Firewatch

Have you ever played a game where you tried to look into a game to find something more only to find that nothing is there? I'm not talking about the story or characters as these factors can have multiple interpretations. I'm talking about trying to find more function to what's presented to you initially. This is the core problem with Firewatch. A game that's presents you with mechanics and new ways to interact with it's world that will ultimately lead to nothing.

This core problem is brought up almost instantly during the opening first minutes of the game as it presents to you a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' style choice system about the main character Henry's past. During this segment you'll choose different decisions with varying degrees of severity from how to introduce yourself to serious medical treatment options. This is presented to you in text and text only. No voice acting. Not even illustrations. It's hard to care about characters with only a few paragraphs of text. It all ends up in the same point along different roads: Henry takes a job as a fire lookout during the summer of 1989 in the forests of Wyoming.

This is where more personal, engaging choices are put in front of the player as you interact with seemingly the only other character in the story: Delilah. During your job scaring away drunk teenage skinny dippers or investigating fallen communication wires you'll be interacting with Delilah through your walkie talkies. It's where Firewatch shines the brightest and really the selling point of the entire game. It's been a long time since I've seen dialogue that sounded so natural both from performance and writing. A lot of this comes from the performances from both Rich Sommer and Cissy Jones who voice Henry and Delilah respectively. Both of them sound like actual people and not video game characters. They both flow naturally together and have the chemistry you would expect from two people who have never met face to face. The dialogue is soaked with genuineness that's so rare in video games it make it stand out more.

This is not however a audio drama. Firewatch is a video game after all and what you'll be doing most in walking through the forest and interacting with objects, a mechanic where Firewatch fails to bring any more substance. During your travels you'll come across points of interests whether it's abandoned backpacks or supply boxes but the serious problem with Firewatch is in that moment and at the end it doesn't matter. Outside of a few points of interest the game directs you to nothing you find will matter in any way. You might see on the map a supply box near by and if you spend the 5 or 10 minutes to get there you'll find a few pine cones, a couple of unreadable books and maybe a dialogue interaction. It's not just points on the map either, even exploring which is what the player will naturally want to do will end in varying degrees of disappointment. You'll find one of two things if you explore the forest of Firewatch: Nothing or a gated area closed off to you until the story advances. There is a point early in the story that gives you the chance to explore at your own leisure however because it's early in the game you do not have the tools to go to many of the places you want to go. As far as I can tell this is the only part of the game where the player is explicitly told they can explore.

The problem that makes Firewatch such an empty experience however is the facade that anything you do matters. In the earlier sections of the game the player finds a disposable camera with about 18 photos left on it. The player is advised by Delilah to take photos of certain items or scenes as a way of preserving it or using it as evidence. This brings up an interesting mechanic and dilemma: Should I take photos of this torn up camper site or these bear tracks? Would it be useful if I tried to capture this scene for use later. You've only got a limited amount of film in this pre-digital age. It seemingly gives you the choice of what is worth preserving. There was a part in my initial play through after I had found something story significant that I realized that I didn't take a photo of it and thought that it might effect my relationships with particular characters as well as the ending of the game. However by the time the credits rolled I discovered the dark secret of Firewatch.

It didn't matter. In fact, nothing you do matters.

The camera mechanic in Firewatch means nothing in the end. No matter what photos you do or do not take it is never brought up by the characters or affect the ending in anyway. To the player it is nothing more but a glorified screenshot tool. It doesn't stop with the camera either. You can pick up certain items found in the environment and bring them back to your firewatch tower or place them in specific locations. You can place books on a shelf, adopt a turtle or place a photo back on a window sill. Outside of some interactions with Delilah these objects don't mean anything to the greater story or even to the environment as objects placed one day may move or even disappear completely another day. Nowhere is this problem more prevalent than the ending sequence of Firewatch where you are leaving the tower and have the chance to take items with you. The items range from your wedding ring to important handwritten notes to your adopted turtle. But once again Firewatch doesn't not change based on what you take with you. Not even a little bit. It gives out this facade of choice not only in your dialogue but what you take and more importantly what you don't take.

I was enjoying my time during Firewatch. Exploring the world trying to find the games mysteries was fun in of itself. The dialogue with Delilah was incredibly engrossing and engaging. But once my time with Firewatch was up and I was given an ending that every person who finishes Firewatch gets I saw the game's hollow interior. It's a game that pretends to have more than it does. Firewatch promises you the world but in the end you'll be disappointed by it's meager offerings.