Since Tunic was no longer fun for us last Saturday, we switched to another game at short notice: Firewatch. Not a long adventure at just under three and a half hours, but definitely a very interesting one. Let me tell you what I think about it.

The game starts out pretty quiet. We are introduced to the initial situation, mainly in the form of text. We always have several choices that influence the later dialogues – but the action itself remains the same as far as I understand it.

Shortly thereafter we are already on the actual map, on which the rest of the game will take place. As spoiler-free as possible: over the summer we are a member of the “Firewatch” – we watch the forest and report any fires by radio. We are all alone in our observation tower and are only in contact with the other towers via walkie-talkie – in our case only with Delilah from another vantage point.

The content of the game is now relatively clear: we are given tasks by Delilah that we have to carry out in our capacity as observers – this will change soon, but you should experience that for yourself.

A big part of game mechanics is hiking. We often walk from A to B to do something and chat with Delilah along the way. Since we are relatively alone and have nobody else, a relationship of trust develops relatively quickly and we talk about private things to pass the time – we get very interesting insights into both people. Of course, we can influence our impression through the choice of answers; I can’t say to what extent this changes the outcome of the game, but you can definitely see the effects.

Limiting communication to radio and specifically Delilah is an interesting stylistic device. You only really see other people in two places, and then only from afar. There’s definitely a lot to interpret and project onto contemporary society, but I’ll leave that to others at this point.

While I often criticize running back and forth too often in other games, I found it very pleasant with this game. We wander around relaxed and experience what I think is a very interesting story, which also has one or two twists in store. Overall, the game left me feeling satisfied, but at the same time made me think.

I’ll be intentionally vague here because I think you should play it yourself. I can’t quite describe it, the game hooked me straight away and I couldn’t let go – if it had lasted another eight hours, I probably would have finished it anyways.

Technically there is not much to say about the game. It runs efficiently, the controls are reasonable (nothing special, but not bad in any way). The graphics are very pretty, but kept simple. The sound design is appropriate, it was very immersive.

My conclusion: if you haven’t watched it in my stream, you should definitely play it yourself. It’s currently included in the GamePass for free (that’s how I played it) and the experience lasts three and a half to four hours – one can do that. I’m glad we played it and look forward to discovering more games like this together – we’ll definitely keep looking!