Within an hour of beginning gameplay, I found myself sensing something off, something that I couldn’t quite place, but I knew that this was something more than just making sure people follow the rules of Smokey the Bear. My radio quickly became my lifeline, as it was my only connection to anyone outside of Henry’s mind (and my own mind for that matter). This is where Firewatch grasped the reigns of my emotional chariot, gave a hard tug, and never let go. While the wilderness instantly welcomed me to explore it on my own, I soon met Delilah (Cissy Jones), a delightfully charming wildfire lookout who works in a lookout just a few miles away from where Henry is stationed. Events unfold, and Henry finds himself trying to, for lack of a better term, get away from it all, by applying for a job as a wildfire lookout in the Wyoming wilderness. The story begins to touch on the perfect amount of cheesy Nicholas Sparks material, and still manages to keep itself sane through its excellent writing. Playing on something of a choose your own adventure genre, I made my way through the first few years of Henry’s potential mid-life crisis, which is fortunately prevented by his meeting Julia, the queen that he’s been unknowingly waiting for. While many games struggle to get a story going with an actual scene, Firewatch managed to capture my attention from the beginning, with nothing but text. In classic Pokemon fashion, the game begins with text selections. It paid for my drink, swept me off of my feet, carried me away from the technology ridden time of today, and brought me home to the gorgeous, softly lit wilderness of 1980s Wyoming. From the homemade, soft, wonderfully blocky art style, to the perfectly antique truck that I climbed into to kick off the story, the game softly and gently whispered the good parts of the 80s into my ear. Firewatch instantly and comfortably settles into its time period. With the narrative of a more invested and mysterious Gone Home, and a slightly less virulent and volatile Bioshock, Firewatch successfully transforms the potentially dreary and dull boredom of the “walking simulator” into a deep and stunningly beautiful story.įrom the moment I started up Firewatch, to the moment I somehow managed to pull myself away, I was put in control of the excellently voiced Henry (Rich Sommer), who attempts to escape relationship and family issues by bringing himself to the Wyoming wilderness, where he takes a job managing and watching wildfires. The guys at Campo Santo have written a novel of a game, which coincidentally (and fortunately), we can immerse ourselves in, much like our favorite books.