In the few years the company has been around, Annapurna Interactive has established itself as the go-to publisher for the indie game development community. While nearly every game Annapurna has produced has had at least reasonable success, the publisher’s latest offering is, strayedhas become one of the most critically and commercially successful games of 2022, breaking Annapurna’s PC launch record in less than a day and garnering a huge following of fans who have made their love for the game clear.
while many strayed fans may feel overwhelmed by the agonizing prospect of waiting what could take years for a possible sequel, Annapurna’s extensive library of previously released titles includes more than a few high-quality games that can make that wait that little bit more bearable. While the premise and protagonist may not be as charming as strayed’s, What’s left of Edith Finch offers a unique and captivating experience that is sure to entertain fans who want to relive the magic of playing strayed For the first time.
Developed by Giant Sparrow, What’s left of Edith Finch is a first-person environmental story game that follows the story of the titular teenage protagonist, who recently inherited her family’s ancestral home, a huge mansion built on an island off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Armed with nothing but the front door key and her notebook, Edith returns to the long-abandoned “Finch House” to unravel the mysterious deaths of all her relatives, who are said to have succumbed to a hereditary curse that causes one after all of the Finch family’s current generation dies young due to unusual circumstances.
From a story and gameplay perspective, What’s left of Edith Finch is about exploration. As Edith, players navigate the grounds and inside of the Finch House looking for ways to enter the locked rooms of Edith’s various relatives, which contain macabre shrines to their former residents. Getting to these shrines usually involves discovering and navigating secret paths hidden in and around the mansion. Fortunately, Edith’s narration physically manifests itself in many forms in the in-game world, often in ways that subtly point the player towards the next goal.
When the player interacts with the shrine in one of the rooms of the Finch family members, they are transported into short, playable “flashbacks” that reveal how that member died. During these segments, the gameplay and visual style of the game changes drastically, often to reflect the life and death of the family members, as well as how each was remembered by their next of kin. As the player learns more and more about Edith’s relatives, they slowly come to understand the Finch family and the mysterious curse that has supposedly haunted them for generations.
Like strayed, What’s left of Edith Finch is a game that strives to create a niche experience that is as recognizable as it is unusual. While the game’s protagonist may not be as unorthodox as strayed‘s, the history of the Finch family is as mysterious and layered as that of strayed‘s underground mechanical metropolis, and unraveling its many secrets is just as satisfying. During the approximately two-hour runtime, What’s left of Edith Finch explores the lives of three generations of Finches, with the stories of their life and death with an almost mythical quality that obscures the true nature of the Finch family curse.
While the title’s macabre story occasionally wanders into the realm of horror, there are also plenty of moments of comedy and optimism that keep the game from being too much of a downer. By the time it’s over, What’s left of Edith Finch allows the player to walk away with a bittersweet sense of catharsis that perfectly sums up the tragic yet inspiring message about the fragility, surreality and majesty of life.
With the recent re-release on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, What’s left of Edith Finch is more accessible than ever. Like a story about seeing the world through unconventional perspectivesWhat’s left of Edith Finch is an excellent spiritual pastor that fans of strayed must not pass.
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