![]() This might not be the biggest open world, but it’s a dense forest, meaning it’s easy to get lost. Your most important tool however is your map. You’ll even find a camera at some point that allows you to take pictures, which you can then have developed and made into art prints by Campo Santo. You get a rope and some anchors so you can climb up and down rocks like a Spiderman cosplayer. You’ll find an axe, be told it’s a pulaski, to clear debris and cut down trees to get to new areas. It’s a well-paced game, with more exploration options and decisions becoming available as time goes by. You’ll spend a lot of your time walking from place to place, admiring the art and the soundtrack. This is, at its heart, what Firewatch is all about: exploration and decision making. These actors turn what would be normal, boring conversations into gripping chats, arguments, and heartfelt journey’s to the past. Each line is delivered with the right combination of passion and a belief in the game, snark and sarcasm. It’s all brought together by Delilah and Henry’s voice acting, not so much the cherry on top, but a key ingredient. It’s a well-paced game, with more exploration options and decisions becoming available as time goes by." "You’ll spend a lot of your time walking from place to place, admiring the art and the soundtrack. You can stare at them, you can be polite and tell them the fireworks are illegal, or you throw their radio in the water. After having nothing to go on but the colorful explosions in the sky guiding you, you come across some teenage girls. You find yourself thrust into an open forest with nothing but a compass and a map, and are told to investigate the source of some fireworks in the distance. Once you’ve made your introductions with Delilah the game properly begins. ![]() This acts as a tutorial to introduce the basic mechanics, like climbing over fallen trees and navigating through the woods. These text scenes are interspersed with short gameplay sections of Henry walking through the woods to his watch tower for the first time. With nothing more than text and some background music, you’ll be more emotionally invested after five minutes than the entire run-time of most games. ![]() This opening demonstrates a blend of tragedy and humor. This is one of the rare games where copious amounts of swearing doesn’t sound like its coming from high schoolers trying to be edgy. The dialogue options don’t allow you to change the backstory much, but it allows you to further connect with both Henry and Julia. ![]() You’re introduced to the incredible writing. It’s a fun and engaging way to give an exposition dump, which is basically what it is. It delivers the backstory of Henry and his wife Julia, and it gives the player options to choose how their marriage progresses, and what kind of person Henry is. The game starts with an old school text based adventure scenario. "With nothing more than text and some background music, you’ll be more emotionally invested after five minutes than the entire runtime of most games." Her name is Delilah, and she’s just as isolated as you in her own tower several miles away. It’s 1989, and without cellphones or the internet, it’s your job to sit in a massive watch tower and keep an eye out for any fires and radio them in to your boss. You play Henry, a forty-something year old man who’s escaping his old life by taking a job as a fire-watcher in the Wyoming wilderness. That’s not to say it’s a bad game, far from it. There’s also Jane Ng, Ben Burbank, and Chris Remo formerly of Double Fine filling various roles.ĭespite, or because of, all that talent, I came away from Firewatch thinking it should have been better than it was. Nels Anderson is a designer and programmer who was the lead designer of Mark of the Ninja. ![]() Olly Moss is in charge of the art design, an artist famous for his work with Studio Ghibli and LucasArts. Founded by Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin, the writers of The Walking Dead Season 1, they sought to continue pushing narrative capabilities in gaming. Campo Santo, the developers behind Firewatch, are a rock-star group of indie developers. ![]()
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