Game Appreciation: Revisiting the greatness of ‘Firewatch’
Indie developer Campo Santo released Firewatch at the beginning of the year and if you haven’t played it yet, you’re missing out.
When Firewatch was first revealed, gamers didn’t know what to expect. What gamers did know is the game would be full of mystery, great storytelling, dialogue and amazing visuals. The aesthetics were probably the aspect that stood out the most. Developed by Campo Santo, which is made up of developers and creators who have worked on various other projects, like Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead and Mark of the Ninja, we knewFirewatch would be something special.
If you’ve never played Firewatch, here’s a brief synopsis. It’s 1989 and you play as Henry who is married to his wife, Julia, who has been diagnosed with early onset dementia. Trying to disconnect from his personal life, he sees an ad to go work as a fire lookout at the Shoshone National Forest. Once he takes on the job, he meets his supervisor Delilah through a conversation on a walkie-talkie. At first, things seem normal, but as Henry makes his way through the forest, he finds out things aren’t what they seem and he tries to find out what exactly is going on.
From the moment you pick up the walkie-talkie and start your conversation with Delilah, you’re already hooked. Firewatch keeps you emotionally attached from beginning to end, and we can’t say that for every game.
For the first 45 minutes of gameplay, everything seems normal and you feel like a typical fire lookout, but it doesn’t take long to realize things are about to get very weird and mysterious. It’s something that many story-based games fail to do and with Firewatch, Campo Santo mastered that feeling of suspense.
There aren’t many gameplay elements to talk about. For the most part, you’re walking around the forest trying to discover clues and other than walking, you’re climbing rocks and so on. Some may argue that it lacks when it comes to gameplay, but a game that focuses heavily on a story like this doesn’t really need many gameplay mechanics to succeed. Firewatch has enough to keep you interested and just exploring the gorgeous world inside of the game is enough.
If you haven’t played Firewatch, then we won’t spoil it for you. This is a game you need to try out for yourself. It’s a short game and you should be able to complete it in one play through. Originally, the game was a console exclusive on the PS4 and you were also able to play on PC, but now, thanks to PAX West, the game will be releasing on the Xbox One, which is great news for all gamers.
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To sum it all up, Firewatch has beautiful aesthetics, very interesting characters in Henry and Delilah, and a story that will keep you invested from beginning to end. You can buy it on the PS4 and PC right now, but you’ll be able to buy it on the Xbox One on September 21, 2016.