Firewatch

Minor spoilers ahead. Yes, Firewatch is a walking simulator. But while I did not like games like Dear Esther and Going Home, Firewatch hit a chord with me. Firstly, it rings better to mature audience. You meet adult themes in the game like death, separation, forgiveness, dementia etc. Secondly, you connect better with this game than Dear Esther, as you are in constant radio contact with another person over the course of the game (and this chatter is fun and voice acting is very good too). Finally, the art style by Ollie Moss is particularly stunning, somewhat alike rotoscoping in XIII, but better, warmer and cleaner. The game really has immersive atmosphere and I did many screenshots on the way. The bad side? As other reviewers said, the plot seems underwhelming, especially in the last third of the game. It builds up tension well, but fails to relieve neatly. The finale is somewhat weak and controversial (though I still enjoyed it). I agree it looks like the devs ran out of money and decided to wrap it up. Finally, the choices do not impact the game this much, they change some chatter and introduce a (kinda) second ending, but not really.

What a surprising adventure it was, to start Firewatch- it doesn't look like it, but it's going to keep you playing with anticipation for more and more. Great game idea and scenario, though very very simple. Love it, thanks for crreating such pearls. Recommend it totally

Wasn't sure what to expect from Firewatch, I was pleasantly surprised. The dialog really drove the story, It felt like a story podcast combined with a scenic walking simulator. Lots of dialog choices, though I'm sure sure how much of an impact they have on the story.

Firewatch offers a wonderful, grounded narrative with beautiful scenery along the way. The protagonist, Henry, and the woman you'll spend the duration of the game communicating with, Deliah, have a very believable chemistry that can dance around the line of romantic and platonic (though this has little impact on the core narrative). Despite being set in a large expanse of wilderness the story is fairly linear and doesn't offer much incentive to explore outside of admiring the visuals. Firewatch runs rather short at around 3.5-4 hours. My only other gripe with the game is the way the story ends which is nearly impossible to discuss in further detail without spoiling it to some degree. I wouldn't go even as far as to say I dislike the ending, just that it fell flat for me personally. Overall if you're looking for a well-written game narrative in a beautiful setting you really can't go wrong with Firewatch.

The game is quite short (about 5 hours) and the ending may (or not) leave you disappointed, other than that a great, visually pleasing, story driven game about loneliness, dealing with change, acceptance and weight of responsibility and you know.. life :) 4/5 definitely worth it's discounted price.