How playing Edith Finch was like losing my religion again

Enlarge / Sorry… no one is getting saved in this game.

Note: This piece contains pretty significant spoilers for What Remains of Edith Finch.

What Remains of Edith Finch wastes no time explaining that it’s a game about death. Perhaps unsurprisingly, however, the game’s much more interesting themes are a considerably slower burn. As instantly, world-turning-ly impactful as death can be, Edith Finch ably shows that death’s got nothing on the decay that comes afterwards.

The game’s plot, told in a series of vignettes, follows the final days and moments of Finch family members. The title character rummages through journals, drawings, ad hoc shrines to her dead ancestors—she even flips through one mass market comic book written about their passing. Together, the materials weave the tale of a supposed family curse that’s been stalking the Finches for generations.