Firewatch Tells a Wonderful Story and is a Beautiful Game

Firewatch is a wonderful game that focuses on telling the player a story. The gameplay is kept to a minimum, and you spend most of your time exploring a park. It is a relaxing game, even though it tries to create tension in the game.

The opening sequence can be a bit of a gut punch if you’re not ready for it. You set up your character and his reasons for heading to the woods. It is an interesting way of doing things and sets up a pattern for most of the characters in the game.

I like the more laid-back style of gameplay in Firewatch. You can wander around and take pictures of the landscape. There are also the conversations you have over the radio. It is a fun game that deals with a few mature themes.

TLDR: A beautiful game that tells an interesting story.

Narrative

The story in Firewatch is terrific! It is essentially a linear game, but you have some control over the story through the dialogue options. There is also the opening sequence where you set up your character’s motivations for taking a job in a national park for a summer.

The main character is Henry. His wife is diagnosed with early onset dementia. The life that he thought he was going to have fell apart quickly. Depending on the choices you make, the story will differ slightly.

He decides to work in a national park as a fire watcher. This is where the bulk of the game will take place. You meet Delilah, who is in charge of the fire watchers. You never meet her in person, and your only interaction is on the radio. She will give you a series of tasks as the game goes on.

Over the course of the game, you see some strange things in your section of the park. You also learn about one of the other people who worked at your station. This is where Ned comes into the story.

Ned was the fire watcher, and he brought his son, Brian, along with him. Brian didn’t want to be there and died during a caving accident. Following this, Ned disappeared.

Delilah fills you in on the backstory, assuming you talk to her during the game. You have the option to ignore her. She also tells you more about why she went out to the national park.

Over the course of the game, you learn that someone is spying on you. You get knocked out, you find recordings of your conversations, and your tower is broken into several times. This turns out to be Ned. You also learn more about why he is out there and how Brian died.

A forest fire is started during the game. It slowly gets closer to you over the course of the game. It ends up being the reason for you leaving the park, as you’re going to be rescued.

Loss, running away from your problems, and alcohol are running themes in the game. You don’t get closure on all of the stories. I like this as you can decide what happens to each of them.

Gameplay

Firewatch is mainly a “Walking Simulator.” You walk around a forest and visit different areas of your section of a national park. You can go just about anywhere as long as there is a path for you to travel.

Some paths require you to clear trees as the path has become over grown. You’ll also have to set up climbing ropes and find items to let you move forward. These act as the game’s puzzles.

The most annoying part for me was following the beeps of the signal finder. I wandered all over the park, trying to figure out where to go! Eventually, I figured it out, but it was annoying.

I wouldn’t say that anything is hard. You get hints on where to go and have a nice map. Trails can be recorded on it, as well as locations that you need to visit.

I like the gameplay in Firewatch. It is a relaxing game for the most part. The game tries to ratchet up the tension every once in a while, but I never felt scared while playing. It is a fun game that tells a story and throws simple puzzles at the player.

Visuals

The game takes place in a national park. Everything looks pretty good, and I like how the game looks when the sun goes down and rises. It is a relaxing game to look at.

There were a few times when I had trouble navigating to key locations. It is one of the problems with having a large map. Thankfully, you have a map, and you can mark where the trails are if you open up the supply boxes around the map.

On the last day, you have to move through all the smoke from the fire. This sometimes makes things a little hard to see but doesn’t obscure your map. It is a nice way to tell the player that the fire is a danger and they should hurry.

I do like the graphics. The paths through the woods and meadows are usually easy to see. The game also displays the buttons you need to use when you reach an obstacle. Even when the game is trying to be tense, the graphics are somewhat relaxing.

9/10. The story is what carries you through this game. The puzzles are simple and easy to figure out, and the only challenge you might have is finding and moving items to find solutions to the puzzles. Aside from that, you will be wandering around a lovely-looking park.

Pros

• Great Story
• Relaxing Atmosphere
• Open World

Cons

• Short
• Simple Puzzles
• Linear Experience

Conclusion

This is a game that I’ve wanted to try for a while. It has been sitting in my backlog for an embarrassing time, and I’m glad I finally played it. Firewatch is a great game!

How each of the three characters deals with loss is interesting. Henry, Delilah, and Ned deal with their problems in similar ways. They run away from their responsibilities. It is interesting to see how these three people deal with their issues similarly.

I didn’t want this game to end. I wanted there to be more to the story or to view the story from a different perspective. Even though that wasn’t possible, I enjoyed my time with Firewatch.