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What Remains of Edith Finch · The Long and Short of It

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Thanks for checking out the Long and Short of It podcast.
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You can find us on all good podcast platforms.
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Please consider following or subscribing.
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We hope you enjoy the show. Hello, and welcome to the Long
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and Short of It, the podcast where we discuss each of the
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games on the Open Critic Top 100 list.
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My name's Lawrence and I'm joined by.
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This is Dan, welcome to the podcast.
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Welcome back. It is but six days, I believe,
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until your wedding. It's getting getting pretty
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close now, isn't it? Yes, six days today, so it all
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sort of ramps up tomorrow. Heading over to Conniston for
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the week, yes. So I'm still pretty calm to be
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honest. Probably probably need to buy a
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suit, don't you? And buy some rings and start
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start sorting sorting things out.
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Yeah, and probably book the venue and and such and invite
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the guests. That's right.
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Then we'll have ourselves a little.
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Wedding that's right, you will will that will there be will
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there be caviar on the premises? No, there won't be no caviar.
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You will be eating fish, anchovies, fish heads
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exclusively. A bucket of fish heads like
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Bart's twin brother from the tree house.
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Of pies Mary Fishmass to you. Mary Fishmass to all of us.
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And it's your family. And Yep, everyone.
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Fantastic. Well, that's that's great news.
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Well, with that little diversion out of the way, we shall proceed
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as as planned. So.
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To a fishy game, actually. A bit of a fishy game indeed.
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We we talked last week about Dear Ester, which is of course a
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walking simulator. We also noted with Dan getting
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married in the next kind of week or so and then him going on his
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honeymoon, things are going to be a little bit all over the
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place. So we're doing kind of shorter
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games at the moment to try and fill the void whilst busyness
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ensues. So today we're actually doing
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another walking simulator which we mentioned.
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Because we know how much you love them.
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So yeah. Exactly.
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Why not? We just love a walking SIM,
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don't we? Yeah, that's what that is.
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But yeah, so we mentioned this one last time, but today we're
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going to be talking about What Remains of Edith Finch.
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So Edith Finch. Not even Edith Finch.
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What Remains of Edith Finch came out in 2017 and was developed by
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Giant Sparrow. It has an open critic rating of
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88. I did a little digging.
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Pretty high. Yeah, I did a bit of digging
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through the list and it comes in at #186 So it is in the open
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critic list, but not in the top 100.
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But you know, nevermind. But before we get into the
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story, our history with the game, etcetera, etcetera, I will
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read you. There wasn't a physical box when
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this game came out because it's a bit of an indie game, so I'll
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read you the blurb that is written about it on Steam.
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So what Remains of Edith Finch is a collection of strange tales
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about a family in Washington state.
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As Edith, you'll explore the colossal Finch house, searching
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for stories as she explores her family history and tries to
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figure out why she's the last one in her family left alive.
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So when I when I first played this game, I did get a feeling
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of it being a little bit creepy, like a bit of a horror game
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until I actually kind of got a couple of hours, Well, about an
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hour into it and I realised that it wasn't.
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And for anyone that's heard of it or knows it, it has a bit of
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a vibe about it of another walking esque simulator indie
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game called Gone Home, which came out about 10 years ago I
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think. So we've both played this
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before. So what's your history with this
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game and where did you play it? So I have, yeah, completed this
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before. When I got the PS4, I got it a
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bit late and I was kind of just smashing through games.
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And a lot of those were indie games.
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I was kind of exploring on the PlayStation Store, picking up
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one indie game after another and playing them and digesting them
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and moving on. So what Remains of Edith Finch
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was a yeah, as you say, it's a walking simulator that I'd heard
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of, and I'd played a few other ones at that time.
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So I did play Gone Home. I wasn't blown away by Gone
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Home, to be quite honest. I think the height for that game
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was through the roof and yeah, just didn't really massively
4:57
vibe with it. Maybe we'll come to that at some
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point as well. So I also played The Vanishing
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of Ethan Carter, which is pretty good as well and came to this
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game and I remember enjoying it. I wouldn't say it necessarily
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resonated as strongly with me as it does some people, but I
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enjoyed it and I could appreciate what it was going
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for. And actually this time I
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replayed it on my Switch to put it on my wish list, and it
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actually was put on offer for like 4 LB something just before
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we started recording. So I played through on my Switch
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2 over the last couple of days and it's a very short game, 2
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1/2 hours. And yeah, I'd say I enjoyed it a
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little bit more. Yeah, it's quite a nice Switch
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off game really, isn't it? Yeah, it's, I played this on the
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Switch 2 as well and I've played it quite a few times before on
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the PlayStation. So I, it must have been about
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2018, maybe 2019 perhaps. I used to have, going back a
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while, I used to have an Instagram page where I'd upload
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like, so I used to collect retro games and stuff.
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I had a page where I would upload just random gaming stuff
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on there and I had, I don't know, like 1000 followers or
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something. Nothing major, but I got talking
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to a lot of people and there was a girl that I am, I got talking
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to back then who I actually ended up meeting up with Once
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Upon a Time in Oxford. And we got on quite well.
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And we were talking about, I think she was playing Control,
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you know, that game that came out on the PS Five.
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Yeah. Yeah, it came out on PS4.
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It came out on PS-5. So it was.
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Like a David Fremmer kind of game, isn't it?
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Yes, it's made by Remedy, creators of Adam Wake.
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Yeah, so she was playing that and you found out that you could
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do like a cross play thing on PlayStation and she was
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struggling with this bit. So I could sign into it and try
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and complete that that bit for her and.
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What was she struggling with in this game?
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There was like a massive BLOB or something.
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Not in Edie Finch in control. Sorry, I was going to.
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I was going to say. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Not in this game. In control.
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It was like a massive BLOB or something.
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So I'd like signed in and I managed to do it for her, like
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streaming it. It's weird, I didn't know the
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Playstations could do that. And we were talking, she's like,
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have you ever played What Remains of Edith Finch?
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I was like, no, I've heard of it, but I've not played it.
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She was like, you need to play it and I want you to tell me
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what you think of it, particularly this section in the
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Cannery, which we mentioned in the last episode.
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So I played through it and I I quite liked it.
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It didn't blow me away or anything, but but I enjoyed it
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and subsequently I go back to play this game every couple of
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years probably. So this is maybe the third or
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fourth time that I've played through it and I'm on the other
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side of the fence to you. I think I do get why this game
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has such high praise. And I'll be honest, like I
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really, really like this game and I think we've mentioned it
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many times on the podcast before.
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Gameplay, Gameplay is king, as is the the section our podcast
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suggests. But gameplay is usually
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secondary to me. If a story has a good game or a
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good narration that grips me, then that's usually enough.
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And I find that the story in this game not isn't affecting.
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But I don't know, there's something about it that keeps me
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coming back and wanting to play it again and again.
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So with that said, we'll we'll discuss the the story.
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And this is one of those games that for me, I would say if
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you're listening to this episode and you've not played it before,
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I would recommend going to play it before listening because
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we're going to go into full spoilers for the story.
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And I think that this is one of those games that is better to be
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experienced and played rather than just hear some guys talking
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about, which is often what we do.
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But yeah, so there's your spoiler warning.
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Go and play this game if you haven't.
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It's not expensive, it's a few quid.
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Or Great British poem. Exactly on the on the switch, if
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you're listening at time of recording.
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So would you like to give us a bit of an overview as to what
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the story is of What Remains of Edith Finch, please?
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Yeah, so, so I was thinking about this just a moment ago,
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and the overarching narrative is, is pretty hard to describe.
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So essentially you are Edith Finch and you return to your
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childhood home where something has happened and basically many
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of the rooms are locked up and it's your voyage of discovery as
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to what happened to your family. Lots of family members died and
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sort of how you come to terms with that, but also how the next
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generation lives on through your child as it as it is revealed
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that you are pregnant. So over the course of the game,
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it's revealed that there's a a quote unquote curse on the Finch
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family. Yeah, one of the great, great
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grandparents of Edith Finch moved their house from
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Scandinavia, but it was lost in the water.
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And you can actually see it from where the new house was built.
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This this remnant, this ruin of an old house, which somehow he
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had tried to transport over by sea.
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It's a quirky game and that so that's that's the curse element
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of it. But there's also like,
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individual stories for each of the characters.
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So there's a a brother that went missing, There's lots of death,
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obviously there's the the child movie star who grew up and was
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coming to tones with her fame. Yeah, there's lots of nice
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little bite size stories in here.
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And it it all comes to a sort of head why they left on a
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particular night. And I mean, the reason why they
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left is, is because of this so-called curse.
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But it's not like some massive event.
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I think it's triggered by the death of her brother.
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But in a long line of deaths, that's just another death,
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really. But yeah.
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Yeah, it's the the the game itself in the story is all lined
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up with the individual stories of the individuals.
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And as you open I lost a a fair bit of your audio there.
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I don't know if there's an issue going on with our phones, but I
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think that when you when you open up the pause menu, there's
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a family tree and it has the names of all of the people from
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the the first person really noted, which is Odin, who's the,
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the family member who tries to sail over the family house from,
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as you say, Scandinavia in 1917 or 1937 even.
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And the story goes from there. And the main gameplay loop of
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this is kind of exploring more areas of the house and locking
12:35
doors and learning about the fates of how that how the
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apparent curse killed each like owner of that bedroom in in a
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different way. And each section has like a
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different gameplay elements. And I mean, I find that the
12:55
first few aunt is, is interesting.
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Like the first one that you experience is Edith, Edith's
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great aunt, I think Molly, who is a 10 year old girl.
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Yeah, she she, she complaints about being absolutely starving
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locked in her room. So she eats her gerbils, carrot.
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She then eats a tube of toothpaste and then eats some
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red berries off like a holly Bush in her bathroom.
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And from there, she begins to think of herself as a cat
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chasing a bird up a tree and then from there becomes an owl
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eating a rabbit and starts choking on it before becoming a
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shark and then a monster. And I think that like within
13:48
that, like when she starts choking on this rabbit is the
13:50
owl, it's her potentially choking on on her own vomit or
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something, because one of the the berries that she ate before
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she started having these imagination things is toxic.
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And I think that's makes sense potentially how she died.
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And then you've got other ones like Gregory or she.
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Hallucinated by the berries and. Pretty much, yeah.
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And then you've got like just very obvious ones, like a baby
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Gregory who dies in the 1970s. And he, his parents were getting
14:23
into an argument. They forgot that the bath was
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being drawn and. I quite like that one.
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He, yeah, he drowns in the bath. And I think that there are a lot
14:32
of affecting stories in this game.
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And the story of Edith's uncle or great uncle Walter, who
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because of the curse and because of what he saw happened to his
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sister Barbara. The the kind of the movie star.
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He locks himself in a bunker for 30-40 years and comes out and is
14:54
apparently hit by a train. But when you go down to find
14:57
that area later, there isn't a train track there.
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So is it the case that maybe he just came out and decided that
15:03
he didn't want to, you know, live on anymore and jumped off?
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So there is a train track, isn't there, but it doesn't go
15:10
anywhere. It just, yeah.
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So it's either the case that it's either kind of crumbled in
15:16
there because I think he dies in 2005 and the game takes place in
15:19
2017. So it's entirely possible.
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And yeah, I think that it it has a it has a tinge of sadness
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about it, particularly at the end of the game when you're
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playing through this game and it's being narrated by Edith,
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who is the first time back at this house since the night that
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they all left. And everything is exactly as
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they left it on the night they they they went only to find out
15:48
that, like you say, she's pregnant And she I think the
15:53
insinuation is that she dies in childbirth.
15:56
And then the game kind of ends with her son Christopher
16:00
visiting her grave at the family cemetery in the house and
16:06
LinkedIn with the story. I'll give you a bit of a a
16:08
little. Did you know as we like a did
16:10
you know these days one of the members of the family which is
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Edith's brother, not Lewis, who I I think has the best story in
16:21
the game in my opinion, but Milton who he just disappears.
16:27
They never work out what happened to him and even on his
16:29
door all of the family have like their year of birth and their
16:34
year of death on there. However, Milton's just says 1992
16:38
till nothing, which suggests that maybe Edith's mum never
16:42
really accepted that he probably he probably died.
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But Milton is the one that no one really has much information
16:50
on, and it appears that he is a very talented artist who he
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makes this flip book that he leaves behind this magic brush
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and he paints this door, goes through it, and then the door
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disappears, which is obviously in line with him disappearing.
17:10
But Giant Sparrow, the developers of this game, they
17:15
bought out a prequel. Not a prequel, but a game before
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What Remains of Edith Finch called Unfinished Swan.
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Yeah, I've completed. It I've not, I've never played
17:23
it, but. It's really good.
17:25
It's. Everything I've seen of it, it
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looks really interesting. It's exactly like the the story
17:32
of Lewis, except bigger. Well, apparently it's been
17:37
confirmed that the. Because you play as a king in
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that game, don't you? Yeah.
17:42
So the king is Milton. OK.
17:46
So it's not really a prequel because Unfinished Swan is its
17:49
own thing, but it's been confirmed by the developers that
17:53
obviously Milton goes missing with this magic brush idea and
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the world that he creates is the game of Unfinished Swan.
18:03
So the games are kind of LinkedIn a certain way.
18:07
So yeah, I only found that out today, but I thought that's
18:09
quite a cool little. Yeah, that's an interesting
18:12
link. Call it all tidbit.
18:14
So gameplay is king. This is a walking simulator.
18:18
It's very different to Dear Ester in that Dear Ester is
18:22
literally just walking, whereas there is a bit more to do in
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Edith Finch. So you can't really say what's
18:30
your favourite move or what was your favourite bit, but what was
18:33
your favourite section? To play through taking one step
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to another. Yeah, putting right foot, left
18:39
foot. Yeah, that's not his favourite
18:41
bit, was it? Yeah, that's got.
18:44
That's got to be out there. Well, I'd say so.
18:46
Which means it's a good walking simulator, so you know.
18:49
So my my favourite section in having having reflected on this
18:57
game after having played it twice is probably the nod to the
19:06
film Halloween, Yeah, which is Barbara's story.
19:11
That's cool. I like the way that it's set up
19:15
through sort of Penny Dreadful comic and you've got this creepy
19:23
voice over. Something Jack and what he's
19:26
called something Jack. Yeah, yeah.
19:29
So, so basically, Barbara was a child star.
19:34
And as she grew older her her fame faded and she was renowned
19:40
in her youth for her scream and she was one of the scream
19:44
Queens. So when she was older she lost
19:48
her scream. And through this story it's all
19:52
about her rediscovering her scream.
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But due to her rabid fandom they basically kill her.
20:02
It's implied and she lets out a huge scream and she reclaims her
20:05
scream but she dies. But as part of this, there's
20:10
like a hook man stalker on the loose.
20:13
You play in the house, the art star was all changed up and
20:17
you've got is it a shovel that you've got or or a crutch?
20:23
Yeah. A crutch.
20:24
That's it. Yeah.
20:24
So you're using a crutch and you can hit things with the crutch.
20:29
So. Yeah.
20:30
And throughout this whole time, the the iconic music from the
20:36
Halloween films, it's particularly the original is, is
20:39
playing over it and it's just a nice little homage.
20:44
And yeah, I just like it. It's just fun.
20:47
And it just shows to a degree. I think the imagination that's
20:53
gone into this game and the different stories, because they
20:55
are all quite different. They're not all made equal.
20:57
But yeah, there's there's quite a bit of imagination that's gone
21:02
in here and some efforts to change up The Walking gameplay.
21:06
So yeah, that's probably my favourite story.
21:08
That's probably second for me. I do like that one because it is
21:13
so different to everything else in the game.
21:16
Yeah. I mean with mine, we it's.
21:18
The only horror bit, really. Yeah, 100%.
21:21
I'd say that it's there's a is an element of horror the first
21:24
time that you go into the house because you don't know what
21:27
you're going to what what to expect because you don't really
21:30
know what the game is yet. But after that, everything is
21:34
just kind of this is a story, however that is, it's very kind
21:38
of tongue in cheek horror, isn't it?
21:41
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's like B movie horror.
21:44
Yeah. And I'd like, I think it's
21:46
brilliant. It's very kind of 50s sixties,
21:48
which is when Barbara, when Barbara dies, I mean, mine, my
21:55
favourite is we mentioned it in the last episode and be no shock
21:59
to anyone to listen to it, but it's Lewis's story.
22:03
Lewis is Edith's brother and he is 22 or 23 I think when he
22:11
died. So he dies a week before the
22:14
family leave the house for the last time.
22:17
And he is a bit of a burnout. He kind of when you go up into
22:20
his room, he's got like a lot of like marijuana pictures and all
22:27
that kind of stuff and bongs. So like, he's he's into kind of
22:30
drugs to some extent anyway, like weed.
22:35
And as you learn about him, Edith never really found out
22:37
what was going on with him. And when you get into his room,
22:41
you find a letter that was sent to their mum by Lewis's
22:47
counsellor or psychiatrist. And he's basically going nowhere
22:52
in life. So his mum suggests that he gets
22:55
a job at a local cannery, which is effectively taking a fish
23:00
from one side of a conveyor belts, putting it out, putting
23:06
it under a guillotine, cutting its head off and then putting it
23:09
back onto the conveyor belt. And that's his job.
23:11
And the job is so monotonous that in his head, because he has
23:17
mental health issues, he basically just creates this
23:20
world in his head where he is like a an adventurer and then
23:26
becomes like a king and the entire, like a land.
23:31
It's his Kingdom. And as the story progresses, it
23:36
kind of you get the impression that Lewis wasn't even really
23:39
there in his own head towards the end until he kind of walks
23:43
up the top of the conveyor belt, which he thinks is the steps up
23:46
to a big castle and goes to be coronated as king, puts his head
23:51
down on the the royal cushion or whatever.
23:55
But in reality, it was a guillotine and he gets beheaded.
23:59
Yeah. And that was the the story that
24:04
this girl that I was talking to, when she first told me to play,
24:06
it was like, you need to play that bit and tell me what you
24:08
think of it. And like, I came away, I was
24:10
like pretty bloody heavy. Like, it's a lot.
24:14
But I think it was done really well, particularly because he
24:21
dies in 2010, which is when, you know, I think it became a lot
24:26
more prominent for people to start talking about their mental
24:31
health issues and such. So I'm glad that it shows up in
24:35
a game like this. And we've only really spoken
24:37
about the mental health side of things that you see in gaming
24:40
once or twice, with the main one from memory being select.
24:45
But yeah, I really like that story.
24:46
And I think that it's done well because if it wasn't done well
24:49
or with kind of care, I think it could have been quite charring.
24:55
So yeah, I really like that bit. But I also like the the one that
24:58
you mentioned, Barbara, as well. I think that was a very good
25:00
one. Very both very different.
25:04
Yeah. So this is the second walking
25:07
SIM that we've done. What how would you compare this
25:11
to dear Ester? Because like we said, it's it's
25:14
very different, even though it's the same kind of.
25:16
Yeah, really different. I said last time that the Dear
25:22
Esther is a bit like a play or a radio play and a very well done
25:27
one. And a big part of Dear Esther
25:32
for me is it's Britishness. Now obviously What Remains of
25:38
Edith Finch doesn't have that. It's very American, but what it
25:46
does have is it's obviously that exploration of family and I
25:49
think more more so of grief now. There's a lot of conversation
25:54
about whether the curse is real. I think if you look at it, you
25:59
can you can interpret it and, and, and this game is very much
26:05
about metaphor and interpretation.
26:07
A lot of this stuff didn't happen the way that it it is
26:12
represented to us, the player. And I think the interpretation
26:18
of the curse could be every time someone in the family dies,
26:23
there is a spell of grief and the grief manifests in different
26:28
ways and it leads to another death.
26:30
So it's an inability to cope with grief and Lewis is a great
26:35
example of that. I think his is triggered by
26:37
Milton disappearing and and then it's just an extension of that.
26:43
And every single story, I think there is a different spin on
26:48
that grief. And and there's there's lots
26:52
been written about this game talking about death and grief
26:57
and coming to terms with loss. And I think that's what this
27:01
game is and it's an exploration of those things.
27:04
And as an exploration, I think it does it very nicely.
27:08
If Dear Esther is a radio player I play, I don't know what that
27:12
would make. What Remains of Edith Finch.
27:15
I kind of haven't been able to place that in.
27:19
But it's not the same. It doesn't feel the same.
27:21
It isn't. And I don't think they're
27:23
comparable really. They're very different.
27:27
And as we do play a couple more walking simulators on the
27:33
podcast, I've got a few in mind, including The Unfinished Swan,
27:37
funnily enough. So my thing with Lewis's story
27:45
is it reminded me too much of The Unfinished Swan, but it
27:49
wasn't quite as fully realised as that, so maybe I wasn't as
27:54
impressed by that just because I'd already completed that game
27:57
before I played this game. And actually replaying this one,
28:00
before you even mention the link between them, I was just
28:03
thinking of The Unfinished Swan, but I hadn't actually put two
28:08
and two together, that they were made by the same people.
28:10
So yeah, I think it's this exploration of grief, but I
28:17
don't think the two can be mapped very nicely on one
28:19
another. It's all about what each walking
28:23
simulator is trying to say and trying to do.
28:26
One thing that walking simulators do very well is that
28:28
they can, they can tell this story, this narrative, and they
28:32
can deliver it at the pace that they want to and they can create
28:36
these worlds which are very well realised because they're not
28:40
having to put loads of effort into animation polygons, lots of
28:49
different worlds and scenes and locations.
28:52
They focus solely on one location and because of that,
28:55
that location is very nicely realised.
29:00
So I think both of them do that that aspect well.
29:03
And they explore in a way, you can argue that Dear Esther
29:08
explores grief too, but in a very different way and a very
29:15
it's more symbolic, whereas I'd say this airs up more on the
29:20
side of interpretation and metaphor.
29:24
Yeah. So how would you say it
29:27
compares? You're right, they are very
29:30
different experiences and I agree with you that Dear Esther
29:34
could be like a radio play or something like that, whereas I
29:38
agree with you in What Remains with Finch.
29:41
You can't really categorise it in that way, but I think that
29:45
that's fine. I don't think that it.
29:46
Yeah, I think it's fine. Yeah, I don't think everything
29:48
needs to be categorised as such. I agree it's it is a walking
29:53
simulator, but at the same time it isn't because it has other
29:58
elements to it. It's another one of those things
30:02
where it's more of an experience than a game.
30:04
Yeah. And this is this is the kind of
30:09
thing that we've talked about like popcorn games in the past
30:16
where you've mentioned like Call of Duty stuff like.
30:18
That Friday night, yeah. Yeah.
30:20
And I kind of put Edith Finch in like, do you remember?
30:26
I mean, I, I, I haven't watched like, terrestrial television for
30:30
a very, very, very long time. But do you remember like when we
30:34
were kids? Didn't you used to watch that
30:36
show with the little girl with the little puppet for hours on
30:39
end? Which one's that?
30:42
The one you see, you turn on the TV at 5:00 in the morning and
30:45
you just get a little girl awful with a little puppet just to
30:49
stare at you. Horrific.
30:51
You used to. Watch that for a long time,
30:52
didn't you? That used to come on and I would
30:54
run upstairs screaming because I hated it so much, and that was
30:56
only last week. So the background to that, to
31:00
those people outside the UK is that before live TV started in
31:04
the UK, you used to get this still image of, yeah, of a girl
31:10
with a puppet looking just just, and it would just be static
31:13
until TV started. So yeah, that's what.
31:17
That was horrible. I hated it.
31:18
No, what I was going to say before the test card reference
31:24
was, you remember, like when we were younger, you'd find like on
31:29
a, on a Sunday afternoon or whatever, you would songs of
31:32
praise, you'd watch songs of praise, but there'd be like,
31:35
there'd be like a Sunday afternoon film on, on like maybe
31:38
Channel 4 or something like Escape or something along those
31:42
lines. I kind of put Edith Finch into
31:45
Sunday. Not a, not a popcorn game, but
31:49
like a Sunday afternoon game. It feels like one of those ones
31:52
that you could get cosy with in the in the autumn or the fall
31:57
for our international listeners and just play through it of an
32:02
afternoon on a Sunday. Do you know what I mean?
32:04
Yeah, it's. Yeah, I've got that element
32:06
about it. I feel, I mean, strangely
32:11
enough, given that the topics that it deals with, I feel often
32:16
that it's a lighter, more playful game than Dear Ester.
32:20
Yeah, it's yeah, Dear Ester is. We've had a quite way to
32:24
everything. Dreadful.
32:26
Yeah, and it's all, it's all through a lens of seriousness.
32:29
And yeah, there's that element of imagination that never quite
32:34
goes away with What Remains of Edith Finch.
32:38
And I think there can be a lot likened to mental health and
32:42
grief and, as I say, coming to terms with a loss or something
32:48
unprecedented. So yeah, yeah, I know what you
32:51
mean. So the question of the week, I
32:54
feel that you might have answered it already, but I'll
32:56
throw it out there anyway, just so that we can repeat ourselves
32:59
maybe or maybe delve into a bit more.
33:01
But what what do you think is the theme of this game?
33:04
Because you mentioned death, grief, acceptance.
33:07
What what do you think the overarching theme or the the
33:09
take away from this game is so? I think it is a reflection on
33:19
family because what you get is the nuance of family and it's,
33:26
it's a dynamic that is such an interesting thing, family.
33:31
So we obviously we're born into a family and we don't really
33:38
know any different and we're brought up and we are able to
33:43
compare our family life to that of other people, friends,
33:48
whoever else colleagues and we're never going to understand
33:55
their family dynamic. All we know is ours and
33:59
everything is through a lens of our family dynamic.
34:03
And that can be so vastly different from family to family.
34:07
But I feel like for a lot of people, not everyone, there are
34:14
certain threads within a quote unquote family that resonates.
34:20
And I feel like this game does a nice job of exploring those.
34:25
So the relationships between family members and you've got
34:29
like Sam who's the military father who teaches his kids to
34:36
shoot and, and, and stuff like that and, and the way that he
34:39
handles the grief is quite different from everyone else,
34:42
takes it in a quite different direction.
34:45
So it's almost through those traumatic times that those
34:48
family bonds are built. And I think with family, there
34:56
are certain things that, yeah, certain threads that you can tug
35:02
at and a lot of people know what you're talking about.
35:04
Like if you talk about, I don't know, Boxing Day or Easter
35:07
Sunday and what you do with your family, then a lot of people
35:10
will be able to say something about that.
35:13
And it might not necessarily be the same, but there is an idea.
35:17
It's certainly in Britain and, and probably in other countries
35:21
as well, maybe different in other countries and cultures.
35:23
But in Britain there's an idea of what a Family Day looks like
35:28
and Christmas being 1 might be playing board games, watching
35:32
TV, having a drink, eating Christmas dinner and obviously
35:36
we all put our own spin on things.
35:38
But this is a game about family but also about that loss.
35:43
But I don't think it's about the loss itself, although it is an
35:46
exploration of the loss. It's coming to terms with it.
35:50
And what Edith manages to do that a lot of the other
35:54
characters don't is accept. And it's like those five stages
36:00
of grief and she comes to the point where she accepts and is
36:04
able to move past it for her child, whereas the other
36:08
characters often don't get to do that.
36:10
Yeah, so there's, and there's a conversation there as well.
36:15
So I am, I watched, I watched a couple of things before doing
36:20
this video. And what you say there is that
36:22
Edith kind of accepts it to pass it on to her child to make up
36:25
her own mind. And, and a big kind of thread
36:29
through the whole story is how Edith always talks that her
36:31
mother Dawn, like sealed up all the doors after Lewis died.
36:38
And yeah, like was really, really anti curse.
36:42
She she didn't believe it or she didn't want to believe it.
36:45
She didn't believe in the magic, even to the point where.
36:48
And I didn't notice it when I played through.
36:49
It was only when I watched this this video that Edith at one
36:53
point says that Dawn homeschooled her three kids for
36:57
a while. And in the classroom, if you
36:59
look over, there is a board that says family history, fact or
37:02
fiction. And yeah, it the big point of
37:08
contention as to why they leave is because of Dawn.
37:10
And she doesn't believe in this curse or doesn't want to believe
37:12
in it. And Ed the grandmother.
37:14
Was trying to. Run away.
37:15
Yeah, Yeah. And Dawn dies, I think about a
37:22
year before this game takes place.
37:24
It's says that she has like a terminal illness and Edith is
37:30
with her when when she goes. And in Dawn's will, she leaves
37:36
Edith with a key. And the the conclusion that this
37:42
this YouTube came to is that Dawn didn't believe in any of
37:47
that stuff right until the end. And maybe before she passed, it
37:53
was the case that she thought she could fly like, like this is
37:59
Sam, I think, or that she could turn into a cat and chase a
38:05
bird. And she decides because she
38:08
could have just died and kept that key and stop Edith from
38:11
seeing all this like messy family history.
38:14
But she doesn't. And Dawn does the same thing to
38:16
Edith, what Edith gives to her son Christopher.
38:20
And it's kind of like, not an acceptance, but right.
38:25
I've tried to keep this from you and protect you from this for 17
38:29
years because Edith 17 now. I'm not here anymore.
38:34
It's on you to decide what you think is real or or fake.
38:38
You know, yeah, what happens to Ed.
38:44
So Edie, who for the listener is the grandmother, who is the the
38:49
one prominent person throughout the whole story, she tries to
38:54
convince Dawn and Edith not to not to leave.
38:59
And you kind of see some of Edith's story towards the end of
39:03
the game where she's put it in a diary that she says the day that
39:06
Edith was born, the tide around the island was so low that she
39:12
managed to walk to her her old, the, the house that sank in
39:17
1937. And Dawn kind of finds this out
39:22
and says, no, you're not reading any of that.
39:24
Put it away. We're leaving.
39:27
And the next day after they left, it was supposed to be the
39:29
case that Edie was going to get picked up and put in a home,
39:32
like a gay home. But when they arrive the day
39:35
after Dawn and Edith have left and the the people to take her
39:39
to the care home, arrive at the house and she's, she's died.
39:41
She's passed away. So there is also the the theory
39:46
there of, well, is it the case that because Edie didn't die of
39:52
any curse, she was 93? No, this, this is it.
39:56
She, she lived longer than all of us.
39:57
She. Did, and it was only after her
40:00
family abandoned her effectively that she then just dies.
40:08
So it's like, is the curse real? Because, you know, because EED
40:12
really is the one that kind of passes this thing along about a
40:16
curse other than like when Odin came over from Scandinavia.
40:20
But Ed is the one that keeps it alive.
40:23
And it's kind of like, well, if there was a curse, maybe you
40:26
wouldn't have made it to your 90s.
40:28
Yeah, yeah, this is it. And, and kind of a question that
40:33
the game is asking is, is this a curse or is this just the way
40:39
that families are with a bit of bad luck maybe, But some of them
40:45
live longer lives than others. Even if you look at the pets,
40:49
some live longer lives than others because there's a
40:52
graveyard outside alongside the family members for the pets.
40:56
And is it that abnormal? Or if you were to look at a
41:00
family tree, would this actually be what it looks like?
41:06
I think it probably wouldn't look too dissimilar for most
41:08
people. So yeah, it's interesting, and
41:12
it's interesting to think about the very least.
41:14
Yeah, it's, I think it's a really interesting game and I
41:19
think that every time you go back to play it, you kind of
41:21
pick more out. Yeah, the lots doing
41:25
interpretation it's yeah, it's. The interpretation that you can
41:29
take away this game is in many different avenues, of course,
41:34
but I think that it's a really interesting 1 and I'm really
41:37
glad that we've talked about it because it was, I know that I
41:40
like this game, but like it wasn't until coming back to talk
41:43
about it now. And I was playing playing it
41:45
yesterday on the Switch. I was a bit like, bloody hell,
41:48
like this is such a good game. And it's a real kind of thought
41:55
provoker, I think. And like a really, really good
42:02
kind of bit of evidence, I suppose, about Ed trying to push
42:07
everybody on the fact that there is something magical and crazy
42:11
about their family is the fact that in the garden there is a a
42:18
dragon in the pond. And Ed always says your your
42:23
grandpa's Fen, who is Edie's husband, your grandpa's Fen died
42:27
fighting a dragon. It's like grandpa's Fen died
42:31
putting up a slide that look like a dragon.
42:35
So interpretation, isn't it? Yeah, it is.
42:39
And it's it's almost putting a bit of a spin on everything,
42:43
like adding a layer of magic to everything.
42:47
Yeah, Yeah. It's.
42:50
I mean, anyone that's listened to it this far and hasn't played
42:53
the game before, like I said, you've pretty much got full
42:55
spoilers for the game, but I still recommend playing it
42:57
because it's just it's, it's a couple of hours.
43:01
I don't think the spoilers matter, and the this isn't a
43:04
game that is waiting to reveal its plot points to you.
43:09
It's not a game that's there to surprise or shock you.
43:11
This is a game that exists to get you thinking and how you,
43:17
the listener, interpret this game will be different from the
43:20
way that we have and so on and so forth.
43:23
So I would recommend going away and playing it. 2 1/2 hours, 4
43:30
lbs of your money. If you're in Britain, go away
43:34
and play it and see if it resonates with you, because for
43:37
that price, why not? Yeah, it's, it's worth, it's
43:41
worth a look. And yeah, I mean, very briefly
43:46
touching on the sound and the the visuals of this game.
43:49
In my opinion, the the visuals of this game look like an indie
43:53
game from 2017. Yeah.
43:57
It looks a bit, I mean at some, some of the art stars are quite
44:00
nice in there because it does change it up quite nicely.
44:02
But one of the things I found was that colour wise, I don't
44:10
know where it was, especially the opening area with the grey
44:12
skies, it looks a bit drab, yeah.
44:14
It's quite washed out in some areas.
44:16
Yeah, whereas other areas it looks quite nicely colourful,
44:19
but and there's some areas where it looks really dark and you
44:25
crank up the brightness, it just doesn't do anything because it
44:27
just makes it look washed out again.
44:30
It's like this game is lacking proper HDR in a world where
44:35
actually HDR is in a lot of games now.
44:38
So yeah, I think it could. What do you think about the
44:41
sound? So the voice work, I don't think
44:52
it stands out as much as Dear Esters, but it's, it's really
45:00
serviceable. Like it does the job and it's
45:03
nice and it's what it needs to be.
45:05
It just doesn't like, I can still remember those lines from
45:10
Dear Ester in the way that they're delivered.
45:11
Whereas whereas here is, is is solid.
45:14
It's really solid. Like there's, there's no,
45:17
there's no faults with the voice acting whatsoever.
45:20
It fits perfectly and again with the the music, it just fits the
45:27
moments quite nicely. And they've selected obviously
45:31
certain tracks. The Halloween soundtrack is a is
45:34
a favourite of mine, obviously. But yeah, I think this game
45:39
could do with just a slight remaster just to bring it up to
45:44
date a little bit in terms of the visuals.
45:46
And I think that would do it wonders because I think the art
45:48
style inherently is quite nice still.
45:52
It's time for our wrap up. So what do you think?
45:55
Do you reckon Edith Finn? I mean it's 186th on the list
45:59
but do you think that it deserves a place in the top 100
46:02
or like 186 is good? What do you reckon I?
46:07
Think it is where it should be. I think it's it's nice to play
46:15
and I probably will replay it again at some point.
46:20
I'm never completely blown away when I play it, but I do enjoy
46:25
it like I enjoy it moment to moment.
46:29
Sometimes I wish it would dig a little deeper and explore those
46:34
themes a little bit more. But at the same time I think it
46:37
would lose some of its charm, some of its magic if it did that
46:39
because it's all about interpretation.
46:44
I fully understand as well. This game will resonate with
46:47
some people really strongly and I think some people could be
46:53
completely at the opposite end of the spectrum and play it and
46:57
think, well, what was that like? What was all the fuss about?
47:02
I think I land on the positive side, but I don't think I'm, I
47:05
don't think it resonates like 100% with me.
47:09
But yeah, it's, it's a, it's a good game and I think it
47:11
probably deserves to be where it's placed on that list at the
47:15
moment. What about you?
47:17
I I think that it has. It's in the right place at 186.
47:23
Yeah, I I think that it's a really good experience and I
47:26
I've taken a lot away from this game over the years, but I can
47:30
also understand why people maybe wouldn't as such.
47:33
So I do get it. But I, I highly recommend people
47:38
playing this game and yourself, if you ever play it again in,
47:42
you know, next year or two, you might see stuff in there that
47:46
you didn't see this time or last time.
47:48
And, you know, it's just one of those games that the more you go
47:50
back and play it, the more you get out of it, you know?
47:52
Yeah, yeah. So we now.
47:57
Enter a a period of the unknown because like we said at the
48:01
start, you are getting married. We're recording this on Sunday
48:06
the 12th. So you're getting married next
48:07
Saturday and then you're going away for two weeks to Japen?
48:14
Yeah, 2 1/2 weeks, yes, So. In.
48:17
Terms of the next episode, we are going to try and get one out
48:19
to you, another one out while you're away.
48:22
We're going to try and record something this week.
48:24
So there's a there's a game called Slay the Princess and.
48:28
That is on the open critic list, so we're going to try and get
48:31
that completed and recorded this week, maybe Wednesday, maybe
48:35
Thursday, but obviously that doesn't matter to you, the
48:38
listener, because it won't release on those days anyway.
48:41
But yes, so we shall. We shall see, but yes, and we're
48:48
going to record Hollow Night when I'm.
48:50
Back, aren't we? Yes, we are indeed.
48:51
Because I need a bit longer because I've repeated.
48:53
That one a bloody long 1. So yes, as always, we're on
48:58
social media on Instagram primarily.
49:01
You can e-mail us at the long and shortest
49:02
podcast@hotmail.com. But that's pretty much it for
49:07
Edith Finch. I mean, obviously I'm I'm seeing
49:12
you next weekend at the wedding. See Mr Blobby do the do the
49:19
ceremony of of course, best of honour.
49:23
Pam St Clements making an appearance.
49:25
That's right. And Peggy Patch.
49:29
So lots of lots of all our friends.
49:31
Why Bird? Didn't and the whole play days
49:33
crew really but. Yes, so.
49:39
I'll be seeing. You next weekend, but I'm sure I
49:41
speak for everyone who listens to wish you the best of luck
49:44
with getting married. I will bring them all with me in
49:47
spirits next weekend. But yeah, we will.
49:53
We don't know when the next episode will be out.
49:54
Will be a couple of weeks probably, But in the next couple
49:59
of weeks, failing that, it will be when Dan is back from Japan.
50:02
So yes, yeah. Anything else from you for
50:04
today? No, that's it.
50:06
Lovely. Well, we'll see.
50:07
You next time for. Slay the Princess and in the
50:10
meantime, take care Cheerio. See you on the next one.