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Firewatch Review

by Omar (@siegarettes)
Second Opinion by Marie (@PowerfulOrb)

• Firewatch
  
• Developer- Campo Santo
  
• Publisher- Panic Inc, Campo Santo
  
• PC (Windows, OSX, Linux), PS4
  

Firewatch is about the things that go unsaid. It’s a game where you dwell on the things you said, not because they lead you to the bad ending, but because you wish you could say something that made the other person feel better. It’s concerned with where we go when we’re alone with our thoughts, and with the empty moments we stay busy to avoid. Firewatch understands that negative space is as much a part of a composition, as the elements that fill it.

In more direct terms, Firewatch is the story of a man, Henry, who takes a job as a forest lookout to escape the turmoil of his life. Here he’ll be alone with nothing but the company of Delilah, his supervisor, who he’ll only get to know through their conversations over the radio. It’s difficult to talk about the specifics past that, as Campo Santo have done a lot to weave the story into the small details of the game. In fact It’s so compact, that it’s easy to stumble over details that might give away insight into how the story plays out.

What you should know is that Firewatch is primarily a game you interface with, through the simple acts of conversation and navigation. Most tasks come down to using your map and compass to find a path through the wilderness to check out areas Delilah has pointed out to you, and providing reports and idle chatter as you do so. The radio is on hand at all times, and you can scroll through multiple responses as you walk and interact with objects, and report notable sights as you come across them. You never see Delilah, so it avoids the common problems of having two characters stand still as they chat, and the difficulties with creating gestures and facial expressions that distract from a conversation. You’re given limited time to respond (or not respond), which keeps a natural rhythm to those conversations, with any pauses that may feel off, or an inability to interrupt her, explained away by the realities of radio communication.

This forms the crux of Firewatch’s appeal, avoiding the impatience that the static structures of conversation in games can often imbue, as you’re often moving towards one objective while they happen. It feels organic in an area which so often feels constructed. And the illusion held (at least for me) the entire time, never once breaking. There were times where I impatiently waited to report more as Delilah talked, and others where I frantically scrambled to put down my map and compass to pick up the radio, (you only have two hands after all) but these all added to that feeling.

Special attention should be paid to voice actors Cissy Jones and Rich Sommer, whose performances are crucial to the entire experience. They bring a quality and rhythm that gives a believable rapport between Henry and Delilah, and is undoubtedly what carries the game. Each character has their own speech patterns and history, and there’s often more implied beyond what’s being said aloud.

It helps that Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin provide a script that feels genuine and adult. And not in the way that we often mean when we talk about it in games. Delilah and Henry have real histories, they have things they care about, and motivations beyond what’s happening right in front of them. They laugh, swear, and become upset. They talk about life experiences, personal pain, and desire. The script never feels exploitative, or uses sucker punches to get an emotional reaction. It doesn’t amplify the drama to drill into your head that the things they talk about are important. These things are important because the characters believe they are. That’s difficult to do by itself, not to mention in a game with many moving parts and alternate responses.

Those responses are important as well. While there aren’t any alternate endings or split paths, each of the responses that Henry gives in conversation allows you to externalize the reactions you believe he’d give. I say externalize because each of them feel like a representation of his inner thoughts, and it’s simply up to you to decide which emotion or thought rises to the top. No matter what choice you make it feels valid; you’ll never get a Henry that acts like an entirely different person. It intentionally avoids the idea that choices have to have life changing effects to matter, and understands that sometimes it’s what’s left unsaid that’s just as important.

Beyond that, there’s a mystery at the heart of Firewatch. While the narrative could undoubtedly be supported by the story of a summer in the lives of two adults, a series of events occurs that introduces a tension to the narrative. Suddenly the forests, which once felt like a beautiful, serene escape from the difficulties of life, become a source of threat and paranoia. Without spoiling much, one of the highlights is how the environment changes to reflect the emotional state of the characters.

For all the trouble that it causes you later, the environment is a genuine joy to travel in. Jane Ng and Olly Moss provide forests, mountains, and canyons awash in pastels. Firewatch is rendered in chunky forms and big blocks of colors, giving the world an illustrated look. It’s an aesthetic that has me stumbling over my memories of early art school, struggling to find words to communicate how evocative each scene of the game feels. It’s a good thing then, that you’re eventually given a camera to capture parts of it. This of course, ended up being one of my favorite details of the game. (A note to PC players, take your shots carefully, as there’s a small surprise at the end regarding that).

With all the ambition displayed in Firewatch, it feels incredible to think that such a small team was able to produce it. Those contributions are strongly felt as well, so it’s no surprise that they go out of their way to credit the entire main team right on the store page. I did have a few technical issues (I became caught on geometry a few times during animations, and once had to restart), but they don’t do enough to distract. If anything, despite the intimacy of its story, Firewatch feels grand in achievement and scope. It’s something genuine and emotive, something that asks you to consider the quiet in the chaos.

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SECOND OPINION
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It’s so hard to talk about what truly struck me in Firewatch. To talk about the way it subverts the norms is to take away way what makes them so subversive. Expectation of what Firewatch is, is a part of what makes it so exciting. It’s such a good setup that it’s humanity helps it deliver on.  A lot of what it does is subtle, and makes me say “wait, why don’t games do this?” From excellent use of cuts to amazing voice acting that creates characters from voices alone, a lot of Firewatch is just in it’s polish and focus on character through presentation.

I fell in love with how small and genuine Firewatch is. There’s pain in this game that makes me physically deflate and want to curl up and cry. There’s something so genuine about the writing that makes it incredibly effective at both making me feel like I’m in a loving world and making me feel real pain. I love Firewatch for how honest it wants to be with itself. There’s no prophecy or grand narratives about how Henry and Delilah are at the heart of something huge. They’re just two people on a job out in the woods, shooting the shit and occasionally getting drunk. When the plot begins to pick up, and the game seems set to expand it’s horizons, it levels with itself and comes back down to earth, understanding it’s place. Firewatch wants to talk about the relationship between Henry and Delilah, and the main mystery felt like more of a metanarrative to me. It’s there, but the main story is about how these two cope with escaping from their troubles and find solace in themselves.

    Henry and Delilah are incredibly human characters. Not just because their dialog is written well and their voice acting is terrific, but because of how they grow and change throughout the game. There are short time skips between each day, but you can see a clear progression of the relationship between the two. The responses Henry has are diverse enough to not feel like it’s just furthering the dialog, but are also tight enough to make keep in character and tone. Henry doesn’t swing from being upset with Delilah to joking with her in the same conversation. There’s good pacing between the two, along with good chemistry. They flow and move with the world around them.

    The world of Firewatch is gorgeous. Two Forks is wonderfully realized, and each defined area feels unique. The world is dotted with easily recognizable landmarks and signposts that help with the game’s unique form of navigation. Navigating is a major facet of Firewatch. You’re given a physical map and asked to navigate using it and compass. Your location is show on the map (there’s an option to turn it off) but you still have to use the landscape as most of your goals are just general areas. Almost every landmark has dialog about it should you choose to radio Delilah, so both elements work well together. It makes getting lost more of a happy accident than an annoyance.

Getting lost in Firewatch is important. It helps sell the escapism that oozes from the game. Escape is what Firewatch is about. Being stuck in an impossible situation and wanting to escape from it, to find something better. It’s not concerned with the consequences, just what happens while you run. This is a time tested story of escape, but It’s humanity and scale are what set it apart.