Firewatch

So I’ve been playing a fairly large amount of Fallout 4 at the moment, a game I like but don’t love and I felt the need to take a little break from it. Fortunately, Firewatch was released Tuesday. I’d only been casually following its progress but the little I’d seen had me intrigued. That combined with the PS Plus price tag of £13.49 was enough for me to take the leap.

What a leap it was.

The lookout tower shown off in the gameplay preview greets you at the menu screen and at this point I’m still predicting a mildly interesting adventure through a forest that’ll kill a few hours, but ultimately, not much else. As soon as I start a new game, all my preconceptions are entirely blown away. You’re presented with a scenario, described in a few words and a choice of two responses; as soon as I’ve read what’s happening I’m entirely drawn in. The first few minutes, aside from a couple of very brief playable sections, are all spent living Henry’s life through text. Now I don’t want to give anything away(it’s that good) but the choices get pretty deep and by the time I walked to the lookout tower, I was fully invested in Henry. I genuinely cared about him and as we all know, that’s not the easiest task for a game to achieve at all, let alone in 5 minutes. Heading to the top of the tower and looking around at the sad little space Henry will be occupying, entirely bereft of comfort, cemented the bond. I wanted to push through the game, almost as quickly as possible, just in the hope that it had a happy ending. When Delilah’s voice first crackles through the radio, Firewatch achieves a better sense of isolation than any survival horror I’ve ever played, with the exception of maybe Dead Space. Most games achieve that feeling by limiting supplies, shadowy corridors and littering the game with jump scares; all valid techniques, but here I am, stood in a world of soft pastel shades and I’ve never felt more alone in a game. The quick, enjoyably written, back and forth with Delilah comes and goes and Henry heads to sleep; fortunately the two day hike wipes him out for 14 hours and I’m blessedly spared the tumultuous night of broken nightmarish sleep I’d expected to witness.

Now as emotional as it’s already been, a very noticeable and jarring flaw is also evident: the frame rate. I’m playing on the PS4 but I understand this issue isn’t platform specific and that Campo Santo are already working hard on a patch; but, when you’re trying to sink into the experience it is fairly distracting. By no means a deal breaker but prevalent enough to warrant a mention at the very least. I’m writing this two days after release and as I’m playing so hopefully the patch will drop before I finish the game.

Your first little outing with Henry is a straightforward one – find who is setting off fireworks and deal with the situation. Henry’s first test. One with which he takes to, much to my delight, as keenly as I had hoped for. So you grab your gear and head out to deal with the disturbance; the occasional landmark along the way to remark upon buoys the trip but it’s really the interjections from Delilah that kept me progressing. Almost a little too quickly to take in and truly appreciate the sights. From the get go she’s forward and openly curious about who you are and why you’re here. Now much as with the choices posed during the opening sequence, the responses you can choose from are all very human, very natural. I’m sure there are people out there who were able to make Henry respond exactly as they would themselves; I, myself, found a little bit of me in each option and used nearly all of the allotted time to respond. It’s this balance that so readily pays emotional dividends each and every time. The combination of Delilah’s heartfelt forward wit, a fairly tight time in which to respond, never quite expressing exactly what I’d like to and wanting to stay true to how I thought Henry must be feeling meant that even these early moments had such weight behind them. Both Henry and I were disarmed by Delilah at first; both of us so uncomfortable by some of the questions she asked, yet unwilling to let her so easily best us that we forged on with as much wit as we could muster. These conversations are what make up the bulk of the first day; sure you deal with the fireworks and step foot on the winding road that builds to a very intriguing story, but you never stop to look at what’s going on as much as you stop to listen to what Delilah says.

I’ll be honest, each individual task in the game is just walking to a different part of the park. Stopping from time to time to open a supply cache, experience a vista or some flora or fauna and all the while being mildly blighted by the irksome frame rate. The drive to get there though is always the dialogue, even when the story ramps up it’s still overshadowed by this burgeoning relationship between two ultimately isolated people. After the halfway mark the story doesn’t just progress day by day either, it jumps weeks at a time. This simple yet brilliant change in pace serves to not only progress the story but actually to remove control from the player. All of a sudden I’m greeted by scenarios that I’d actively tried to avoid. Henry has gone AWOL. Without my supervision, my guidance, he had begun down a path I didn’t want for him and I loved it. I now spent my time trying to fight the tide and set him back on the path I’d decided for him but I just couldn’t help feeling a little let down. It was great.
By the end of the game I wasn’t sure if I’d done the right things, not because of missing a collectible or slipping up during a particular sequence but because I was second guessing the things I’d said. That Henry had said. I mean, I thought I was right at the time…but now, I’m not so sure…maybe things would’ve been better if only I’d played it differently…

The modern game has so much expected of it. An open world, innovative mechanics with endless possibilities and an original poignant story that either brings a tear to your eye or turns your stomach to lead. I’m not saying they’re bad things to aim for, but I do believe finding that perfect balance has only been achieved by a precious few. However, amongst those AAA titles the mildly more discerning gamer has found these smaller beautiful games, games like Journey or Never Alone that make you do so little but give you so much. Games so often seek to tell an interactive and rewarding story and by stripping back the gameplay to its basics, Campo Santo were able to do just that and masterfully so. By almost solely focusing on the interactions between two people and not cluttering up the game with easy instant gratification, by not pandering to and appeasing the impatient, those that play are rewarded with a beautiful human story that holds your attention and makes you feel. The reward isn’t a trophy, a costume or gun skin; the reward is actually playing the game and getting to that next conversation, to potentially making Henry’s life that bit better.
For me, Firewatch delivered an incredible experience and one that could only be achieved by a video game. Campo Santo couldn’t have asked for a better start and I cannot wait to see what they do in the future.