Edith Finch and Gone Home Review

What Did I Just Play?

A Gaming Review By Zane Wetzel

When I play video games, I usually like to play ones that will keep me preoccupied for several days, months even, with the amount of content that they have. Every now and then, though, I find a short video game that I think is worth my time. As part of the homework for my “Interactive Story-Telling through Video Games” class, I had to play two short games: one that I did enjoy, and one that I didn’t.

Maybe it was the Northwest setting, but this game seemed to remind me of Gravity Falls in terms of mystery

Let’s start off with the one that I did enjoy, What Remains of Edith Finch from Giant Sparrow. The game came out less than a year ago on Windows and Console, so it’s relatively recent. It’s a first-person drama with an emphasis on storytelling, something that it manages to master in the way only a video game can. You play as the last surviving member of the Finches, a family that is supposedly cursed with misfortune, as you explore their abandoned home. Home, though, may be an understatement, as it’s more like a cool cross between a castle and an apartment, with each story built by succeeding generations on top of another. Despite the space, though, most of the rooms have been sealed off after their respective occupants died, forcing you to crawl and climb through other means to get inside. Once you are, though, you get access to a neat story-telling mechanic: you get to enjoy a flashback showing the fates of each member of the Finch family, with each one being unique in how its told. One of them was told in the form of a comic book, with the graphics even changing to fit the cell-shading format comic based games usually take; it’s amazing. By the end of the game, you’ll feel like you understand each member of the Finch family, down to their individual faults and personalities.

How was this game worth $15? I finished it in an hour

In contrast, the other game that I had to play was Gone Home, and compared to Edith Finch, I felt like this one fell short of my expectations. While Edith Finch felt more like an actual game in terms of mechanics, Gone Home felt more like a regular story. In the latter, you arrive home after traveling abroad only to find the house abandoned in a thunderstorm, and you have piece together what happened to your family. This is where Gone Home shines, however: while Edith Finch did a good job of immersing you in the story, Gone Home takes it a step further by letting poke around, pick up and hold nearly every object found in the house. Taking place in 1995, the game manages to make plenty of references to the culture of the time; I thought the references to Street Fighter and the NES were a clever touch. As for the story itself, players have to slowly piece it together as they explore the house, and while it does lead to an impressive build-up, the ending kind of fell flat for me.

After playing through both games, I honestly feel that Edith Finch is the more enjoyable one. While Gone Home may have tried to do more with its story, when it comes down to it, I didn’t think it was that interesting. Just call it my personal preference. I liked the flashbacks and the surrealism that I got when I played them in Edith Finch, while Gone Home just felt uninteresting in comparison. Gone Home does have a good story and mechanics, though I think it could benefit from the flashbacks that Edith Finch gave us to tell its story. In the end, what remains of Gone Home pales against Edith Finch.