'Firewatch' drops gamer into Wyoming wilderness with a radio and many questions

Feb 14, 2016, 06:58

Given that she's relegated to both backstory and motivation for why Henry takes on the isolated role of fire lookout in Shoshone National Forest, it's not overly important, but it's something that isn't really explored later in the game, despite the constant implicit presence of her motivating backstory. This may be because Firewatch didn't play nice with my generic Xbox 360 controller; at the very least, while the controller worked, the in-game prompts were still presented as mouse buttons and keystrokes, which made it confusing to figure out the corresponding controller inputs.

Ultimately, even if you give Campo Santo the benefit of the doubt in terms of what answers might have been uncovered had I performed a more-attentive play-through, as a main-path player, I didn't experience the kind of emotional closure that I needed after four hours of engaging with Henry and Delilah.

From the second you pick up your walkie-talkie to reply to your boss "Delilah" it is clear that the bond between the protagonist and his guide is the key to this title, and from start to finish the amount of connection drawn between you and Hank and you and Delilah is incredible. It's worth it to simply stop and look around at the stunning environments.

Firewatch is similar in execution to many so-called walking simulators, especially last year's Everybody's Gone To the Rapture, but in this case the tension isn't created by the uncanny absence of people but rather the sensation that people may be lurking where you can't see them. It may not be completely enough to merit more than one playthrough, but if you get really attached to the story and characters, you'll want to see the different permutations of the relationship you can have with her. The dialog will also help guide you in the right directions actually. But, that nearly feels like the point.

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Speaking to the fine denizens of NeoGAF, Campo Santo revealed that they have been speaking with the proper parties about getting the frame-rate issues with the game fixed. The latter would be cool if it worked, but embedding it directly into the game allows Firewatch to maximize the artistic impacts of time of day and weather to synchronize with the story. Navigation is hard at first if you're not used to maps, but that's half the fun. Given that there are multiple conversation options, pretty much all of which operate on a timer, it opens up the potential of multiple narrative threads and/or multiple endings, but that's really just me hypothesising.

Another thing that drew me in instantly about Firewatch was its script and use of dialogue. Calling them "tasks" doesn't do it justice though; everything I did in Firewatch was purposeful and deliberately woven into its short narrative arc. At the center of a slowly evolving mystery, accompanied by growing concerns of paranoia and isolation, is a relationship and narrative arc in which it becomes easy to invest yourself. As you are quickly introduced to Henry's story things are, suddenly, not ok. Like I'd stated previously, I was quite surprised by how deep some points were with Henry's personal history. Henry and Delilah feel authentic and have faults. While I loved the fact I never physically interacted with anyone throughout the game, I must admit I was a little disappointed overall with the bones and climax of the main story. So that's coming but we're at the mercy of the console patch process. Like all of the suspense of the story, a piece of taught string, was suddenly cut with a pair of scissors. "I just knew that if [Vanaman] was going to be writing it I was all in".

CS: How did you decide on the game's unique art style?

No caveats: yes, you should play "Firewatch". There are also a few little side stories that you find along the way via notes left by old rangers to one another. "Any chance they have to not do what they're supposed to, they will take". At the same time, however, I didn't dislike the ending either. I beat it in about three and a half hours.

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I didn't start a new game.

Firewatch is a prestige game about wandering through a national park, making friends over your radio, and uncovering a mystery.

Instead, the camera is one of those old cardboard disposable ones. You'll acquire a camera early on, and you can use it to take photos that will reappear in the credits. Bear in mind this does absolutely nothing for the game's progression.

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