What Remains of Edith Finch

Lore & Background

The game's concept grew from creative director Ian Dallas's desire to create an interactive experience evoking a sublime moment. Initially based on scuba diving, the team struggled with narrative conveyance until Dallas conceived of a shark falling into a forest, which became the mini-experience for Molly Finch. This sparked the development of other strange scenarios where the player knows the characters are about to die. The game's development involved breaking out to create various vignettes that capture this sense, giving the player something interesting to watch or do while their characters face death.

The Finch family is believed to be cursed due to frequent untimely deaths. The story begins with Odin Finch emigrating from Norway in 1937 after his wife and newborn son die, ferrying his house with him. After Odin drowns, the remaining family builds a new home. Deaths include Molly at 10 from ingesting toothpaste and holly berries, Barbara at 16 murdered after an argument, Calvin at 11 falling from a cliff, Sven at 49 in a construction accident, and Walter at 53 hit by a train after 30 years in a bunker. Sam falls at 33 after being bucked from a cliff by a deer, Gregory drowns at 22 months, Gus is crushed by a totem pole at 13, and Lewis commits suicide at 21 by cutting his head off with a fish-cutting machine. Edie dies at 93 after consuming alcohol with prescription medication. Dawn seals off bedrooms and forbids learning about family history, but Edith eventually returns to discover these stories.

The game is presented as Edith's journal, which she writes for her unborn child in case she dies. The final scene reveals the initial player character is Edith's son Christopher, Edith having died during labor in 2017. Christopher places flowers on his mother's grave at an unspecified future time.

Reader's Guide

What Remains of Edith Finch received critical acclaim for its immersive storytelling, characters, and presentation. It won the British Academy Games Award for Best Game 2017 and the Best Narrative category at both The Game Awards 2017 and the 2018 Game Developers Choice Awards. The game is considered an example of video games as an art form. Its narrative approach uses unique media from multiple perspectives, with vignettes varying wildly in medium, perspective, genre, stylization, and gameplay mechanics. The player is made to doubt the authenticity of each story, touching on themes of free will, fate, memory, and death. The game's development by Giant Sparrow, following their BAFTA-winning debut The Unfinished Swan, involved creating scenarios that evoke a sense of the sublime while knowing characters are about to die. The game was released in 2017 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, with later releases for Nintendo Switch in 2019, iOS in 2021, and PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2022.

Did You Know?

• The game's concept grew from creative director Ian Dallas's experience as a scuba diver in Washington State.
• The Molly Finch vignette originated from the idea of a shark falling into a forest.
• Edith Finch is pregnant during the game, which the player can discover by looking straight down.