Thor on 29/2/2016 at 00:23

---

I found it to be a well done bump-on-the-shoulder toward player expectations. This game actually takes some liberty in making a story that could actually happen in real life. I mean the paranoia and fear that can come out of simple things. They did bump it up a little with a character like Ned, but not too much.

Actually I felt a bit melancholy myself right at the end, though after watching a good Let's Play of it where the guy actually found lots of stuff and reasoned everything out (when I just moved from location to location without thinking about those things much), the story made a lot of sense and it was well told. I suppose it isn't a game about "fun", rather than a journey. For me it was a journey from fun talks and walks into an exploration of fear and isolation. In part, of course.

Twist on 4/7/2016 at 21:14

---

Despite the mostly positive response to this game, I still think it's greatly underappreciated.

Reviews, forum posts and Let's Plays give me the impression people treat this too much like a linear narrative experience, letting themselves be strung along from story beat to story beat, where the goal is to finish, to find out what happens next. Playing the game this way often means the player either chooses the most comical response, or the response the player thinks will provide the most optimum outcome.

It also means triggering the next day change to progress the game rather than taking an opportunity to explore and reflect, to meditate on what matters to you -- either the real you or the version of Henry you role-play.

The relationship between Henry and Delilah is shaped by how the player role-plays Henry. I played through Firewatch twice, and I had two starkly difference experiences with two starkly different endings.

Try experimenting and exploring more, and try role-playing Henry with different attitudes and priorities. In these role-plays, discipline yourself to respond (or NOT respond) how you feel that version of Henry would respond to Delilah and to the different situations that arise in the game. Hint: you don't always have to do what Delilah tells you to do.

As Henry makes his drive and hike to Two Forks, how deeply depressed is he? How selfish is he? How reticent will he be to talk to someone all summer when he's seeking peace and quiet?

Does he welcome the curious, playful woman radioing him or does he see her as an irritating, obnoxious person interrupting his attempt to seek solace in solitude?

Does that attempt to seek solace in solitude work for him? Or does it backfire in the end?

My “Honorable Henry” resulted in an experience similar to what most people seemed to have had.

But my “Haunted Henry” resulted in a dark, bleak experience where Delilah relentlessly insulted Henry with f-bombs and the game ended with no warmth or camaraderie between the two. In fact, it had a very dark, bleak ending that I haven't seen many people talk about.

Firewatch represents a fascinating bit of game design, one in which how you approach the game dictates the type of story you experience, despite a lack of concrete changes in the world or in the game mechanics. I don't think I'm describing this well, but it's more in your perception and your experience rather than in tangible changes to the game world.

Firewatch also has the potential to be a different kind of role-playing game -- not in a conventional sense where you have stats and character customization, but in the real-world sense where you role-play a different perspective to exercise your empathy.

Beyond that, I also think people miss a ton of optional details. Here's a quick checklist of secrets or off-the-path tidbits to discover:


Did you find and experience all the raccoon encounters?
Did Delilah tell you a detailed ghost story in Hawk's Rest?
Did you even find Hawk's Rest?
Did you find the lyric sheet to Ol' Shoshone?
Did you later find the cassette tape with a recording of Ron singing and playing Ol' shoshone for Dave?
Did you find the note about Dave getting beat up and put in a hospital?
Did you understand *why* he got beat up and put in a hospital?
Did you find the dead elk and figure out what the number on its tag revealed?
Did you find (and pick it up to trigger the comment from Delilah) the poop-stained trowel?
Did you find and explore all the optional rapel points that weren't necessary for the main plot?
Did you find and explore all the damaged trees that could be chopped down to create an extra path or shortcut?
Did you find all the places to clear bushes with the axe to open a new path or shortcut?
Did you find the Gone Home references? The Metal Gear Solid reference? The Bloodborne reference? The Last of Us Reference?
Did you find both hats and keep them so you could find them on the hat hooks in the tower at the beginning of each day?
Did you catch Delilah's comment about Pork Pond and then later find the Pork Pond sign?
Did you find the Christmas duck (another Gone Home reference)?
Did you hear the clues to Ned's presence long before his presence is revealed or even hinted?
Who set up Wapiti Station and why?


Here are some narrative choices that rely on the player -- the game doesn't provide concrete feedback, you either role-play and think about your decisions and what they mean or you don't:


Did you put the wedding ring back on or not?
Did you put the photo of you and Julia face-up or leave it face-down?
If the option was available, did you have "radio sex" with Delilah the night the fire is named or not?
The night you and Delilah name the fire, did you delay your response to her and explore the moonlit wilderness or did you quickly click through the conversation?
If the option was available, did you invite Delilah to Boulder?
Did you always do what Delilah told you to do?
Did you always answer her when she asked you questions?


I really hope we see more games like this.