Surprisingly, there’s very little fire-watching involved. And there’s very little that Henry does that doesn’t revolve around the plot’s central narrative as the game skips from days to weeks, only stopping on points that move the story along. I found myself using any opportunity to prompt a conversation as I wandered hither and thither.īut Firewatch isn’t all deep and meaningful self-reflection and ‘getting back to nature’. They’re both engaging, interesting, funny, multifaceted and most importantly, believable, thanks to the fantastic voice acting and perfectly tuned dialogue. It’s the details that are telling, and he’s certainly no Bear Grylls.ĭelilah on the other hand, while similarly disillusioned with life, is crass and assertive but kind, and probably enjoys a drink a bit too much. And aside from the occasional glimpse of a photo or sketch, we’re able to piece together our impressions of him from the chunky sun-burnt legs that he hoists himself over a ridge with, or Delilah’s laughter over the radio as she comments on his choice of attire. Think Nathan Drake if he had pursued an office career instead of exploring and was on the other side of an ego-trampling divorce. As much as you hate to admit it, he’s a bit of a loser. Henry is, allowing for one or two play choices, earnest, self-deprecating, and very funny but with more than a hint of tragedy and self-pity. And throughout their meandering conversations that define Firewatch’s tone, we learn what’s wrong (and right) with both of them, and they’re both triumphs of character creation and development. Her first question for him is ‘So, what’s wrong with you?’ The suggestion here is that no one of sound mind would ever take such a position. She’s a comforting presence whose own watch tower can occasionally be glimpsed amongst the distant peaks. His only connection to another human being is the aforementioned two-way radio that links him to his supervisor Delilah. It’s a beautifully crafted and immersive character driven story with just a few fine-tuning tweaks that niggle but don’t affect the overall experience much more than occasionally breaking the spell.Īnd so, we slip into the hiking boots of Henry as he attempts to escape the unhappiness of his domestic situation in the depths of the rocky mountains. But this process of a touching opening that strung me along with ease to later be mildly marred by the harsh realities of game construction had summed up Firewatch quite well without me even realising.
Firewatch lets play Ps4#
Luckily, despite the PS4 horror stories I’d heard, aside from a few minor frame rate dips, this was the only technical issue I ran into, and rebooting only lost me about two minutes of progress.
The glitch made short work of undermining the effects of the atmospheric introduction, and I was dragged out of this rickety watch station overlooking vast expanses of untamed, rugged wilderness and back to reality. I was left stuck in idle-animation purgatory as Henry literally twiddled his fingers and gazed off over the rocky mountains, and presumably would have done so for all eternity if not for a forced reboot.
But when I eagerly prompted Henry to grab his walkie-talkie from its base before the game had actually asked me to, it simply disappeared. After the prologue melted away, I was excited to get stuck into to some introspective soul searching and exploring. This powerful and succinct opening is surprisingly moving and had me deeply invested in the character before the game had really even kicked off.
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