Dennis's Blog

Firewatch: Finally, After 4 Years on my Steam Wishlist

Firewatch - that game by Campo Santo and Panic that never really spoke to me originally. I liked the concept of an immersive story, with less action and more substance, but amid bug reports on release and mixed reviews about the overall experience, I decided to chalk Firewatch under "sale wishlist" and wait.

Well, now more than ever do I have the time to start playing through the number of games on that list. First to do was of course Firewatch.

What a game. If you want a review of the storyline, there's plenty of other blogs out there that talk about it. I'm going to review how the game felt to me, how it holds up 4 years after release, issues, and of course whether I'd recommend it or not.

Firewatch felt good, like, really good to me. At least for the first few hours - then the game ended. Seriously, the aesthetics were amazing, the conversations caused curiosity and were very well written. The characters were believable, and even lovable.

I just wanted more. Total, I think the game took me 3 hours to finish, maybe 4. This hurt because I was intentionally slow playing it - enjoying the visuals, checking out all the ranger boxes (where you can find everything from Ron's notes to a billion pinecones to old granola bars to topical paperbacks from the 70s and 80s.)

Disclaimer: I'm a sucker for the 80s aesthetic. I love the new retro wave genre. I enjoy all 80s movies - not always for their stories, but always for their settings.

So to have played the game purposefully slow in order to get the total immersive feel only to have it end way sooner than I expected... kind of hurt. This is my one and only gripe. I was left wanting more mere hours after having purchased the game.

However, this doesn't mean that I wasn't left fulfilled by a completed story. I was. Despite the odd glitch here and there (Firewatch, for having been out 4 years, had an inordinate number of glitches for a video game in 2016, let alone 2020), I enjoyed an entire story from start to finish, and I feel better for having experienced it.

I would 100% recommend this game with the following caution: This is not an action game. There is no shooting, there is no fighting. You're exploring, walking, talking, and interacting with your environment the entire time. This is more an immersive story than a game. I love it for that, but I'm aware that it's not everyone's cup of tea.