What a devastating, crushing way to start a game. Firewatch begins as a beautiful love story that turns into sadness and despair; life happens in a matter of minutes. Work, kids, disease, impossible choices. I react as someone would in such biting situations, but there is no easy way out. No right answers.
And then I… or Henry, Firewatch’s main character, takes a job far, far away. From home, from his sick wife, from everything.
The Firewatch choose-your-own-adventure text intro hits hard, like a sickening punch in the stomach.
But as soon as Henry sets foot on his lookout tower and Delilah reaches out, the mood of the game takes a drastic turn. Now I’m smiling, wondering who this mysterious supervisor is and why she sounds so peculiar and funny. Firewatch is now a much more relaxed game, and will turn out to be one heck of a ride.
Why haven’t I played this game sooner? It is, for the most part, utterly phenomenal in its simplicity, a wonderful narrative exercise that shines in a way that is miles ahead of most other games of this genre. More than a walking simulator, Firewatch is a riveting story about “two fuck-ups” far away from everything, and their novel relationship in the face of a baffling mystery.
Firewatch could easily be called ‘Henry and Delilah’. These two characters only communicate via a small, handheld radio during most of the time (except for the cave, where there are no comms) and the dialogue is just perfect. It’s amusing, intriguing, often flirty and just feels right. It feels real – not that I would know how two fire lookouts would behave in the face of danger and seclusion, but for the purpose of a game, it works brilliantly. The two main voice actors deserve all the praise, but it’s Delilah that will stick with you and won’t let go of your mind until you finish the game. Or even beyond the ending, as you’ll be trying to match a face with that powerful, sensual voice.
Firewatch is a linear game about choices. Now that your mind is going nuts thanks to this expression, allow me to elaborate. In this game, you have some places to go and quests to complete, but it’s not like you can just go exploring like crazy, as you don’t have the proper tools for some places or the narrative simply won’t develop. Let the storyline guide you, unlock the stuff that you need such as ropes or an axe, and unravel the mysteries of the Shoshone National Forest. You can, however, choose from various dialogue options and use this to develop your relationship with Delilah – will you respond to her obvious flirting, or are you going to be the calm, married and faithful man? Will you share all the clues you find with Delilah, or do you think that she could somehow be behind whatever is happening?
No matter your choices, the plot won’t budge a bit. You’ll still go to the same places and unearth the same mystery, but you should see this more as a way to build YOUR character, to project yourself into the not-so-blank canvas of Henry. It’s not quite impactful game-making, but it could teach you, the real you, a thing or two about how to react to the advances of an apparently friendly stranger. You must play it to feel the connection and the emotion that goes back and forth in each exchange, and it’s up to you to react.
Firewatch could do with some mini-games to ramp up our engagement. Running around, chatting and rappelling is interesting enough, especially considering that the forest has some quite impressive vistas, but more interactivity would be welcome. I’m also not quite sure about the amount of beverage and energy bars that you can “save for later”, as I don’t see any use to it – could it be that Firewatch was designed with some kind of survival system (hunger, thirst, fatigue) that was ultimately dropped?
Contrary to most people, I’m OK with the ending. I didn’t find it abrupt or that it left any loose ties; I think that what happened made perfect sense and ended the story in a logical note. I don’t see a sequel to Firewatch ever being made, as the story is said and done, and the rest is up to your imagination. In fact, my main gripe with the game isn’t even the short duration (four to five hours), but the lack of landmarks to discover and contemplate. I would gladly explore more of the forest by my own initiative if I could stumble upon this… let’s say, ruined asylum with some notes detailing part of its story. Or a formerly lush mansion that was abandoned in a rush due to whatever reason. I remember this small, burnt-out cabin in Firewatch where you open the stove and something unexpected happens – I wanted more of these startling moments.
But I really liked Firewatch. I wasn’t expecting to like it so much, considering that the idea of running around in a huge forest, talking to the same person over and over again didn’t seem very tempting. Boy, was I wrong. Delilah is one of the greatest characters that you’ll ever get to “meet” in a game.
I strongly recommend Firewatch for players who want to be the stars of an exciting, intriguing movie, and I’m now eagerly waiting for Campo Santo’s next game, In the Valley of Gods.
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