Firewatch

This is a story driven adventure game. Its set during the 80's. You play the role of Henry, someone who becomes a seasonal firewatcher at a national park. While watching over the park, you interact with a woman named Delilah over the radio and share experiences about different things. There arent a lot of gameplay elements. You walk from A to B and interact with some objects, mostly read notes and communicate what you see/find to Delilah. The game is driven primarily by its atmosphere and aesthetics, which are created via visuals, soundtrack and some naration elements. This type of game doesnt need many gameplay elements, it can be fine with a good atmosphere and story. And while the atmosphere does really work well, its the story thats dissapoints. While the game has nice narration, nothing really goes anywhere or developed in any meaningful ways. Character development, plot, interactions, non of them really have a satisfying culmination or ending. I finished the game with strong feelings, but when I asked myself what was the journey about, I couldnt really understand. Feelings for feelings sake. Im not going to spoil any plot here, but I want people who are interested in these kinds of products to understand that if they get invested here, they might actually get dissapointed with the product in the end. And thats a shame, there was quite a bit of potential. Its around 3 hours long, so if you want something just to kill the evening, this might be a good choice, although somewhat expensive. But if you are looking for something satisfying storywise, look elsewhere.

I enyoied this game a lot, seriously, and the two things you mostly do are talk and walk. But you always are more and more interested about what's happening, if its really something going on, because sometimes you aren't even sure about that. It's thrilling, intriguing and sometimes scaring as real life, and that is the point. If you are looking for some hard puzzles or intense action, this is not your game, if your looking for a long game full of task to do even if the are all pretty similar, this is not your game. This game is first person real story, and maybe somepeople find it a little boring, no shooting, no looting, no anything you can find in a regular first person game. otherwise it has something that very few games have, the feeling that it's you whose living the experience of watching for fires while life goes on and a mistery is running.

This game immediately took me in with its gorgeous watercolor scenery, great voice acting, realistic dialogue, and the intriguing mystery that beings to unfold. First 3/4 of the game was great; I enjoyed getting lost in the wilderness and bantering back and forth with Delilah. The last 1/4, especially the ending, are what ruined this game for me. The "big reveal," the answer to the mystery, was very disappointing for me. The game began the setup for an interesting conspiracy that had me at the edge of my seat wanting to know what was going on. What happened to the people that had gone missing? What were they hiding in the national park? The answer to the first question is explained in an offanded remark frrom Delilah. That should've been my first sign that the ending would be a total letdown. The answer to the second came out of nowhere to me and was not explained or justified well enough for my tastes. Another major qualm I have is that your choices DO NOT MATTER. The game makes you think that your choice of dialogue will have an impact on the ending, but I'm sorry to tell you that's simply not the case. The ending happens the way it happens every time you play, no matter what choices you make. Very disappointing, and thus the game has little to no replay value. I know it's a walking simulator, which are quite linear by nature, but there are some great walking sims I've played that have involved a good deal of player choice in the ending. I wanted to like this game, I really did. I hate that I didn't enjoy it. It started out super enjoyable and promising to me. Sadly, I doubt I'll ever play it again because of its weak ending and frustrating lack of choice impacting anything. Walking sims have to have strong stories in order to keep my attention due to the lack of any variety in gameplay. Firewatch gets a pass from me.

"Full controller support" is just a lie if dinput controllers ignored. Handling them with unity is indeed possible, see Layers of Fear or Syberia 3 for example.

The problem with this game, and proliferation of games like it, is that entertainment is secondary to setting. The developer provides an environment, a mood, but not a compelling source of engagement or distraction. The result is the video game equivalent of elevator music, or the sorts of sounds you'd play at your bedside to help you fall asleep. Without spoiling the mediocre story, I will share that the destination does not justify the journey. Save your money.