This is a walking simulator with a very nice and deep story. There is no combat, no crafting and no "surviving". So if you're not an adult emotionally or you don't like these kinds of games - maybe give it a try, you may or may not like it. Maybe you SHOULD try it if it's the first game of this kind for you.
The length of the game is perfect, about 6-7 hours. Anything more and it would become very boring considering the narrative direction the developer has taken. I didn't like the "cartoonish" visual style, it feels too overdone, even for a 2016 game. Having photo-realistic forest environment would've made the game even more immersive, but I guess it was out of scope for an indie studio.
So without spoiling anything, if you're looking for an emotional adventure in a somewhat beautiful environment, definitely try this.
This game is well worth the money. The artistic style is beautiful and the game has a great storyline that I was not expecting. It is shorter than most games however, I finished in 3 hours and 39 mins but don't let that discouraging you from playing.
What is Firewatch? It is an open world exploration game without action/combat combined with an adventure like feeling without riddel solving/item combining stuff.
Walking simulator suits the game very well as you walk a lot. Even with it's linear story it never gets boring and no other game in the last 15 years or more hooked me up like this one. There is only a brief history about yourself when the game begins but story and tension build up while you play from day to day. Dialogs er very short and authentic and do not feel like made up or filled up with a lot of bla-bla just to make it more content like in many other games.
You definitely have to be ready for something new and Firewatch surely isn't for anyone but if you can imagine to mostly just explore and talk on the walkie-talkie in a beautiful world than you have to try it!
I have allways been an adventure lover but there wasn't any good for a lot of years and even if I love open world games like The Witcher or others I often wished for less or no action (I totaly hate bossfights). This game was my greatest experience in many many years. Thanks Campo Santo!
It's not the happiest game ever, but this game is really well made and I enjoyed it. Voice acting and art style are very well done. Map navigation is a bit tricky at first but you get used to it pretty fast.
Definetly worth $10, probably worth the full $20.
I didn't quite know what to expect from this and must admit that I was drawn to it mainly by its nice graphics. To my surprise it wasn't just an artsy shell and actually quite polished for an Independent game. The graphics are stylized but still beautiful due to very good color design and lighting. Also the voice acting of Henry and Delilah is done well and the witty dialogs made me smile more than once. Actually the bond of friendship that evolves between Henry and Delilah during the game is one of the things that makes this game fun to play.
But let's start with the basics: Firewatch is a game which is mainly based on exploration of the area around your lookout tower. There no real riddles to solve and it's always clear where you need to go and where you are. You need to pick up a few objects and do a few things to proceed but the main progress is somewhat automatic. Like when you decide to go back to the tower or tell Delilah (your boss) that you are ready to proceed. You can essentially walk around the whole area all the time, it's just that some locations aren't reachable until the story progresses far enough (like you get a key or an axe or the firefighters cleared a path). Firewatch is an Open World game in the sense that the whole world including caves, cabins and lookout towers is one big "level" without any transitions. Still this world is not very large and you can only jump and climb where the game allows you to.
There is no time pressure, there are no enemies, you can't die. You don't need to take notes or look around for hidden objects. The few humans you encounter are only silhouettes and there are just two (visible) animal you stumble over.
Anyway, it's fun to explore the world, there are a lot of small things to discover albeit most of them are not really relevant for the story. Which in the end is not very mystical but very grounded.
So, yes it's quite short and there's not a lot of a typical gaming content in it, but I still enjoyed it a lot.
