‘Firewatch’ - When a game makes you stare at a wall
A Flick-Through Review
Just one of the stunning views from Firewatch
We are living in 2025 and the world is on fire.
Let’s start with a little catch-up. Hi, I’m Connor! I’ve spent most of January getting things sorted to make sure that this place, the Chogg.Blog is ready for a brand new year. New folks, it’s going to get crazy! Anyone who has been here before will notice a lovely new coat of paint and the fresh, friendly mascot, Choggy, sitting in the top left corner with a warm hot chocolate and his notebook. I am really grateful that there are people out there who want to read what I have to say and I’m so glad that there are so many things for you to be excited about this year! But, given that it is now February, I think we should get this show on the road and start with a Flick-Through Review!
Booting up Firewatch I was unsure what to expect. All I knew was that the story was largely a slow and thoughtful thing, where the player stomps around a forest. To be honest, it sounded quite boring, but I was intrigued by so many glowing recommendations and had to give it a go. So let me start out by saying that if you are a person who is likely to play this, you should pop your email in the bar at the bottom of the screen and then step away from this post to go play Firewatch. It is not boring, it is not slow and I would recommend this game to literally anybody…. Ok, are they gone? Good.
So we start out with a creepy atmospheric section that shines light on the protagonist’s back story. We are Henry, who met the girl of his dreams and lived a lovely life with her. Through a series of choices, we construct a view of their life, their challenges, their fights and the little things that make their relationship magical. And then we are told how it all goes wrong when Henry’s wife, Julia, develops early onset dementia. She deteriorates rapidly and as a result of my choices Henry tries to look after her alone, as if he is trying to prove that he loves her. Eventually, it was too much. Julia is with her family in Australia. And Henry is here in who-knows-where Wyoming, taking a job as a fire-watchman to get away from everything and be alone with himself for a summer. Brutal. Are we all starting out feeling delicate? Me too!
Live footage of me making sense of all the weird things in the forest
The forest is on fire and helicopters are on their way to air lift us out. I tell Delilah to wait. She agrees. I make it to her lookout point where all the little things I have learned about her come together and I realise that maybe Henry can love his wife and fall for this compassionate woman too. And she was gone. She had lied and left already because she didn’t want to face Henry after everything. Speaking with her on the radio at the games conclusion, I asked her to come to stay with me while we worked out what to do next. She politely refused and told Henry to go back to his wife. And my heart fell out.
That’s what Firewatch was to me. It was intelligent and measured and as well as looking gorgeous it was written gorgeously too. The way that story is drip fed and every moment of brevity and of exposition is delivered in dialogue that is masterfully voice acted and spread through the whole game.
By the time Henry discovers the last pieces of the puzzle he is radioing them to Delilah and she is not responding. In the same way, I got wrapped up in the whole game and barely realised that as things were speeding up and we were obviously accelerating towards the end it had to come to an end whether I liked it or not. When the credits rolled I sat in stunned silence.
It’s a game about self-reflection, isolation and relationships that stays with you long after it finishes and sends you a cute email with all the photos you took. You’re missing out if you haven’t played it yet.
And so Henry sets himself up at a lookout point in the middle of the forest where the only person he can communicate with is his supervisor Delilah on the other end of a walkie talkie. I was sent off to check in on hikers setting off fireworks or to investigate why communications were down or to follow what looked like smoke on the horizon. Because that is Henry’s job.
Slowly, we get drip fed a kind of insane narrative. Since I chose exactly what Henry said to Delilah I am unsure how much of the logical leaps was ‘Pepe Silvia’ level theorizing, but there is a cover up and Henry starts to become paranoid. There is drama and tension and all of it clashes in such a gorgeous way with the serene surroundings. When Delilah said to make sure I watch my back while I was walking through a darker part of the forest I legitimately turned my character around to look, then looked over my shoulder in real life and then shivered for a moment. But through it all, the heart of Firewatch comes from the way that Henry and Delilah interact. When I upset her and she decided to step away from the walkie and the communication button no longer worked for a while I felt the loneliness and the whole vibe changed. Then the game slowed down and Henry was left truly to look at himself and where he was for the first time.
When Delilah got drunk and started to flirt with Henry, I stayed friendly but didn’t dive in to the budding relationship. Then I made sure to talk about my wife some more, which scared her off, but then I decided to put on my wedding ring but move the photograph of my wife outside of my immediate sightline and begin to engage with Delilah and the chemistry that we obviously had. And as I’m writing this it all feels so real.
And then the ending comes, where the entire cover up is laid bare and it all makes sense.
If you enjoyed this review give this a like, or pop your email into the little sign up at the bottom of the screen! Leave a comment, or head over to the about page to see how you can support me. See ya next time!
