Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/01/23/free-game-what-remains-of-edi.html
…
4 Likes
Excellent story game, and well worth the few hours of game play. I bought it at full price am still pleased, even as it’s being offered for free.
3 Likes
Edith Finch maintains a tension between modern gothic mystery and the suggestion of a damaged family that mythologizes its subtly self-destructive currents.
That’s been the heart of gothic horror since The Turn of the Screw and The Fall of the House of Usher. This game sounds fun!
5 Likes
It’s the last day of the giveaway, if I’m not mistaken. But it’s also turned up in the latest Humble Bundle which also includes some other nice stuff. The version there is also slightly updated:
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition has been remade with the Unity engine, featuring a full audio remaster, and the addition of a brand-new Directors’ Commentary mode, allowing players to explore the island and learn what inspired the game and how it was crafted by The Chinese Room and Rob Briscoe.
2 Likes
Different game, but I might hit that one next!
1 Like
Two last thoughts for now:
-
My baby’s favorite bath toy is a green frog, so playing one scene in this game completely wrecked me.
-
What Remains of Edith Finch is Wasp Factory but in a major key
5 Likes
Dear Esther was not as good IMHO. The prose turns a deep shade of purple and it kind of overdoes it with the atmosphere at times. It’s worth playing but it’s low on my list of walking simulators.
1 Like
So, Epic store, I haven’t decided if I should bother. The idea of higher margins for developers is nice, but the staggering lack of features so far coupled with the inertia of my whole collection sitting in steam and gog makes me not want to bother. Free games, kind of not bothered so far either.
The new but sadly mothballed Unreal Tournament is free too, if you were into that sort of thing.
Otherwise it’s basically a glorified fortnite launcher
1 Like
Ooh I bought this in a sale or bundle at some point and was really glad I had. Definitely a good story game, definitely a good gothic dysfunctional family story. I liked the Last Day of June too. But I found Dear Ester a little uninspiring. Maybe if I’d played it earlier.
2 Likes
I got this game in a steam sale a while back. The games atmosphere is fantastic, and in no small part because of that incredible house. The detail is amazing and you really feel the sad history of the place and of those who lived there.
1 Like
Oh geez! I got my walking simulators completely confused. >_<
(I kind of figured the timing was weird, but these bundles surely make their money specifically by offering games people aren’t interested in buying anymore.)
What Remains of Edith Finch is way more interactive then Dear Esther. To call it just another walking simulator really doesn’t do it justice.
It really is. Noticing multiple copies of a book lying around would be completely expected in most games, but in this one it’s such a sore thumb you wonder if it’s intentional. Like, everyone having their own copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude is very on-point for this game.
2 Likes
I played it recently what with the giveaway, and felt the same as Rob wrt Gregory’s story. However, I noticed something interesting about Molly’s story, which I elaborated on to the Edith Finch sub on Reddit:
Beyond that, I have another theory I’m still working on regarding similarities with Edith and her brothers’ stories (and how they all basically become the Kings/Queens of their fantasy kingdoms when they each finally embrace death).
Between the Epic store and Discord things are getting interesting. Both are offering deep discounts to developers over the Steam’s usual cut and for a developer who already has a built in audience (like Kickstarted games or devs doing new games after initial Kickstarter success) the promise of higher margins is possibly more appealing than the potential reach of Steam. At the very least we’re likely to see games do early releases to Epic or Discord to get initial sales and then do another release later on Steam for a long tail.
From a customer point of view, Epic and Discord’s actual clients and storefronts are far snappier and less clunky than Steam (which is still loading fricken webpages for everything). Epic likely needs to improve its community/chat stuff, and Discord has that mostly locked down. About the only thing keeping me on Steam is my huge library from years of use.
1 Like
Yeah, it’s far from a Steam-killer (or even necessarily going to convince me to buy games on it), but it pulled me in by giving away an ongoing stream of free games, some of which are quite nice (like this one), so… /shrugs
We’ll see what it turns into.
Yeah, that game kicked a lot of things off, but it’s also been left behind by subsequent games and their advancement of the form. (Like this one.)
Darn. Windows only.
1 Like
Pretty sure it’s on lists of stuff that works thru WINE/Linux gaming distros IIRC.
I could probably get it working if I actually tried, but right now I prefer complaining about it.
4 Likes
