What Remains of Edith Finch is a Powerful Message of Intergenerational Trauma

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I've been replaying What Remains of Edith Finch and it makes me think on the lessons the game develops during the exploration of the ruins of Finch Manor. The story is told within different narrators but the main one whose Edith Finch she tells the story from a third-person perspective as she serves as a bridge between her deceased relatives and towards her son who is the character that held her diary with all the family information she gathered before passing away.

I'd like to think on the dynamics of the family, trying to see there is a curse that will kill all the Finches and their descendants into an untimely horrific death, but in reality there is no curse but rather a dysfunctional family whose elders can't see their own faults and can't help the younger generations because they are self-centered into their own delusion's of a death threat that is not real but rather is directed to their own neglect of the younger ones.

Finch Manor

The game is told via a hub which is the manor of great-grandma Edie and the player can navigate towards the different rooms that act as memorials for the Finches who died. There is not direct dialogue but rather Edith goes around the different  rooms and get clues how her relatives lived. We can go through at least three generations of Finches, and we can gather information on how they died and every time there is a death in the family there are implications of adult neglect towards the kid, this is heavily noted on Gregory's arc where he is left to drown in the bathroom tub.

Molly Finch

 Molly is another character as well the first one we get exposed as is the first main room where Edith starts exploring about her family members and is the first room where the player can be exposed to the children trauma coming from the adults. Molly was the first born daughter of Edie who died after a combination of eating some holly berries and a tube of fluorinated toothpaste that probably caused her to hallucinate because she was sent the her room after being punished without having her dinner.

Probably the combination of holly berries and toothpaste caused her to enter in an hallucinogenic state which could explain her visions of being different animals such as a cat, a shark and eventually a monster that devoured humans. The death of Molly foreshadowed what would happen when the other family members died, their rooms became shrines and were left as the last day they where alive.

I can see a lot of Molly's and the different Finches as my own story, I can relate to the intergenerational trauma that followed them and eventually killed them, probably as less as dramatic as my maternal grandfather used to say "We all live long ages, but loneliness is what eventually killed us". The house that always changed was more as a prison to Edith and the vast majority of her family, the same house for me was Cartagena, the city where I was born and that was my prison without any walls but just geographical boundaries.

I always remember looking through my bedroom window, wishing to go away and eventually it became a reality, I essentially had to die to be able to live, I wanted so badly to be myself without having to be associated with the people I was bounded by blood; in that extent I am probably close to Milton which ended up leaving his family without a clue of his whereabouts and yet seemed that he lived his life to the fullest.

Sometimes we have to leave and leaving is the hardest part.

References:

1.  The Making of What Remains of Edith Finch: https://www.pcgamer.com/the-making-of-what-remains-of-edith-finch/
2. Myth-making or Neglect? Questions of Nihilism in What Remains of Edith Finch: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5955a0172e69cffa37a39b58/t/645f6bc3cebb40072a8f32a7/1683975108546/nihilism-zawadzki-draft3.pdf
3. Molly Finch: https://what-remains-of-edith-finch.fandom.com/wiki/Molly_Finch
4. Milton Finch: https://what-remains-of-edith-finch.fandom.com/wiki/Milton_Finch

Retro Game Reviews: Roller Coaster Tycoon 3

There is something nice and wonderful about the Roller Coaster Tycoon games; the third installment is not bad, it had some difficulties towards the graphic rendering due the low processors on many computers, but there is something nice about the third installment, even if the creator Chris Sawyer only acted as a consultant.

There is something magical about roller coasters, as well quite of a nightmare for many people as the simple idea of being in the top and the thrown into an out of control but controlled ride, through a series of steel mazes and loops can terrorize or delight someone.

The beauty about Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 lays that it let the user to be submerged into the theme park environment, as well to ride the rides; two elements that were completely absent in the first two installments, as well there is no more isometrically view.

The idea of the game look so ambitious but yet so enjoyable, as it can appeal perfectly to theme park enthusiast and is a game that everyone in the family can play without any inconvenience.

Watching the Rhinos 

RCT3 has two expansion Soaked and Wild, where the player can add water park elements as well a zoo into his theme parks. The game itself, could be a nice idea to incorporate into the Oculus system as it can let the players to traverse and explore unique environments and theme parks.

The idea of RCT3 as a virtual reality game seems to be coherent, as is one of those games that the player can interact perfectly and there are no doses of ultra-violence with the exception of the occasional accidents, if you want to have an understanding of VR systems, this entry by Cloudwards is really easy to digest and can give you a better understanding how these systems work.

The game interface is really easy to understand, and is quite intuitive, as the main screen menus are divided into a series of balloons, where the balloons can be clicked in order to access a description of the scenario as well a few images.

Each scenarios is divided into three sections: Apprentice, Entrepreneur and Tycoon; where the level of difficulty improves but is not impossible to win.

The game offers a wide variety of roller coasters and rides that you can find in actual theme parks; as well it lets the players to create their coasters.

The game can be found in Steam, or if you are lucky enough in Amazon, to find an original copy of this game. You will have hours of fun; but there are some negative aspects as they were with the first games, the game can turn repetitive as well monotone after a few scenarios but yet is still a nice sandbox game, that it can be enjoyed little by little.

Beyond the Epic Adventure, Mickey's Probable Different Games

Tampa, Fl -- It's been almost 3 years since Mickey made his debut on the franchise of Epic Mickey by the hands Warren Spector; even if the games ha received mixed to positive reviews since it appeared on the market, the game itself would be something different, as a Smash Brother's esque or as a spy. The games could still be made and exploit the franchise with a good script and a compelling story-line that lacked a little bit on the two games of Epic Mickey.

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The idea of of making a melee game with iconic Disney characters sounds as a good idea, it probably would create a new franchise that could compete with Smash Brothers as much of the characters by Disney are known by different generations and could create an unifying factor with families who have children and teens; and the parents are looking to share a moment with their children.

The idea of King Louie or Captain Hook fighting against each other in scenarios inspired of the movies or imagining Alice fighting against the Queen of Red Hearts and going through a story mode inspired in Alice in Wonderland or fight in Neverland the idea would be extremely amazing and there would be people who would buy the game because they are fans of Disney as a brand and as the place where many individuals had fond memories.

Going back to the Spy Mickey topic and finding random draft about the possibilities of the game, the idea seemed to be more appealing commercially than Epic Mickey, even to the point that there is a automaton version of Donald Duck but there is a sensitive aspect almost as a form of art because Epic Mickey is visually appealing as is compelling with the story line without going into the archetypal cliches but the game-play tends to be so slow that bores from time to time. 

Home - A Unique Horror Adventure Game Review

The Unnamed Protagonist of Home

Tampa -- Fl, Home -  A Unique Horror Adventure Game is a side-scroll by the mind of Benjamin Rivers is an adventure game with a mystery side that can keep the player hook up to the seat for the entire duration of the game. The best way to describe Home is with a retro vein styled 1980's graphic text adventure with a 2D perspective that gives and scary atmosphere to the game mythos where he unnamed protagonist tries to uncover the clues about his whereabouts and why he ended amnesiac in a mansion h has no clue who belongs to.

Waking up in the Middle of Nowhere

The Gameplay is quite easy to handle, as there are only two basic commands, the directional arrows and the space-bar (to take some yes/no decisions the player must use the Y and N keys.) to navigate through the scenario. The scenario offer a retro old school value as everything is pixelated even the sequences from first point view where the character explores his surroundings (see adjacent cap) the world is completely pixelated giving a Maniac Mansion or Super Mario air of kind of game.

There are skeletons and not in the closet

The story of the game is quite ambiguous and not necessarily goes into the unidirectional spectrum of story telling. The basic outline goes when our unnamed protagonist wakes up disoriented in the middle of a storm in the house that is not his only to find himself in what it seems to be the possible scene of a mass murder. The story has possible endings and the player has to explore different parts of the vast pixelated world in order to unveil all the clues regarded on the situation the protagonist finds himself into.

There are different theories about what really happening around online since the game don't offer any clues itself and the player is obligated to repeat the game in order to find different parts of the mystery from the very beginning but the game revolves around a man that seems to have a criminal history and in a fit of rage  mixed with alcohol and depression  after finding his wife Rachel possibly cheating with his best and only friend a man named Norman decide deliberately to kill them, albeit the game take possible outcomes depending on what clues the player finds regarding the blank spots on the man's past.

Graphics bring an amazing value to the game itself, is one of those kind of games aimed to an older generation but at the same time is aimed to anyone who enjoy retro-games or retro styled games due the nostalgia value as well to the focus on the story itself. Maybe with today gaming industry, the industry as focused on graphics and not essence, maybe the indie developers have taken what the mainstream had left.? The point where even there is an appeal on the graphics there is also an appeal on the beauty of gaming with mimics the same as writing and painting, or any form of art, telling a story.