Firewatch Review. - All Along The Watchtower..

 
Firewatch, at first glance it's another boring walking simulator. A term that has been used countless times now, and not without good reason. Some of these games send you off into a areas where you have near to no interaction with objects or people and just have the story narrated to you.

Firewatch isn't that while at the same time.. It really is that.

Firewatch begins with a sad story of the protagonist (henry) dealing with his significant other gaining early stages of dementia and then dealing with the mental issues that come with the struggle of living with someone in that condition. The game then throws you into its colourful, stylized world made up of lush forest vistas contrast with barren desert panoramas.Henry makes his way up to his watch tower to find a walkie talkie that has only one person on the other end. Dahlia, dahlia is someone who is up on a hill watching over the watchers. She is the main line of contact for the firewatchers to the outside world. As the game devlops you feel the connection between dahlia and henry devlop along with it. The choices you make within the game can determine the outcome of how the two react and what kind of relationship they have with one another.

Firewatch then has you… you guessed it, watching fires. Sounds boring right?.. Wrong. The first day on the job has a fire that sends you down to the lake to scare of the source of the fire. As the game develops it has various different choices here and there that will mildly change the events that come after. This was where you have your first major one. You have the choice of how to scare them away. I chose to scare of the trouble makers by throwing their stereo into the lake. This caused conversations to change throughout the game. Speaking of the conversations, the voice acting is great. it helps the emotions and tones of the game become emphasised and allows you to really connect with the characters.

This is where the difference between firewatch and traditional “walking simulators” start to show. Firewatch feels interactive, it feels like you are a part of the story. This is helped by the fantastic animation work on simple things such as climbing over logs and interacting with the environment around you. The way the game is presented is as you are Henry and you go through the game experiencing all the emotions he feels throughout the game. Such as dread, mystery, intrigue, fear and love.

Unlike other games of the same genre, firewatch doesn't have you as a character discovering another story that has already happened like games such as “everybody's gone to the rapture” or “Dear Esther” but instead puts you into the story. Changing the events and conversations that occur by use of telltale style dialogue choices.

I would love to go on, but firewatch is a game that you NEED to play if you're a fan of great storytelling in games or in general and I would hate to spoil it for you.

Overall Firewatch is a vibrant and alluring looking game that has a mysterious and intriguing story that'll keep you hooked from start to finish.

It can be found on PS4 and Steam and you should go get it now!

Thanks for reading. If you’re playing firewatch, leave a comment below on how you feel about the game. But no spoilers or else I’ll hunt you down!