When the PlayStation Plus line-up for May 2019 was first announced, I was both glad that more people would have the chance to play What Remains of Edith Finch but also a little worried that it would immediately be written off as not being a big enough game.
According to the like/dislike ratio for the announcement video on YouTube, it looks like many people have already made their minds up about Edith Finch (and Overcooked, to a lesser extent) being a part of this month’s offerings.
Some of the annoyance is understandable. On paper, it doesn’t look like subscribers are getting their money’s worth, especially when compared to what a subscription would get you just a few months back. With no Vita or PlayStation 3 games to offer, subscribers were expecting bigger PS4 games to compensate, which hasn’t really happened.
Historically, subscribers don’t give much thought to games on Plus that aren’t “headline acts”, or those that don’t make a huge fuss of what they are. Way, way back when, I wrote a piece defending Sony’s selections for PlayStation Plus at a time when the pickings were nowhere near as good as they are now. I argued that smaller games being on Plus gave the developers the chance to reach an audience they never could, while also suggesting the financial side of things could help them invest in their future.
For What Remains of Edith Finch, however, I don’t feel like I even need to make that argument. It is just quite simply a magnificent game, one that I would genuinely prefer to play over many of the console’s biggest hitters. It’s unlike anything else on the market.
Labelled as a “walking simulator” (something that’s often said as an insult, for whatever reason) by some, What Remains of Edith Finch doesn’t offer an open world to explore, zombies, a levelling system, or any of the norms. As a narrative-based game, detailing Edith Finch too much would be to ruin it, but I can say that you venture to the Finch household and discover the family’s many tragedies over decades of misfortune with each “scene” being drastically different from the next.
Whether you’re progressively going higher and higher on a swing or taking a fantastical bath, What Remains of Edith Finch has no shortage of scenes to play through that you won’t forget in a hurry. Again, explicitly detailing what makes each of these so great would be to ruin it, but there is one sequence in particular that I can point to that makes Edith Finch an essential time.
Lewis’ story is one that many can relate to, so much so in fact that ever since publishing a video to YouTube on it two years ago, we’ve noticed a constant stream of people singing its praises with a new comment almost every other day. It’s brought people together in such a surprising way; the comments section is filled with people supporting and appreciating each other. That’s not exactly the YouTube way.
A lot of the comments also mention that they weren’t expecting the game to impact them as much as it did, that they shouldn’t have written it off or that they should have sought it out sooner. That’s why I have to implore any cynics to at least give Edith Finch a download and find out for themselves. Give Edith Finch two hours of your life and you will discover an experience that sticks with you for a lot longer.
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