Much like The Witness, Firewatch hasn’t got the most detailed or photorealistic landscapes, but they’re rich and expressive, using shape, light and colour to build a convincing wilderness that changes tone to match Henry’s moods and the beats of the story.įirewatch is ripe with moments of sheer beauty, yet areas that seem benign in the spring sunshine become oppressive or threatening in other lights, or promote panic and confusion as the tale nears its end. Kudos to the writing team, the actors – Rich Sommer and Cissy Jones – and the composer, Chris Remo of Thirty Flights of Loving and Gone Home fame Firewatch works on all sorts of emotional levels.Īll credit to the artists and coders too. Firewatch can be bleak, warm, funny, chilling, nerve-wracking, exciting and melancholic, sometimes within a single hour. There’s a real sense of identifying with Henry, and of your choices altering both the character and the role.Īnd as you play, the game subtly shifts in tone, promising a love story, threatening a thriller, surprising you with sudden revelations that might turn everything on its head. The questions your ask and the replies you give begin to steer your relationship with Delilah in new directions, and this in turn pushes the story along new paths. And all the time you’ll have Delilah on the other end of the radio, as you squeeze the controller’s trigger and use the stick to select answers in a clever simulacrum of Henry with his handset. You’ll seek out caches and supply drops, search for vandals and watch out for signs of grizzly bear. In a way, we’re looking at a classic two-hander, but one that stretches out over several square miles of Wyoming wilderness as Henry investigates fireworks, reports on downed lines and explores the park’s forests, canyons, lakes and creeks. You’ll tell her what you’ll see, you’ll ask her for advice, and she’ll help you out with where you need to go and what you need to do. Reached via handheld radio, Delilah is Henry’s only point of contact for most of the game. You may also know that it’s a free-roaming adventure game set in the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming, and that it focuses on two characters – a temporary fire lookout, Henry, and his supervisor, Delilah. I'm excited to think about what they could do with more time, money, and new technology like VR.įirewatch, for what it is, what it evokes, and what it supports, is worth your $20.If you know anything about the game, you’ll know that it’s the debut work of Campo Santo, a small studio founded by two of the leads behind Telltale’s The Walking Dead series, the designer of Mark of the Ninja and Brit artist, Olly Moss. Firewatch is proof that Campo Santo could make the game I/we want a "game of the year" candidate that nudges gaming in a direction away from the massive triple-A shooters that dominate the industry. I would love to play something bigger.Īnd that, perhaps, is the best reason to buy this game, and for its full $20 price to support a new developer that's pushing narrative storytelling forward in the right direction - Campo Santo, and Panic. Firewatch offers a peek at what a her-like game could be, but is forced to move in a different direction to complete its story in time. The characters feel so human that we want to learn more about them, listen to their thoughts and struggles, and think about life together with them. I would've liked to learn even more about these two characters while star-gazing, or holed up during a storm. That said, I can't help but wish that Firewatch's story did move into deeper, bolder territory. It feels realistic, honest, and fully closed. Some reviewers and players find the ending to be disappointing, but to me it feels complete. I enjoyed playing Firewatch thoroughly, although your experience may vary on lower-end PCs or the PS4 ( for the moment).
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