With haunting isolation, gorgeous visuals and stellar voice acting performances, “Firewatch” is a game that redefines what a video game can be.
Headed by former Double Fine and Telltale developers Jake Rodkin and Sean Vanaman, the San Francisco based indie developer Campo Santo made its debut with this narrative-focused adventure game.
The game puts the player the shoes of Henry, an average Joe that has taken up being a fire watchman in the deep woods of Wyoming in an attempt to escape his collapsing life in Colorado. Being a fire watchmen isolated in a tower would seem like the ideal way to get away and sort through personal baggage, but things prove to not be as they appear almost immediately in the Shoshone National Forest.
Without going into spoilers, an unknown force traps and conspires against Henry and his boss Delilah, who is stationed in a tower in the adjacent section of the woods. It’s a tense narrative steeped in paranoia.
The story itself is told primarily through radio calls between Henry and Delilah. The banter between the two is quippy and endearing as they bond through their shared fallacies and the dire situation they have found themselves in. Voice acting in video games can be rough, but in “Firewatch” it isn’t just good for a video game, it’s good voice acting in general. The performances from Rich Sommer (Henry) and Cissy Jones (Delilah) are so high quality, it makes one feel compelled to cite voice actor names in a video game review.
Gameplay wise, the player drives the narrative. As one explores the Wyoming wilderness they actively choose dialogue options to interact with Delilah — demonstrating Telltale’s influence on the developers.
To each of Delilah’s remarks the player can choose to respond with an open, guarded or dismissive response. These dialogue selections in turn have an effect on the relationship that forms between the two. While this doesn’t have drastic ramifications, it does define the pair’s relationship — an essential part of the experience.
Instead of a guiding status bar, the player is instead left to check a map and compass to find their way around. This method of navigation creates an intense sense of isolation and vulnerability that only adds to the paranoia of the game.
As the plot thickens and tensions heighten, the simplest rustle of a bush or snap of a twig turns into a jumpscare.
