Firewatch

The Good: - Gorgeous world - Good voice acting - Believable characters - Plenty of choices The Bad: - Only one save slot per playthrough (no way to go back and try a different choice if the game autosaved or if the player saved/quick-saved, have to play through the entire game again) The Ugly: - The ending is dissapointing (made me feel like some of the more personal choices never mattered) - Lots of walking/running around with no way to fast travel (becomes tedious towards the later parts of the game) If you enjoy a good down to earth story about making choices in regards to dealing with real life issues while taking a stroll through a beautiful landscape, this is the game for you. Otherwise, you might wanna look up a playthrough and spare yourself the time and money.

It was only recently that I learned that the writers of THE WALKING DEAD S1 had jumped from Telltale to make this game. As you start making your way through FIREWATCH, you can definitely tell. Despite being a walking simulator, the writing elevates almost everything within the game. The story begins with a quick intro of Henry, the protagonist, who has come out into the Shoshone National Forest to escape after his wife succumbs to dementia. Henry has taken the job of being a lookout for fires, living on his own with his supervisor in the next tower over, Delilah, as his only form of human contact. As you play through FIREWATCH, the relationship between Henry and Delilah takes on an interesting kind of complexity, as both of them are dealing with isolation. It's this interaction, often presented in the form of branching dialogue, that drives the game forward as Henry tends to his tasks in the forest. The dialogue feels natural, the voice actors put in some fantastic performances, and the themes of isolation and guilt are ever-present throughout the story. What really had me annoyed at the end of FIREWATCH, and what had me wondering if I was going to give this a high score or a low score, is just how artificial the ending feels. The writing is strong, the dialogue is strong, the theming is strong, the environments are wonderful, but this is still a walking simulator with what was probably a lower than standard budget. Although the game gives you many options for how you can "play" Henry, those options don't quite matter in the end. The game cuts to black and railroads players into a specific ending that doesn't quite jive with, say, a man who has decided to move on. Perhaps the relationship between Henry and Delilah is so bright, that it outshines any struggles Henry has with regards to his wife. It outshines the conflict that the ending insists on suddenly pushing to the forefront, as if proclaiming, "Remember this? You must care about this now."

Dont spend more than $5 - 10 on this, but if you can get it on sale for that price jump on it. The game play is top notch, but the game is short. Thats actually a really good thing though, as the 4 or 5 hours is what it takes to tell that story. It was much better to let it be short and loaded with content than to milk it out to try and streach it to like 10 hours. The game is engrossing, well paced, amd written like a solid paperback novel. Its basically a walking sim, but it never felt that way to me. which is impressive because i dislike walking sims, but I really liked this. Nothing took too long to accomplish, i didnt have to worry about missing little items, and i was always motivated to find the next piece of the puzzle. The ending isnt bad, but it doesnt have that BLAM! factor that would win this game 10/ 10 ratings from everywhere. To be honest, i cant really think of a better way to tie the story up, and i'm SUPER glad they didnt decide the end needed more pop and add aliens/werewolves/coma-dreams. Once again not bad, just not crazy-awesome. Still, its totally worth investing a few bucks and a few dollars for the ride.

This game is for the story. It has a good potential and player needs to take EVERYTHING in consideration. Player plays Henry and his life got turned upside down so he chooses this job and be part of the firewatch. Player has to take in consideration Henry's life before the game and compare that with what he discovers during the gameplay (the very ending). Many on the net were pointing out that D (your ingame supervisor) hides something and try to deepen the mystery. I disagree but it is ultimatley on the each individual player how this story is going to be interpreted. Even though game hints there could be different replays it is not that well made at the end. Game is relativley short but well made. The story before theepilogue is too strong for the actual epilogue that is given. I hope Campo Santo will make better stories in the future even though Firewatch is quite solid.

This is basically an interactive story, which you experience as it was designed. You cannot change the story, you can only affect the conversations slightly. The "game" is pretty short, and it would be very nice if the story was longer. The exploration options are very limited. Regardless, I still enjoyed the short experience. If you enjoy a good story and dialog, it is worth getting when it's on sale. If you want action and meaningful decisions, you probably won't like it.