Firewatch is a very atmospheric narrative-driven adventure game that's all about hiking across beautiful landscapes and having a chat with your witty supervisor along the way.
I've spent my this weekend exploring its peaks and valleys and I found it to be rather lovely (you can read the full review here) so now that its officially released I'd like to bring the natural beauty of Firewatch to your attention.
Rather than rehash my review I figured I would instead give you a list of what I believe are the greatest pros and cons of Firewatch so that you can better decide whether its the sort of game for you. Here goes:
PROS
+ Very lifelike and beautiful representation of a natural park
+ Phenomenal lighting system that completely changes the atmosphere of the game depending on the time of day
+ Great chemistry between the two main characters, they feel like actual buddies
+ Well written and voice acted dialogue with some actually funny jokes
+ Plenty of topics to talk about and decisions to make in them
+ A very tense story that had me on the edge of my seat throughout the second half of it
+ In-game camera that you can use to take screenshots. After you finish Firewatch you can have these screenshots physically printed and mailed to you.
CONS
- Game length is only about 5-6 hours depending on how much you care about snooping around
- No optional areas to explore. If something is on the map you'll be going there at some point
- Overly long climbing animations that get annoying after you see them for the 500th time
- The story, while not bad, ends a bit too abruptly for my taste
And there you have it, all of the strongest and weakest elements of Firewatch. I am fully aware that what I consider fun might be boring to others but for what its worth I enjoyed my time with Firewatch and I'd recommend you at least give it a look if you're in to story & exploration focused games.
Firewatch might have some problems but its still a beautifully realized world to explore, filled with interesting characters, compelling dialogue and a narrative that "forced" me to play through the entire game in almost a single sitting.
If you're interested in how it look in motion I've also done a video review you're welcome to check out: