Delilah stoked the flames by nurturing the assumptions, paranoia, fears, and theories I had about what was going on in the forest. Locked gates, signs of bears, and a few missing people added to the suspense of exploring the forest. The dialog choices offered during play gave me some latitude in how their relationship played out, and both characters feature fantastic performances from their respective voice actors.Īs the story unfolds, my imagination ran wild with possibilities. Henry's a well-meaning but flawed man and Delilah looks into the bottom of a bottle when things get tough, but they play off each other beautifully. Their only means of interface is via radio, but their relationship is extremely well-written and believable. The only other person in his life at the tower is Delilah, his boss and a neighboring lookout who maintains her own outpost visible in the distance. While there are traces of others scattered about the area-an abandoned backpack here or a few empty beer cans there-Henry is totally cut off from people during his summer-long tenure. Being a fire lookout is a solitary life with little (or no) interaction with others, and Campo Santo did a wonderful job of making me feel alone in the wilderness. Once Henry starts his job proper, the feelings of isolation begin. Firewatch had me invested from the outset. It quickly establishes that Campo Santo isn't going to hold back from emotional gut punches-ironically, they touched on one of my greatest fears in the game's first few moments. The story starts with a brief text prologue where the player can choose aspects of Henry's background and why he took the lonely job of becoming a fire lookout. While a few portions of the woods are gated off, the developers are more than happy to let the player explore on their own, provided they have the gear to get there. This sense of being in the wild and using landmarks to get where Henry needs to go is one of Firewatch's greatest strengths. Main character Henry is given a compass, a radio, and a map that has to be pulled out and held to be used-no handy minimap in the corner of the screen here. There is, however, is a sizable plot of Shoshone National Forest to be hiked. There are no puzzles to be solved, no combat to be had, and no quicktime events when rappelling down a cliff. Players who don't enjoy first-person wandering games like Gone Home or Everybody's Gone to the Rapture will find little to enjoy here. If you already intend to play this game, stop reading now.įor those who might need a bit more convincing, what I can say is that Firewatch is the very definition of a walking simulator. At its core, what made Firewatch so enjoyable were the genuine feelings of wonder and suspense that came from not knowing. I can't stress enough how important it is to go in with this same amount of knowledge. In fact, all I knew about Campo Santo's debut was that it took place in the late '80s, the setting was a national park in Wyoming, and that the player's job was to watch for forest fires. The knowledge I had of Firewatch before I started it was quite limited. WTF How did I miss the turtle everyone else found?!?
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