Firewatch - A Midlife Crisis

When I heard of this game being good I sort of just brushed it off going its probably like Gone Home or Dear Esther and didn't really bother with it. While I liked those two games I found this one to be much superior and believable. In Gone Home you learn of life through notes hidden in the house and in Dear Esther its from a unknown narrator. In Firewatch however, you are basically alone, isolated in the woods and the only form of companionship is a friendly voice on the radio, your boss Delilah. You learn of the world, yourself, your fellow coworkers, and Delilah though conversations with her.

What is the game about? There really isn't much you can say without spoiling the game too much so I'll just say its about a game about a man named Henry going through a midlife crisis. When you first start the game you get a little text narration of your life going from how you met your wife Julia, to how you ended up at Firewatch. The narration will constantly give you multiple choices on how you want to react in certain situations. It doesn't change the story at all, but it changes little things and affect your conversations with Delilah. Basically it starts with how you met your wife and then the years you spent with her and her eventually suffering from dementia at the age of 40 and how your life spiraled into drinking and petty arguments with your estranged wife and her family. Eventually you decided to run away from it all and take a summer job in Firewatch as a park ranger away from civilization. You will then spend the next few months there with your boss talking about anything and everything from her failed attempts to marriage and running away here for a decade to random conversations about trees. You start from being annoyed by her constant prodding into your personal life and sarcastic remarks but eventually both you and Henry will get along with her. Shes very realistic in the way friends egg each other on and is quite entertaining since she will be your only human interaction for the entire summer. Then shit starts happening.

The first half of the game is sort of calm and in a way boring. Delilah gives you instructions to pick up a supply drop, someone setting of fireworks in the forest go warn them, check out that smoke pillar in the distance, blah blah blah. Its relaxing walking in the trees with no one around and soaking in the image and sounds of nature then Delilah pops up on the radio to give you a friendly jab to remind yourself that you are not quite alone. At the second half, you start noticing shit happening. Someone breaks into your tower while you're away throwing your shit out the window stealing your stuff. Someone cut the phone lines so you cannot call for help. Getting attacked from behind and finding stuff about a Wapiti station that shouldn't exist. A giant conspiracy happens and the game starts getting interesting but the formula doesn't really change. Delilah sends you somewhere and you go do it. You find clues and you report back to her. You spent the entire game constantly chatting with her and the time you found out how someone has been listening in on your conversation and then Delilah saying the two of you should stop talking for awhile really puts it in perspective how lonely it is out here without her. Its really quite unnerving to hear silence on the radio. The ending is pretty great too. It doesn't try too hard to give you a bad ending or a good ending, but a realistic ending. While some people were disappointed about it, I enjoyed how it ended. This summer was your escape from reality, and eventually you have to face it and return. What you choose to do is up to you.

While I found this game to be interesting, it is quite short. It can be finished in a couple of hours and most people will find that isn't worth the cost for the game especially since there is little to no replayability. If you're a fan of Gone Home or another narrative story game then you will enjoy this and probably worth the cost. Otherwise wait for a steam sale or something before grabbing it. However if you hate walking around doing nothing or listening to random conversations then this game obviously isn't for you. You don't get to do any fighting. There is nothing out here in the forest but you and your radio.