Comments on: A Note On Firewatch

By: Janek

Janek — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 17:37:35 +0000

Totally. Just talking shit on the radio, dancing around each other’s issues, while taking in the gorgeous scenery.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 18:18:31 +0000

I accept I’m probably in the minority, but I would have totally played a slow-paced walking game where Henry spends a summer simply reflecting on his past. The grounded elements of the story with Julia and Delilah were far more interesting to me than the mysterious locked-off area of the forest, and I think emphasising the latter over the former was a big mistake for a game that otherwise does a lot of stuff really well.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 18:14:42 +0000

I think that’s the key difference, and that’s why I also come down on the side of Gone Home. Both games try to manipulate the player to a degree, but Gone Home does it passively; it presents the player with evidence that lets them form a fallacious picture of what’s going on themselves, without actively trying to trick them. The radio link with Delilah is in most cases a big strength for Firewatch, but it also meant it was much more actively misleading at times, in a way that was about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

I think both games have their plus and minus points, but I liked Gone Home’s hands-off approach to the storytelling a lot more.

By: Gap Gen

Gap Gen — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 21:47:45 +0000

One thing I liked about this was simply experiencing the place, and I felt somewhat bad that the game at times creates tension that forces you onwards rather than just enjoying the scenery, even if on balance the game is stronger for a sense of purpose driving what might otherwise be a fairly slow-paced walking game.

By: Ninja Foodstuff

Ninja Foodstuff — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 19:14:24 +0000

Looking now at the camera photos I do have to say I am struck by how picturesque it was. I don’t think I properly appreciated it at the time, but those images…

(I do think they missed a trick by not having the “original” images from the story included in the camera roll though)

By: Ninja Foodstuff

Ninja Foodstuff — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 19:08:48 +0000

Having just completed it I can safely say I thought the opposite. I preferred Gone Home because it was storytelling through exploration, whereas I don’t know what this is. It’s like a radio play with graphics and having to look at a map a lot.

That said, I can’t fault the voice acting or the dialogue (although the plot seemed very weak), and there were some excellent subtle details and clever editing.

By: innokenti

innokenti — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 17:59:14 +0000

I have preferred it to Gone Home, simply because the well-written dialogue and conversations liven things up and give the story joy, pathos and a sort of veracity. For me, Gone Home was a plot, delivered in interesting ways – it was interesting story-telling, but the writing itself and the relatively straightforward plot didn’t quite fire it up.

Firewatch brings the characters very much to life and delivers a very enjoyable interactive story. This is the direction where I want my FPS adventure/walking simulators to head.

And looks very very pretty to boot. It’s not because of intense graphics but just a very very good art direction that absolutely plays to the strengths and limitations of what they were doing.

By: Ninja Foodstuff

Ninja Foodstuff — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 11:54:18 +0000

Fair enough. I had wondered if this was going to be another over-hyped indie darling, glad to hear that’s not the case.