Backlog for the Baby: Firewatch

In the great backlog wars of 2019 I'm going to regret playing Firewatch first. I had some really great "walking simulators" to choose from, but this one seemed to really just get the experiential first-person narrative right. Since its teasers release I've been intrigued by it's presentation and, seemingly, dialogue heavy experience. I have to say, every bit of excitement was warranted.

The art design captures the grandeur of the great outdoors of Wyoming so well that it made me regret spending my time indoors as a child when I lived there. A lot of the setting of the game my parents and I would drive by on our way into the closest town. It's a game that prioritizes time as a tool for the narrative more than a way to place events linearly on a timeline. The game's days become more like chapters that allowed me to explore with no real penalty and that made all the difference when my searching yielded a particularly heartfelt easter egg. I'd really hate to spoil any of these moments, and they don't change the game in any meaningful way plot-wise, but they can pepper the game with customized tchotchkes of your adventure and subsequent discovers. If that doesn't make sense, I'm sorry, but that's about as specific as I want to get.

The relationship between the two characters is complex in the best of ways. Exposing everything thought transparent in the Telltale's The Walking Dead series. You are given just enough agency to flavor the experience with your own choice, but knowing all the time that these characters are working in the limited scope of their own trauma. You are not in control, they have issues, and you are all the better for it!

This game ranges from 3 to 5 hours depending on how fast the player barrels through the main story. I really think it's a game that can be played through multiple times. After listening to a spoilercast on the game, and learning the crazy amounts of variables that decide what the player experiences, I'm excited to watch my wife's playthrough of the game.

It's pretty annoying writing something about the game, because I very much do not want to spoil anything. I've purposely avoided talking about the actual story, because it was so wonderful for me going in blind to anything other than the great art design and voice direction. I played the game and feel I just finished a fantastic TV series that could only be told in this medium.