What Remains of Edith Finch review: magical ode to the joy of storytelling

Indie studio Giant Sparrow conjures an adventure that blends exploration, reading, reality and fantasy into one innovative and beautiful experience

What Remains of Edith Finch is a game about storytelling and a masterclass in characterisation. Although it bears all the hallmarks of games like Gone Home or Dear Esther with its spooky waterside property, its readable letters and journey entries, and its lack of a "run" button, the game soon strays from the familiar paths trodden by those seminal "walking simulators". Instead, What Remains delivers a collection of whimsical tales that leap deftly from one genre to another without ever losing the thread at the heart story.

The eponymous Edith is the last remaining member of the cursed Finch family, who have all died in strange circumstances, some of them at a young age. She is returning to the family home to find out what happened to them all. After each Finch death, the person's bedroom was sealed up, never to be used again, resulting in a rambling, crooked tower of a house, with rooms tacked on here and there over time. In this way, the house acts as a grounding hub for the game, a visual metaphor for the messiness and chaos of life and a physical manifestation of the Finch family tree.