I can’t help but wonder how Firewatch would feel were it a bit less plot-driven, if it drew a bit more from neorealism or even Emily Short’s game Galateaas a showcase for the intricacies of human dialogue, of small talk as art form. It’s completely illogical for certain people to have acted in certain ways given what we learn in the denouement. But in looking back on it all, on reaching the end and figuring out what actually transpired, everything that came before seems like nonsense. Every beat of the story works at the time. It is impossible to expound upon Firewatch‘s plot holes without spoiling all four hours of the story, but essentially we return to my “Any five minute slice of Firewatch is brilliant” conceit.Īny isolated section of Firewatch makes sense. You’re led by the nose from one contrivance to another, red herring atop red herring until everyone’s motivations are borderline inscrutable. That feeling translates to the central plot. Bits and pieces of tertiary stories found in the environment mostly lead nowhere at all, just scraps of paper and bits of junk left behind by others. There’s very little to Firewatch, aside from the scenery. Before long, the two are swept up in a backwoods mystery-Henry returns to his tower the first night to find his window broken, his belongings ransacked. Unfortunately Henry and Delilah can’t make small talk about the weather all summer. There’s a quiet authenticity to these characters-at least, early on. I laugh when a later scene starts with me sitting at a typewriter.
At one point early in our relationship she teases me, saying I probably came out here to write the next great American novel. The back-and-forth between you (Henry) and Delilah is uniformly well-written, from strangers feeling each other out to uneasy friendship to us-against-the-world duo.
It’s very Telltale-esque, which is no surprise given that multiple ex-Telltale devs worked on Firewatch.Īnd if you isolated any five-minute slice of Firewatch, you’d think it was brilliant. Keeping the conversation going means holding down Shift (a decent stand-in for the physicality of holding down a walkie-talkie button) and choosing from two or three different dialogue options. You’ll find a cast-off hat or a tree with claw marks and radio it in to Delilah, who typically responds with a snarky joke about your city-boy tendencies. The radio is your lifeline to civilization, or at least a friendly voice.
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