Firewatch

Immersive, enjoyable, relaxing, and unconventional. Firewatch is a game you play if you're looking for down-to-earth characters in an outdoor adventure that lacks both puzzles and combat. The game is dialogue driven, and the story is less important than the relationship you choose through the dialogue. The game constantly provides the player with choices, both in your responses during conversation, and with which trails you take around the map and where you explore. There are no right or wrong decisions - nothing will kill your avatar in the game. Firewatch is an existential story, an exploration about the meaning, or lack thereof, in the choices we make. Some reviewers have complained about the ending, but I think it's actually quite fitting. It's a game about fantasy and reality, about how reality intrudes on fantasy. It has a lot of emotion, drama, humor, and occasional suspense. It's light-hearted and heavy at the same time. All of this is embedded within a visually arresting world, complete with textured sounds and splendid voice-acting. It's not a game for those looking for stimulation or craft-heavy open worlds. It's a relaxing game. It took me about 5 hrs to complete, and i just enjoyed the scenery and the walk and the speculation and the banter and the mystery. Let the game take you away, set aside your expectations, and be absorbed into a very unique, charming, and satisfying world.

Seemingly more interested in snubbing the player than being a game in and of itself, potential buyers of Firewatch should make like the gameplay of this product, and just keep walking.

Despite everything that is said about how the game could have been better with more choices (which I do not believe because the game is mainly narrative driven and does not need any different endings, and serve solely to get the player immersed and attached to the characters by giving them some sense of control), or that the ending is underwhelming, I think the game still excels at what it intends to be. I too was at first a bit underwhelmed by the ending but I believe that this was exactly the feeling that the developers intetended to convey, and actually has a meaning (it is not just some bad and nonsensical ending written out of laziness) and really does not need anything more to be good.

If you must play it, copy your save files every two seconds. C:Users[USER]AppDataLocalLowCampoSantoFirewatchsaves

Im literally sitting here grinding my teeth for 2 hours straight by the fact that I paid 8€ in 60% sale not just for a story that is only 4 hours short, but also a story revealing being a personal insult to me afterwards, too. Spoilers. This is going to be just as objective as it is emotional. I AM playing games to hide from the reality. Most of my time I'm alone and get exactly no actual reaction of others to anything I do and in the other half people are insulting me for no particular reason except "being soo much better than this guy over there". This is the reward for not running away and facing your fears on a daily basis not like the protagonist does. Seriously. Most people on earth are made fun of so that a few can say "they're the best" because noone wants to waste time arguing. And thats just what the Protagonist does. He steps into my territory and starts a fire and when I'm really becoming obviously dangerous for him, he lets me burn down in hatred all alone. First he runs away from his own feelings, and then he runs away from the bad he made. What a hero. Instead of just following his damn wife to australia and live with her like hes supposed to be. It was a good story until right after the plot made sense. Everything after that was salt in daily wounds. Additionally, I was able to say sorry to Delilah for verbal mistakes I made JUST TWO TIMES in the whole story! Good graphics, nice voiceover, a working order of hints and gameplay. But very bad ending. The conclusion of the game is literally that the time in firewatch wasn't even needed to live your life. And thats both, inside of the story and IRL, too. Four hours of watching trees in the wind and the sun go by, without learning anything useful. Thats it.