Firewatch has a lot going for it. It's visually fantastic, just short enough to feel satisfied without dragging on, great voice acting and character development, a great sense of expanse and exploration, and overall fantastic immersion. They carry the theme of "self-imposed isolation" throughout the entire story and it was very well-composed. The explored those emotions and implications thoroughly.

The major con that everyone keeps addressing (which I will rehash here, spoiler-free), is the ending. It's not a BAD ending, per se. It's simply lackluster. It falls flat. The entire game is spent building tension, making you care about these characters and what's happening to them. They build 4 or 5 smaller stories within the main storyline, and they're all incredibly tense and interesting. You begin to craft possible explanations in your head as to what's going on with these mysterious plotlines, and it's fantastic. At one point my wife put the controller down because she was literally scared of what could happen next. For anyone who has ever tried to write narrative before... that's INCREDIBLY difficult to achieve. Amazing job. However...

Here's the problem. They never did anything with it. They took those 4 or 5 micro-stories, full of high-stakes, fear, and tension, and they ALL didn't pan out. They just fizzled. It's like spending hours making bread dough, letting it rise, resting it, seasoning it perfectly, and never putting it in the oven. YOU'RE SO CLOSE, FIREWATCH. You did the hard work! Now just close the deal! I'm on the hook, reel me in! They never satisfied any of those high tension moments, they just explained them away. Every conclusion left me feeling like, "oh, that's it? Okay, I guess."

So I'm very torn. It's really quite an experiential game, my wife and I completely enjoyed it for what it was. However I feel there was a lot of lost potential with the ending. They just sort of ended it, not taking advantage of the hard work they put in developing the tension. The payoff is the easy part, I feel. But the didn't give us that.

On other minor con is that I felt the illusion of choice with my dialogue choices, however after finishing the game, I learned that the hundreds of dialogue choices you make have very little to no substantial impact on the actual progress of the story. At most, it slightly changes the tone of your relationship with Delilah, and some minor easter eggs here and there.

Pick it up on Steam sale. It's worth a play through. It's very unique. I'm just still not sure about the ending.

Firewatch has a lot going for it. It's visually fantastic, just short enough to feel satisfied without dragging on, great voice acting and character development, a great sense of expanse and exploration, and overall fantastic immersion. They carry the theme of "self-imposed isolation" throughout the entire story and it was very well-composed. The explored those emotions and implications thoroughly. The major con that everyone keeps addressing (which I will rehash here, spoiler-free), is the ending. It's not a BAD ending, per se. It's simply lackluster. It falls flat. The entire game is spent building tension, making you care about these characters and what's happening to them. They build 4 or 5 smaller stories within the main storyline, and they're all incredibly tense and interesting. You begin to craft possible explanations in your head as to what's going on with these mysterious plotlines, and it's fantastic. At one point my wife put the controller down because she was literally scared of what could happen next. For anyone who has ever tried to write narrative before... that's INCREDIBLY difficult to achieve. Amazing job. However... Here's the problem. They never did anything with it. They took those 4 or 5 micro-stories, full of high-stakes, fear, and tension, and they ALL didn't pan out. They just fizzled. It's like spending hours making bread dough, letting it rise, resting it, seasoning it perfectly, and never putting it in the oven. YOU'RE SO CLOSE, FIREWATCH. You did the hard work! Now just close the deal! I'm on the hook, reel me in! They never satisfied any of those high tension moments, they just explained them away. Every conclusion left me feeling like, "oh, that's it? Okay, I guess." So I'm very torn. It's really quite an experiential game, my wife and I completely enjoyed it for what it was. However I feel there was a lot of lost potential with the ending. They just sort of ended it, not taking advantage of the hard work they put in developing the tension. The payoff is the easy part, I feel. But the didn't give us that. On other minor con is that I felt the illusion of choice with my dialogue choices, however after finishing the game, I learned that the hundreds of dialogue choices you make have very little to no substantial impact on the actual progress of the story. At most, it slightly changes the tone of your relationship with Delilah, and some minor easter eggs here and there. Pick it up on Steam sale. It's worth a play through. It's very unique. I'm just still not sure about the ending.