Parents' Guide to What Remains of Edith Finch

Sometimes a great story is all you need for the foundation of a great game. What Remains of Edith Finch delivers an eccentric family drama to rival that of some of the best such shows on television. And it all begins with Edith. She springs quickly to life through not only her delicately emotive voice but also the words she scrawls in her notebook, which are superimposed upon the environment as she speaks. She's a solid and sympathetic anchor for her family's tragic tale. Starring alongside her is the house she explores. As the Finch family grew over the course of a century, new additions were constructed on its roof, one atop the other, giving it a bizarre, tower-like appearance. And as family members died, their bedrooms were sealed, creating a fascinating time capsule of who they were at the moments of their deaths. Each of these rooms is loaded with baubles and artifacts that help us understand who they were, along with revealing letters that act as portals to cleverly constructed flashback sequences that let us experience the world from their unique -- and frequently imaginative -- points of view.

Things only begin to trip up a little in the final few moments of the story, when a lot happens all at once -- some of it without satisfactory explanation. A few characters' story threads are left dangling, and one is snipped off prematurely. The conclusion doesn't negate any of the gratifying exploration or exposition that led up to it, but it might leave some players longing for just a little more in the way of resolution. Either way, What Remains of Edith Finch isn't to be missed by anyone interested in narrative-driven first-person exploration games.