Firewatch

By Dylan Grissom

Firewatch is a suspenseful and tense tale of a troubled husband looking for peace and a way out of the problems of his marriage and family. It’s a three hour, emotion and character fueled hike through the woods that’s ending lets down what is a truly great game.

After a gripping intro sequence that sees you guided through the love story of Henry, our protagonist, and his now dementia sickened wife, Julia, we find Henry looking for a place far away from his broken home in Boulder, Colorado, leaving for the isolation of Shoshone National Park.

We’re immediately introduced to Delilah, wonderfully voiced by Cissy Jones and a seasoned firewatcher living in the next closest watchtower. She acts as our guide to begin the story when she notices fireworks coming from the nearby lake. As Henry leaves to handle the situation, we get our first experience with the look and feel of the game which is one of its strongest aspects.

The lighting and sound, combined with the truly beautiful art style, combine to create world that’s easy to get immersed in. Whether it’s the morning sun slicing through the pines or walking by the lake through the falling cotton of the cottonwood trees, this game is gorgeous. The view from your tower to Delilah’s never gets old. It sets a tone that swings from peaceful and relaxing to uneasily and paranoically scary without really changing anything. The small noises of the wilderness turn from enjoyable to dread inducing due to the details of what’s going on in the story. These mood changes happen so seamlessly and naturally, too. The landscapes and sounds aren’t threatening in themselves, but I still found myself constantly wanting to look over my shoulder. A feeling of unease that never really leaves and is built up well throughout the game.

The park’s excellent design works well for the story also. It’s large enough to feel big but the long hikes never feel daunting or exhausting, especially when distracted by the conversations with Delilah. It does a fine job of also making the park feel wild and not just a series of hiking trails that you follow, the trails never stick out but navigation through the park manages to be both easy enough to do but challenging enough to be fun. I never got lost in my journeys and the sense of accomplishment from finding my way through the woods with my compass is a cool feeling. You really feel alone and miles from anything or anybody that could help you.

The story overall is strong, suspenseful, tense and intriguing up until the end where it falls flat. The myriad of red herrings creates more mystery than is actually there and the ideas of what could happen build up enough suspense to cause the complete failure of the ending to have any impact at all. The other important story events throughout the game are perfectly struck and done so well that they set the bar higher than the events of the ending can reach.

The intensity reaches such an exciting height towards the end that it had my mind racing, but the ending, compared to the scale of the rest of the game, is small and only personal to Delilah. While the reveal at the end was emotional for her, it doesn’t reach the player. We understand why she cares but are never given a reason to care ourselves which is an emotional letdown.

For a game that spends so much time creating an immersive world through its characters, lighting and sound. the ending to its mystery is flat. The first two and a half hours are exciting and tense, but the realization that nothing was happening, after all the mysterious events that unfolded, is deflating.

Firewatch is an emotional story of two people looking for a short escape from reality; while its characters and world are excellent, the story ultimately falters with a flat ending that sours the taste of a tale that is so well told.