While exploring, you will come across equipment that you use to traverse different terrain: ropes can be used to scale sheer cliffs, a flashlight for searching caves, and an axe to clear overgrown bushes. Feeling alone and having just that one person on the other end of the phone is an experience I've lived with before.Ī mystery grows as strange noises are heard and discoveries are made in Henry’s first days in the park, and with Delilah, you investigate and search for the secrets hidden in the wilderness: a dark figure is seen lingering amongst the rocks, a pair of campers vanish, and on returning to your tower you find your window smashed in. The two leads are in their late 30s and early 40s, and this more adult connection had more of impact on me than that of a man and a child, as I'm not exactly the fatherly type. Like how most players became immediately attached to Clementine in Telltale’s The Walking Dead, and wanted to protect her, I felt the same way towards Delilah. The dialogue all leads down to one event in the end, but your decisions are meaningful for the shaping of your relationship.Īnd you will want to build that relationship. Responses you make won’t just affect your current conversation, as each will build your Henry’s backstory. The acting of the two leads is full of chemistry, and feels authentic. Dialogue responses are offered in a list, with a short amount of time to answer, or she can be ignored, ending the conversation. Delilah, and the relationship you build with her, is what drives this game.Īs part of the job, you’re given a radio transceiver with which you can speak to Delilah. His only point of contact is his boss over in another tower to the north. As a fire lookout, Henry spends most of his time in his tower, observing the horizon for signs of smoke, and for anyone ignoring regulations and letting off fireworks. The story takes place over two and a half months, and you play the odd day during that time period. Being able to save these moments is a remarkable idea, and those who take the time to use the camera are rewarded in the end. I’ve never been keen on photography, but as I was exploring, I would often stop to admire the landscape. At intervals throughout the story, Chris Remo’s wonderful score is used to punctuate the arrival at a new location, or just to emphasise the significance of a scene, just as in Gone Home, for which he composed, furthering the feeling of connection between the two.Įarly in the story, you find an abandoned Kodak disposable camera. As someone who enjoys hiking personally, I had no qualms with spending time strolling alongside the rivers and amongst the trees. This recreation of an 80s Yellowstone is made up of distinct meadows, canyons, and groves, and holds a natural beauty despite it’s unnatural, painterly form. I often found myself stopping to look for landmarks, and slowly but surely I began to memorise the many highways and byways of this untamed place. You are given objectives, that will be marked on your physical map, but you have to find the way there. You aren’t given any markers on the screen to show you where exactly you’re heading to, and there’s no mile counter ticking down as you traverse the forest. When you arrive at the Yellowstone National Park, all you have is a paper map and a compass, and you have to follow the many dirt paths to gain a grasp on your surroundings. The debate over whether Firewatch is or isn’t a game will be unavoidable, and gives you that same sense of being in a real space and of moving through it. Instead of being a survival simulator like The Long Dark, which too had a similar soft, watercolour art direction, Firewatch is most similar to Gone Home. This can be seen throughout Firewatch’s visual style that feels similar to the games of those two companies the protagonist Henry’s character design reminding me of Eddie Riggs of Brütal Legend, and a world drawn like a cross between Telltale’s graphic novel style and the animated film Wreck-It Ralph, but with artist Olly Moss’ influence clear also. The director and the writer for Firewatch worked together to lead the team that produced the first season of Telltale’s The Walking Dead, and lead artist Jane Ng used to work for Double Fine. The developers, Campo Santo, are a new studio based in San Francisco, and have built a team of experienced designers and programmers. I imagined something akin to The Long Dark, but with sunlight. Reviews // 8th Feb 2016 - 7 years ago // By Tom Bickmore Firewatch Reviewįirewatch was not the game I thought it was going to be.
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