It is 1989. You are a man named Henry, who has retired from his chaotic and thrilling life in order to operate as a fire guard in the wilderness of Wyoming. Your supervisor is a charismatic woman named Delilah. As you attract something strange from your lookout, you explore the wild and unknown. Delilah is always, in form of a radio, present.

I am usually not into adventure-games. My attention for Firewatch was drawn by it's beautiful and unique graphics. The graphics highlights the breathtaking, intense and slightly creepy story of the game. In this story you are the protagonist, which enhances the plenty of feelings which stream to you. It is indescribable. There will be fun, joy, fear, despondency and many more. Try out the game. It is worth every penny.

Overall I give the game 9 out of 10 points. I detract 1 point because TO ME the end was a bit disappointing.

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Published by: Panic Inc., Campo Santo
Developed by: Campo Santo
Genre: Adventure, Indie, Walking Simulator
Release Date: February 10, 2016
Time to complete: 4 hours

This review is going to be long (as my reviews typically are), but I will summarise my points at the end. I think many of my opinions about the game are worth mentioning (especially because there are both good and bad points to be made, that may make or break the game for some prospective buyers). My review paints a thorough picture of what the entire game is about, including my interpretation of the story. Whilst there are no ‘spoilers’, If you would like the entire plot to be a complete surprise, I don’t recommend reading this entire review- perhaps just skip to the summary. I’ll try to keep it vague enough that it won’t shape anyone else’s opinions, as I think this is a journey the player should experience themselves, and find out what it means to them.

Mystery unfolds as you take on the job of a Fire Lookout in Wyoming to escape your troubles at home.

This one’s a real tear-jerker. The game begins with some backstory in the form of text dialogue, some responses of which you are able to choose. This paints the picture of Henry’s arduous life, and helps the player understand what motivated him to take such an isolated job at the Shoshone National Park.
When you arrive at your watchtower after a long trek you meet Delilah (through radio), your supervisor and sole companion for the next 79 days. The game starts off slowly, day-by-day, but as the intensity picks up, it skips periods of time. I can’t say I liked this aspect of the game; because they centered the story so heavily around the relationship between Delilah and Henry, it would have been nice to see it develop a little more for ourselves.
I’m a little disappointed with the direction the game took; initially (the first 3/4) I was so impressed with the game and so completely engrossed in the story, I didn’t want to stop until I had finished the whole damn thing. I was so invested in the mystery and conspiracies at the start (which we followed for a large portion of the game), just for the story to seemingly go in a completely different direction, it almost seemed rushed.

The underlying themes of this game are portrayed very subtly by both the major and minor characters, some of which, could be argued are outlining the human condition. The two major characters are similar in many ways; on the surface, you have two troubled characters, but I think the message goes much deeper than that. There are similarities in character, experiences, emotions and even coping mechanisms (or more pertinently, their avoidance of their issues entirely).

The primary reason I wanted this game was for the artstyle. I loved looking through the screenshots, and the game definitely delivered in this regard. I can always appreciate an Adventure/Walking Sim game with beautiful graphics. There’s something about them that just draws me in and captivates me for hours, Firewatch being no different.

The voice acting won the game over, it was honestly fantastic. I felt so immersed in the game; I felt both Henry and Delilah’s raw emotion, and could experience for myself the toll the events were taking on the pair.
The soundtrack is subtle (which is perfect for a game like this) and adds to the atmosphere of the game.

Honestly, there is none really. The only real purpose in playing through Firewatch a second time is to go down a different path of dialogue choices; but in the end, they make very little difference to the game. Firewatch is very linear, so no decision you make will change which path you follow, ultimately. The store page summary claims it is ‘’A tailor-made story: the choices you make shape the narrative and build relationships.’’ Whilst this is true, it is to a minimal degree; all outcomes will ultimately be the same (more or less), but you can dictate how your relationship progresses with Delilah, at least to a degree.

I loved the game, I really did. Almost every component was spot on, but I do wish they elaborated on the story a little more. I’m a massive fan of walking simulators and atmospheric games, and this was one of the best I’ve played of this genre (despite feeling a little let down by the ending). They managed to incorporate outlying themes within the game, and also included some thought-provoking discussions. There are some very real and very sad themes discussed, so don’t buy this game if you’re expecting it to be a casual walk-around-and-explore kind of game; It is very heavy.
A lot of hard work has gone into making this game, and for that reason I think it’s definitely worth it to support the devs if you can. However, $20 is a lot to spend on such a short game, and whilst it’s definitely a game you should check out, it might be worth waiting for a sale.

*WARNING SPOILERS* *WARNING SPOILERS* *WARNING SPOILERS* *WARNING SPOILERS* *WARNING SPOILERS*

So I played Firewatch yesterday think it was going to be amazing, I had such a good impression from Hype it got and seeing stuff online like trailers and the website for the game, firewatchgame.com. My impression was slightly off.

The game opened with a choose your own adventure style choice menu of you meeting your future wife, Julia. The only visuals in this are the text and the cut back and fourth between your character travelling to the National Park where the main game takes place. This choice screen lasts a while and speedfully spirals into a sad yet unfortunately realistic and common story of Julia getting dementia/altzheimers.

Once this prolouge has ended you arrive at your new watch tower and are hastily greeted by Delilah, the best thing in the game. Delilah, as accurarely made clear by medium surrounding the game is Henries (you) emotional lifeline, she is communicated to via a handheld walkie talkie/radio device. The voice acting for Delilah, and Henry, and the actual dialouge they have together are both fantastic and make the game much more interesting and worth playing.

Anyway Delilah is drunk and greets you somewhat rudely and then you go to bed for 14 hours. You wake up and then the game really starts.

Firewatch is a mystery story based game but one of the best thing isn't the story or the mystery but the graphics (and like I said earlier Delilah). They are amazing with great shadow detail and are super well optimized and can run on slow machines and macbooks (although on minimal settings + macbooks have trouble handling the shadow details D:).

Unlike the graphics the mystery part of the story is underwhelming yet overstated. The essential story is that Henry finds out that someone has been tapping into Henry and Delilah's comms using some high tech (for the time) and have been writing transcripts of what they have been saying to eachother, including a kinky phone sex scene (which unfortunately, was only implied). This is a fun start to the mystery, but it just goes downhill.

So Henry found out about the raido tapping and along side it finds a read radio which is labbeled Wapati Station, then he gets hit in the head twice and the transcprit and red radio was taken away from him by the person who knocked him out.

Ok time for some backstory that you'll need to know to understand this: Before Henry came, 3 years before, there was a ranger and his son who was posted where Henry is posted and Delilah knew them and liked the kid, the kid was Brian Goodwin and the dad was Ned Goodwin. One day they just left and Delilah assumed they had just gone because the Park wasn't safe for a kid.

Anyway Henry finds the Wapati Station, where all the high tech stuff is, after a bit of a trek back and fourth and finds some stuff and then Wapati burns down mysteriously. Included in this stuff there is a wave receiver and Henry uses it to find some hidden messages and he learns to go to the Cave 452 to look for clues. He goes there, comes out and gets equipment and then goes back in and find Brian Goodwins, 3 year dead, body (personally I took a picture of this with the camera kek).

More stuff tracked down by the reciever and a tape Henry finds reveals that Brians death was an accident on Ned's part and that Ned was listening in on them and basically Ned did everything mysterious, anyway after the anticlimax Henry needs to go to Delilah's tower to evacuate because of a fire thats gonna burn everywhere down. This is the most dissapointing part because you go there and even after Delilah said she would wait for you while the evac heli does runs, she doesn't and you get there and talk to her about ♥♥♥♥ all on the radio and then you get on a different helicopter and you never see her.

This was the most underwhelming ending i've experienced in a while. I wanted to meet Delilah, and everyone else who played the game is with me on that. Deep down we all knew it wasn't that kinda game and just didn't want it to be true. Maybe if I really prepared myself to not meet Delilah or have the romantic ending we all wanted, I wouldn't have been so annoyed with this seemiling and partly great game.

Another issue which I feel was an extra which could have been easily implemented was more free roam and a few side quests. By free roam I mean, and you'll know if you played the game, that the game was all about the paths, you couldn't go anywhere the game didn't want you going, it was a decorated, messy corridor, sort of. By side quests I mean do a few Park Ranger things like stop some more problems with the people visiting the park or do something like help the wildlife somehow, speaking of wildlife, there was none, I thought this was pretty realistic but still its a game and it would be cooler if there were a few more then like 3 elks, one of which was dead, and we can't be sure of it was the same elk everytime.

The game was good but setup to be much bigger, I mean c'mon, 4 hours of gameplay but they setup lots of useless cache crates and made markers on the map and it felt like they could of done a lot more without even feeling like the game was milked.

To be fair this was Campo Santo's first game and they did a good job in terms of beginnings. Overall the game was a 5/10, and not worth £20, buy on sale.

I know this is an odd thing to say about a game but what you've created is no game. It was a film that spoke to me and touched me deep down in my heart. I love every millisecond of playing this game. It was written beautifully, crafted effortlessly, and kept me so fully invested that I ended the game the same way you do a great book, with a little heartbreak that it's over but a happiness for having seen it through. Bravo. Bra-♥♥♥♥in-vo.

Firewatch is a wonderful atmospheric adventure game that takes about 3 to 4 hours to complete. The two things that are most outstanding in this game are the graphics style and the voice acting.

The beautiful scenery and amazing colour palette chosen for the Shoshone National Forest makes it wonderful to explore and the hikes through the wilderness to story locations don't feel tedious at all. The variety of flora and rock formations make the terrain easy to memorise without the need for the map.

The voice acting for the two main characters, Henry and Delilah, is fitting and easy to listen to. Listening to the banter over the radio throughout the story means there is never a boring moment. The sound track is pleasant to listen to and adds to the wonderful atmosphere. I encourage players to look up the song "Ol' Shoshone" on YouTube as it is amazing but easy to miss in game.

The story is adequately entertaining and mysterious to hold the players interest. The background of the main character is set up rather quickly, and his story provokes feeling and sets up his personality and relationship background. The moral ambiguity of the character’s actions throughout the story is thought provoking. The plot sets itself up with mystery, and at many points you will find yourself checking behind you when you hear rustles in the bushes as the suspense rises. I found the ending adequate to wrap up the story with no loose endings.

Overall, I recommend buying this game on sale when the price is low enough to justify the 4 hours of gameplay.

The Game is Beautiful, and Atmospheric af. But for 20 dollars, 3 to 4 hours of entertainment and a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ending isnt worth it. If the game was extended and had more to it maybe it would be worth it, but as it stands right now, 20 dollars is a waste. Definitely get it if its on sale, but besides that, use your 20 dollars for a game that will give you a lot more hours of entertainment.

I really liked the story had some scares but also some laughes. The story of the game is really good but I am very disapointed that it was only 3 hours of play time and then I finished the game.

If you like a really good story game I recommend this,
If you like to play a story game that takes hours and hours I would defenitely not recomment this.

Praise be to Boombox! Praise be.

Hmm This game is a interesting category for me. I really was astounded by the beauty of the world as well as the great dialogue between the character you play Hank and the supervisor on the phone Delilah. It reminded of the movie Her somehow but the conversations had me smile at times. While the games narrative is great i felt by the end of the game somewhat empty for lack of a better word. The issue with the game is that it sets up the story so well that you are hyped for the twist but it falls short in the ending. In my opinion it could have been soo much better if they had went the OMG route while trying to be a bit ballzy rather then a cliche end. Anyways it was still a short and sweet experience that felt sort of like the vanishing of ethan carter. I reccomend the game for someone who wants a 3 hr long journey through the lush forests and glimmering creeks.
Firewatch gets a 7/10

This game is so ♥♥♥♥ing good.