The ending hit me hard. I started to see it coming but it still got me. This is a beautifully crafted experience which I enjoyed from beginning to end. And the ending (especially the photo reel at the end) really hit me hard. I can't say why because would spoil things but suffice it to say that as a husband and father myself it connected to me on an emotional level. No this is not shakespere or some convoluted 40 hour RPG but it is a carefully crafted experience that guides the player through someone elses emotional journey. I highly recommend this for a nice change of pace when you just need a good story to chill to.
This is a beautiful, melancholic, somewhat tragic story. Beautiful visuals, excellent voice acting performances, and music that sets just the right tone and atmosphere.
Just try it. You'll feel feelings.
My thoughts have kept getting drawn back to this game over the past week since I completed it. I didn't expect it to make such an impression. I would recommend playing this game in a single sitting on a lazy afternoon towards evening. The voice acting and soundtrack are very compelling so think about using good headphones. I don't think it has much variation across multiple playthroughs but considering how it deals with living with consequences that is not something I feel it should really offer. It's not a long game by any measure but like a powerful short story, it stays with you. The ending subverts your expectations but I found it to be more true to the themes and characters.
The problem with most narrative games is that they are extremely lacking in either narrative or game; they fail at storytelling and action. With the former, they typically have the player follow a per-determined story-line in which they have no stake and thus no involvement. These games fail in the latter by offering absolutely no challenge; even taken as glorified "walking simulators" they more often than lead the player (ever so slowly, to make up for the lack of anything else) through vacant set-pieces that ultimately all look the same.
And, in all fairness, this description would probably describe Firewatch as well. In truth, its story is as shallow as most other games and - like other "walking sims", there are no real puzzles and no real danger. Similarly, while there is some variety of biomes, in the end the entirety of the game has you hiking through a forest and there's only so much you can do to disguise that fact. The big difference between Firewatch and most of its competitors is that it is so well written as to disguise the failings of its genre.
Unfortunately, to go into detail about its story would unfairly ruin the experience for anyone who hasn't played it. Let it suffice to say, however, that it is one of the better paced stories of any game - narrative and otherwise - and features both excellent dialogue writing and voice-acting. While ultimately the game still lacks in actual threat or challenge, nonetheless the story is presented so well that I was well engaged by the sense of threat and mystery as the tale played out. The writing leads the player to invest themselves in the character, which only makes the unfolding mystery all the more captivating. While some found the denouement disappointing, I thought it an interesting capstone to an allegory about how we handle our responsibility to tragedy.
Having said this, Firewatch does suffer from one major problem that is also common to its genre: it lacks in re-playability. While it has a strong story, it does not lend itself to repetition; doing so - and knowing how the story will end - you'll find the game has lost its allure, its mystery, its magic and you are left again with a rather lusterless game where you blindly follow the breadcrumbs until you reach the end of the game. Given that you can get through the game in a two or three hours, a just argument could be made that one does not get fair value for their dollar. The developers have tried to balance this out by offering both a "play with commentary mode" and a "free roam mode" that unlock after you complete the story the first time, but those who paid full price for the game may still walk away disappointed.
Myself, though, I was quite pleased with my purchase. I got an interesting yarn well-told through some excellent voice-acting and placed in a graphically - if not too differentiated - environment. I can't imagine I'll be returning to the game anytime soon - not, at least, until I've forgotten some of the specific details and can revisit the setting afresh - but I feel my time and money were well spent. Firewatch is an excellent example of the genre that other narrative games consistently fail to achieve.
