Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest
What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4 / PC)
-
28-04-2017 12:56pm#1Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 30,019 CMod ✭✭✭✭Join Date:Posts: 28726
So here we have the latest critically acclaimed walking simu... hey where are you going?
Yes, the new game from Giant Sparrow (The Unfinished Swan) is, on first glance anyway, broadly similar to many divisive games from recent years. The setup is pure Gone Home (teenage girl arriving home to abandoned house), the slow walking speed pure Everyone Gone to the Rapture (althougha mid-game 'twist'explains why that is the case here), and the narrative asides are similar to the best moments in Vanishing of Ethan Carter (not to mention the similar naming convention). But in many ways, this is a noteworthy evolution from all of the above.
Walking simulators (with some exceptions) have mostly had the player in a passive role in relation to the drama playing out - you play someone discovering what has happened, but not typically examining it firsthand. Initially, this is how Edith Finch works too - you enter a delightfully gothic building (the fantastical house design is pure Tim Burton) and start discovering hidden passages into locked rooms while Edith narrates. The detail is impeccable - this feels like a genuinely lived in space, full of impressively detailed minutiae (real talk: I've never seen a more accurate video game bathroom due to some extraordinary carpet textures :pac:). But once you get into the rooms, you discover books, letters and other key objects - and that's where the game gets really interesting.
This is effectively a short story collection (I love Sam Barlow's description of it as narrative WarioWare) about a dozen or so family members who have died in a variety of gruesome, mysterious and tragic ways. To tell those stories, Giant Sparrow have come with a variety of inventive, well, 'narrative mini-games' that range from around 2-3 minutes to maybe 15 minutes or so at the longer end. Don't expect any mechanical depth or anything - these are quick hitters with some sort of basic interaction. They all use some sort of novel approach to recount the tragedy in question - one is told through the lens of a camera (the shutter click serving as an in-game edit), for example, while another plays out within the panels of a cheesy horror comic book. Mixed and matched with the more familiar 'environmental storytelling', this creates a quite fresh and interesting dynamic that feels like a real effort to marry the form of the storytelling with the stories being told.
To expand on the most provocative example -one later story tells of Edith's brother's mental breakdown and eventual suicide. Initially this story has you repeating the monotonous task of fishhead chopping while the character daydreams of a simplistic 2D maze to keep himself occupied. But eventually the maze grows in scope, perspective, intensity - by the end you're in a lavish, full-scale 3D fantasy where the real world is relegated to an afterthought. The whole thing is a powerful way of articulating somebody's loneliness and fragile state-of-mind through 'play' - a personal story that you're allowed experience firsthand rather than just being told about it. The approach to the subject matter is likely to provoke debate, but the execution - perhaps an unfortunate word given the story's conclusion - is undeniably brave.
This is a short game - you'll easily see the end credits in a sitting. But it is rich with ideas, and displays a genuine willingness to try and articulate an interactive narrative in a new way. Like any short story collection the 'chapters' here can fluctuate a tad in term of quality and intrigue, but together they form a tableau that is equal parts macabre, darkly comedic, experimental and often emotionally affecting.7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhH5bfoZJFoComments
-
-
-
Gingervitis wrote: »A lot more engaging than Gone Home. Great variety in the stories told. The game looks great, but price is always a bit of a stumbling block; 20 euro for a decent story you'll finish in 2 hours doesn't stack up well in comparison to a book or film.
I'd still recommend it to anyone, with a caveat on the price.
Yeah I'm normally one to value the experience over the price and length but I've had to stop doing that and be a "wait for sale" guy. I know dev's need a return but surely if they priced these games to sell out of the gate more people might bite? Or am I being naive and that folks would still "wait for sale" if it was 9.99 :P
Really think there's an angle they can work marketing these games to get more people to play them and to try and get away from the walking sim tag and get people to think of them as they would a movie pay your 10 euro and be entertained for 2 hours. Like it's friday night and I'd sooner spend my 2 hours playing something like this than watch the late late
0 -
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
![[Deleted User]](/applications/dashboard/design/images/defaulticon.png)
Advertisement