Nothing like a lonely forest lookout job to give yourself a break from the troubles in your life. But in the woods, with the only company of a walkie-talkie, anything can happen that makes our own problems small. This is the world of Firewatch.
We had been following Firewatch for a long time , the first video game from the Camposanto studio that has intrigued us since its first trailer was released about a year ago. His proposal was original, different: Henry decides to take a break from his personal problems and accept a job in a watchtower . A good place to start a novel and rethink life, with the sole task of watching out for malicious fires in the Natural Park. But what was supposed to be routine work turns into a series of strange events that we will have to investigate.
All this seasoned with our boss and person in charge: Delilah , a woman we will only hear on the radio and with whom we will begin to establish a strange relationship. After all, summer is long and there is little work to do on a watchtower. Firewatch is brilliantly written , and sparkling dialogue is not easy to come by. Here it is achieved by appealing to that sarcasm and irony so American in their conversations, as the relationship between Henry and Delilah is built. Something we can influence, since we guide our answers that we give with the walkie-talkie, although without many apparent changes.
But what is there to do in Firewatch? Therein lies the mystery, since Camposanto has wanted to build its story little by little, developing its protagonists and fleeing from the conventions that frame the video game in a series of objectives and mechanics. However, it is relatively close to the so-called Walking Simulator , but providing tools so that walks through the forest are not so linear.
The indiscreet towerThe conversations with Delilah will be constant and help develop both characters. Interesting and well written.
First of all, it gives us to explore a small open world in which we will have to orient ourselves . Something like what we saw in Kholat , but with a series of more marked destinations. To reach them, it is important to make good use of the compass and the map , and update it with a series of guides that we will find in the guard posts. This way we get some interaction, not reducing the rides to something fixed, but, like all these games, they are adventures with more emphasis on exploration and history than on their mechanics.
Although Firewatch focuses on exploration, we will be able to search for hidden notes and documents and other “items” like this cute turtle.
Firewatch wants you to focus on the story and what is happening around youSometimes we will have to climb some slopes or descend them with ropes, use an ax or other objects, but there are no puzzles here. Firewatch wants you to focus on the story and what is happening around you. Henry’s personal problems are intermingled with the curious relationship we have with Delilah and, above all this, a great mystery awakens that will take center stage in a good part of the experience. A mystery that is abrupt, strange, that takes you out of context of the same style that did, for example, the Lost series (Lost) and even allowing itself some similar twists and tools.
The landscapes have a very peculiar style and they are really beautiful. A lot of forest to cover with our compass and map.
However, the feeling that Firewatch produces is that of a contained game, which never wants to fully take off. It keeps you in tension at all times, but plays with your expectations in similar ways to what Gone Home already did in its day. Seek that you do your own guesswork, that you look for the solution to your questions, and as with this type of plot, the resolution may not be to everyone’s taste. It must be recognized, however, that he manages to transfer to the video game an unusual story in our environment and it makes you experience it without boredom or boredom in any case, and that has merit for a title with a calm rhythm, that does not seek the frenzy of keeping you busy all the time at the controls, but that is not content with being a game of traveling stage.
A map , also, with a fantastic design. The use of saturated color and simple and gigantic shapes works perfectly, both for our character and the forests we travel. Varied scenarios, beautiful sunsets and a tower as a central point that scans the horizon. As we said, it is not an open world in itself, since roads and closed areas are formed that do not allow us to freely roam the forest, but it is the correct size for approximately 6 hours.
They vary depending on how many times we get off the road and have to meet again. As conscientious as we are when exploring every corner to find all the notes and documents that serve to expand the story. Expand, because here the main line of the argument is given by the conversations between Henry and Delilah. And we are even given a camera with which to imprint our memories. Some images that even, in the PC version, we can upload to the Firewatch website to download or even order on paper.
Watching the translationFirewatch will shine at its launch in perfect English, both voices and subtitles, but Camposanto has already warned us that the translation of the subtitles into our language is on the way, although at the moment there is no specific date for this update. If you don’t know the language, you will have to wait a little longer!
We liked the Firewatch experience, although we always expect more from their narrative than from their mechanics from these games; and here, although everything was going well, its end has been somewhat abrupt for us. Content . It may be because of our own expectations, but they are ones with which the game itself manipulates you. There are also some somewhat more repetitive moments, especially at the end of the adventure, where we will travel many roads already visited and without much incentive to discover something new.
If you are related to this type of game, Firewatch will probably be the next to play, as it is a good representative of its style. Enjoy the ending more or less, as has happened to us, each dialogue and each situation is constructed with care and good work, showing that Camposanto has a bright future on the horizon. Firewatch is good proof of this.
“Very good”
Firewatch
A different, intriguing experience that mixes in very original ways the realism of everyday life, the one we find when you get away from routine and the mystery of the strange and unknown. Firewatch may resemble other titles like Gone Home or Dear Esther, but it brings out its personality through lush forest and well-written, solid dialogue. It will depend a lot on the taste of each one what the story really wants to tell us, but Camposanto makes you get bored in no time while you orient yourself with a compass and map through this beautiful American Natural Park.
- The radio conversations that accompany the whole story, very well written and interpreted
- The orientation system through the map and the compass
- Precious settings with a wide choice of colors and tones
- Some repetitive walks in the forest with no greater contribution than going back and forth.
- Firewatch plays up your expectations, and this may lead to not meeting them
