Firewatch

I hate to see a game I love where the first review is awful. So here is my balance to that review and hopefully newcomers can judge for themselves. I have a mixed reaction to "walking simulators". Sometimes I like them, sometimes I get bored and hate them. This one is a true walking sim. You pull out your map and compass, work out a route, and off you go. I loved the mechanic, loved navigating my way round the mini wilderness, loved getting lost, loved arriving. I also loved the characters, though as others said, I wanted a different ending but...I can accept they never met. If I was Delilah in the same situation I think I might have acted same. Anyway, this is one of the very few games where I did not want to leave the world. When I finished it I immediately restarted another run through and loved it still, even though I just went through all this, not long ago too since it's not a very long game. And I have since played at least twice more, and will do again. I accept this is not for everyone, and that some truly hate walking sims but I'm not one of them. And I long for a sequel, but with Campo Santo assimilated into Valve I don't expect much else from them, and this is sad...to me... :-)

First, it took me all of like 2 hours to complete the game. There may have been some hidden things to find, but there is no real drive to find or explore anything as its very dull. Walking simulator, with pick a response in between walking, which is not that compelling but, the STORY IS SO SHORT and what could have been a good experience and an interesting game gets cut down to almost nothing and you're left wondering why you paid for the game in the first place. I loved What Remains of Edith Finch, its not that I dont enjoy story or walking, its that this one makes me hope for more, and then rips that hope away from me multiple times over by not continuing the cool parts of the story, and ending way sooner than I would have liked while not delivering on any of the cool story that had happened to that point. Avoid this one, I paid 4 bucks for it, and its not even worth that in my opinion. I dont see any reason anyone should buy this game.

With replay value as long as you wait a year or two in between (or go back right away in completionist mode).

TLDR: I bought this game for €5. I think it was worth that, but not the standard asking price of €20. The reason I bought this game is because it got some good reviews. I read it is a walking simulator, and this was the first one I played (as far as I know). For people that are unfamiliar with what a walking simulator is, basically (at least in this game) it means that you walk a lot from point A to point B without encountering enemies, without engaging in combat or platforming obstacles, etc. Basically it means, enjoy the digital environment and story. On those two fronts the game is pretty good, although I did think they wrapped up the story a bit too quickly. So you might ask yourself, why only 2 stars? Well, there are a number of drawbacks to this game. I played through the story in about 5 hours. After that there is no (real) replayability. The game offers a lot of response choices in your confersations with Delilah, but your choices do not have any affect on things happening in the world or how the story unfolds. There are no multiple endings. Even if you ignore Delilah as much as you can, the things you need to do to progress the story, remain the same. And with a playthrough and 100% of the achiements done in 5 and a half hours, I would say that is not worth the €20.

I am a dinosaur. Games don't have to be dazzling; they don't have to confound; they don't have to impress me. What a game has to do is give me the feeling that what I am doing ~matters~. So trust me when I say that Firewatch is special. It's a simple story, told with intrigue, heartbreak and sweet melancholy. Short of feeling the fiery breath of a wildfire, the game touches you like a setting autumn sun. Have I layered on enough? If you liked Gone Home, this game is probably for you.