just
happenstance? You explore the house, room-by-room, in first person and reveal
the different stories of your ancestors and distant relatives. Edith herself
narrates the search, and her inner monologue is visualized through text
messages appearing in the environments.
The answers to the mystery are cloaked in layers upon layers of family legends and
retellings of wildly varying tones and content. You can not always be certain
of what's truth or fiction, since you cannot necessarily trust the narrator,
but most of the stories end with pretty strong implications. Edith herself had
two older brothers, but we quickly learn that one died at the age of 22 and
the other disappeared without a trace somewhere on the premises.
It's a painfully beautiful game, and a consise and well-directed experience
aided by exquisite audio design. The Finch house lies secluded on an island
accessible only by ferry. It rests on a cliff by the Pacific, rising above the
surrounding forest. Realistically, it should not be able to exist. It looks
like the design of someone with their head in the clouds.
Built upon the
foundations of an ordinary home, it haphazardly reaches for the skies without
any sense of equilibirum, as if someone added rooms by
playing Tetris very poorly. It should have collapsed long
ago, and yet it still stands. Of course, it could be argued that it attempts
to resemble a literal family tree, with each room representing a family member. The higher you get, the closer you are to
present day.
What Remains of Edith Finch is a masterclass in the economics of video game
narration. Every step of your investigation feels unique. It never repeats
itself. Every room is carefully decorated, and every object is meticulously placed to tell you something
about a certain character. The narration comes in brief statements, like a
series of hypnotic tweets, making the facts reach you almost by osmosis. Each
story is presented through a gameplay segment so simplistic it takes none of
the attention away from the storytelling.
One of the simpler segments has you riding a swing by moving the controller
sticks back and forth. Another story is told through a flip book animation.
One of the more elaborate controls like a Halloween-inspired slasher
FPS. All throughout the narrator fills in the gaps with insightful,
understated commentary, explaining the circumstances of your gameplay but
leaving it to the player to fill in the emotional blanks. And all of them end
with the death of that character.
And that's where the theme of escapism kicks in. What starts off as a mystery
waiting to be cracked gradually evolves into ruminations about the harsh
reality of life itself, and the burden of the dreams we carry to escape it.
What happens when these dreams become larger than life, and their boundaries
start to break? What is left when life forces itself upon us and the dreams no
longer can sustain our livelihood?
Escapism versus reality is one of my favorite themes, with its own innate
conflict. This is the first time I've come across it in a video game, a format
traditionally existing only to nurture such dreams. This conflict is uncommon
enough in other media as well, but we've seen it handled by popular movies
like The Matrix, and more thoughtfully so in my favorite film, the
Japanese classic The Woman in the Dunes (1964), which left me
totally devastated.
This is also true of What Remains of Edith Finch. I am amazed by Giant
Sparrow's compassion and understanding concerning the existential struggles of
the everyman, as well as the more high profile citizens who seem so much closer to
fulfilling their dream. With a rich and colorful gallery of characters, the game
constantly hits home with its tonal dynamic. It touches upon a lot of
different aspects of life, its joys and hardships, by great skill masquerading
as simple, yet effective storytelling.
What Remains of Edith Finch is a brief journey that begins well and gets
stronger with every passing minute. Like the house you explore it combines
little details to build an impossibly monumental experience. Although it could
hardly have existed without the trailblazing efforts by a game like
Gone Home, it manages to tower above the rest of the gaming landscape
as something entirely unique. One can only wonder how it holds together so
well. It only took me a few hours to finish but I'll carry it with me for the
rest of my days.
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