Thank you for watching! Fun fact: I don't use music in these videos as I often listen to music while watching video essays. So feel free to put your bops behind this video!
The start of the paranoia was something many may not have experienced. I played Firewatch at launch, I found the old cabin right away, Henry asked Delilah about it on the radio, and Delilah did NOT RESPOND. That and the damaged cabin made my experience much more creepy. I've seen others come there later and she has something to say about it so it was not as spooky. My favorite experience was finding the tape with the full song on it, and realizing the song was about Ned, haha.
I honestly love the ending, It’s heartbreaking but it’s realistic. Delilah has a history of leaving people when it gets hard or she gets scared (like with Javier) so it makes complete sense she’d leave you and just tell you to move on
@@restingsadfaceI also agree, and I think that was the point. Real life isn’t supposed to be satisfying. And that’s what he had to go back to now that his Firewatch was over… real life.
@@restingsadface The interesting thing is that we aren't owed a satisfactory ending. The game establishes a connection between two separate and lonely souls, and in the end they are still separate but not alone. That's realistic and honestly a breath of fresh air in a way. Any touching or physical connection would have cheapened the impact I think. The story isnt about two people falling in love over radio and coming out the other end as a couple, its about two people who are dealing with their own internal struggles finding solace in the fact that they aren't *really* alone. And the fear and struggle they (mainly Henry) go through not only strengthens their bond, but provides perspective. Henry ran away from his problems instead of facing them, but at the Firewatch learned that you have to face them to find a resolution. Delilah came to that same conclusion and chose not to enable Henry's avoidance of the present, even if she wanted to.
This game had, IMO the best delivered line of dialog I've ever heard put into a video game. The exact way Ned says "I'm sorry about your wife" hit me hard.
The intro sequence dialogue makes me tear up every time. The lines, "You visit her every day. Then every week. Then every month." have palpable weight. Even if you've never experienced _exactly_ what Hank goes through, everyone experiences loss or a desire to get away from responsibilities at some point. It's an incredibly human struggle that has no clear answer. And then the game ends... with no clear answer. Though I think it's implied Hank goes home to try and make things right, which is a good message.
Clearly you have never played original FF7, or Legends of the Dragoons. If you think anything made in the last 10 years can hold a candle in terms of dialogue and how games can get you to feel, then you need to play older RPGs.
@@headp3 older RPGs are notoriously bad voice acting wise... That doesn't make them bad games but you're joking if you think that the voice acting pool hasn't *immensely* grown in quality. The writing is a different story, but the comment was about delivery. Even as far as writing goes I think this is a silly opinion though, although much more subjective, and just reads as an older gamer who holds too much nostalgia for your favorite games back then. Just because those were the games that made *you* feel emotions that you don't get with a newer generation of games does not mean that that's applicable to the gaming community as a whole. There are many extremely well-written games on the market nowadays from talented teams that would've dominated the market had they come out back then. The people who enjoyed games like FF7 and Legends of the Dragoons when they came out, however, often don't get to experience these newer releases or don't experience them in the same way a younger version of themselves that was fascinated by the cool novelty of the newly evolved gaming landscape did with the games of the past. However if you directly compare either of those games to, say, BG3-- the newer title wins every single day of the week just due to the ability to craft games with a complexity and depth that was impossible with older RPG limitations.
I actually am a park ranger for the National Parks Service and even though the game is set in Forest Service, it still nails a lot of detail that is carried over between the branches of government. Things such as park ranger lingo on the radio and the signage in game, to some of the activities done in game, and other small details like the wild land firefighters creating a "fire line" that you need to go find all had me stunned. I got a lot more out of this game then your average person coming from my line of work and can tell this game was crafted by people who either have worked in the field or really love the outdoors.
There's an audio-accompanied playthrough available, where the devs have added audio logs all over to listen to as you play. It's great, and one of the logs explains how they visited a real station, spoke to real fire rangers and tried to recreate it as faithfully ad they could. I highly recommend a playthrough in this mode after finishing the game. I'm enjoying it a lot (about halfway through now and thirty or so audio snippets!)
I love the dialogue in Firewatch. My favourite joke in it is "I hate to tell you this, but you're *GASP* outside! People walk around, doing all sorts of things!"
1:24:04 “if you find delilah annoying as a character I can guarantee that you’re going to have a bad time” as someone who finds delilah annoying, I LOVED this game. her being annoying was kind of part of the experience for me tbh, and I loved her as a character for it
I know this may sound odd. Firewatch is one of my all time favorite games/entertainment. The game is about running away from your life and responsibilities. When it ends the character is given no good wrap up, he just has to go back to his life and accept responsibility. No more running away. Its a game that tells you to stop procrastinating with its ending. There is no happily ever after, you just have to move forward. Its about loss, sadness, depression. You cant hide from life, you have to accept it and find a way forward.
There are hundreds of pieces of media where the ending is "the protagonist stops running away and accepts responsibility" that manage to be satisfying. Firewatch's ending wasn't satisfying despite running on the same themes because the writing was bad.
I think that's why it's hard to accept though. Because at the end of the day you ARE playing a game, you DO want an ending that's satisfactory. As part of the experience you CAN'T go back to his life. So it just feels disappointing. I played this for the first time at a dark time of my life, and it really wasn't a good feeling, even knowing what they were going for. Now, my life is great, and it still feels like a bold choice, one that didn't land well for me. He doesn't have a life to go back to. His wife barely remembers him, it's only going to get worse. Going back to that isn't going to help anyone. Not even Julia. There should at least be the possibility to form a new relationship, even just as a friend so that maybe you both won't have to run anymore. Something positive to look forward to, rather than being preachily told "Your life sucks, go back to it sucking, stop trying to escape your shitty life." Idk, just my .02 not a fan of the ending.
Getting lost in a video game especially one like firewatch has a sort of calming effect, especially when you have the whole map opened up and you can just roam around, or in games like Minecraft with endless exploration (I play in a sort of semi-nomadic way with a main base but frequent trips away from said base). In real life it’s absolutely terrifying and I hate it so much.
That's an interesting point actually... wouldn't the game have been better if the map did not act as a gps, but instead you had to figure it out entirely by sight? That would have been much more difficult, but the challenge is what games are about!
Honestly i just assumed throughout the game that it was about dementia, as you play the game everything looks stunning and its alive but as you go through it you experience lots of confusion and paranoia and eventually you lose more and more of the forest from a fire (like how you lose access to your memories as time goes on) as such i had no distrust of delilah throughout and thought that she may have been julia
I know I’m 7 months late but there’s more hints as to Delilah lying to you the whole time. I believe it’s implied her and Ned had a romantic partnership (Dave and Ron talk about catching him pleasuring himself and his notes detail Delilah having partners) but there’s so many details that simply don’t make sense as to Delilah being in the dark. The main one is the walkie talkie incident. You cannot “tap” a walkie talkie because it is over a radio signal and anyone can tune in, and as Delilah has worked in the forest for 10 years she should absolutely know that, meanwhile Henry would not. I feel like Ned told Delilah he sent Brian to be with family and that he wanted to stay, so Delilah helped cover for him. It’ll explain why she gets insanely upset with the Discovery of Brian, not only because she cared about Brian, but that Ned had lied to her and she was upset because she covered for him. I feel like it also explains why after getting attacked she immediately delves into the “are you sure you were attacked?” Because why else would she feel the need to doubt you Finally the issue with you finding Neds supplies is that he didn’t intend for you to get them. It’s likely he saw you walking down from your tower and went to plant the tape, but you find he backpack and he has the alert there to let him know, but he is at your tower so he can’t stop you from taking it. It’s common for people to leave packs of supplies around for the sake of incase they need to leave they’ll have a backpack to escape. It’s possible the keys were there so he could say goodbye to Brian or he meant to hide in the cave if he needed to relocate. I just feel like Ned falls victim to the most common trope of villains, that being “getting bored, trying to spice things up, and screwing yourself over and getting sloppy”. He mentions how the “being stalked” storyline he accidentally made was entertaining, so he fed into it which leads to Henry finding his supplies and the secret being revealed. All in all the game is so interesting to me because all of the characters have a story of “leaving your loved ones when they need you most”. Henry leaves his wife when her condition worsens, Delilah leaves Javier when his brother dies, Ned leaves Brian when Brian passed, and even Ron leaves Dave when Dave becomes hospitalized
yeah, but to listen in on a conversation you still have to know the frequency of the wakie-takies.I could even bet that the ones the people in the towers get only work in one frequency. She probably just assumed someone stole one of the walkie-talkies and by giving Henry a new set, on a new frequency, the mystery person wouldn't be able to listen in? Also what do mean Ned is getting bored? Dude had PTSD before and his Son died because of him. The dude was bound to be not right in his head and mess up eventually...
@@-droid-j7-225 that’s the thing with walkie talkies, all you have to do is change the frequency, you don’t need a whole new set. She could of done something similar with mentioning the tree to give him the new frequency. But with Ned I believe that yes he didn’t want to go back to society and he just simply was bored and that’s why he started listening in. He liked Delilah and he even admits he likes to listen to her bc “she is a radio station you never have to change” or whatever the exact quote he said about her. She was his form of entertainment
@@liluziintrovert Wait did we play the same game? Ned absolutely did not want to go back to society. That's the entire point of the game. The reason he wants to scare them away is so they don't go snooping around and find him. In the last tape, he even explicitly says so. He is going deeper into the woods to specifically not be found. Also, a genuine question, couldn't you block walkie-walkies so they only work on one frequency? to limit different sets to one channel to avoid interference?
@@-droid-j7-225 In my reply I said that Ned didn’t want to go back to society, and was bored and that’s why he listened into their convos, because he found Delilah entertaining. And no you cannot limit walkie talkie signals in any way that I’ve heard of. It’s like radios, where you can tune into any station but you have to be near a tower outputting that frequency. You could walk into a park and tune into anyone’s walkie talkies, it’s just hard to guess what their exact number it. But considering Ned had unlimited time he could find it by just changing the channel. That’s why it makes no sense with Delilah saying they “tapped” the walkie talkie because the only way they could of “tapped” it is if they walked into her cabin and messed with the radio tower itself. To avoid someone listening on a walkie talkie you just change the station
I just finished it and played it for the first time. Absolutley brilliant. Ending broke me in half, because just how the character tried to escape his normal life, I did so too by playing it. the only thing I am sorta sad about now is that it felt a tiny bit too short. It was just too good for not being at least 30% longer. Imagine there would have been another calm night, like the one with the fire, where you would give light signs to another with her, between the towers or something like that. Yes, i am still sad she left.
I think Ned's mistakes are because he's a man at war with himself. If he killed his son in a premeditated act then he would have been better served burying the body or leaving it in an untraveled but still expose part for scavengers. I think it was an accident more than anything, or maybe a crime of passion. He doesn't bury Brian because he can't go back, he just cannot go to where the worst thing in his life happened. So he's torn between two things, one a desire for someone, anyone to know what happened to his son and maybe fix his mistakes by giving him a proper burial and let the rest of the world know what happened. And second is self preservation. The latter informs all his direct actions while former is his sloppy mistakes. This thematically parallels Delilah and Henry, Delilah also internalizes guilt for Brian's death and that destroys her normally bubbly demeanor in addition to her reason for being out in the woods to begin with. Henry's trying to run away from his mistakes with his wife. Everyone in this story is hiding in the woods from something they're afraid to face, leaning on the other people out there as a placebo to actually dealing with their problems.
I’m watching every fire watch video I can find while writing my own script for an essay about escapism. You’re really nails what I love about this game. An escapist medium telling you not to look away. That sometimes escaping your problems isn’t the right path and you should face them. Thanks for this!
This video made me want to go and replay the game again. Personally, I felt both frustrated by the ending, but also roleplaying Henry, it made sense and hit me hard for similar reasons you said in the video too - it was nice to get lost in the mystery, just be alone in nature, have some sort of distraction, then find out in the end how everything had a mundane explanation. And then walking up to the station, Delilah being gone already, it was... sad. But also understandable. With the fire raging, everyone was forced to leave, and likely go back to the lives they had before, whether they want to or not. It was nice, but sadly some things just can't last forever. Just like the game. To me the takeaway was something like this: People meet, click, then they might grow apart. Some just aren't meant to stay in your life forever. Same for experiences, most will inevitably come to an end, good or bad. Makes you appreciate the good times you had all the more.
I remember seeing playthroughs of this game (my favourite being from Markiplier) and then just forgetting about the game again, which makes me sad. It's such a good game with minimal gameplay that just occasionally goes back on my radar and then off it again. This game doesn't deserve that. It deserves to be remembered for the great it is. Amazing video btw and I wish you the best in the coming years.
I play this game once every year. There's always been some urge to play it once summer starts to roll around. Henry amd Delilah always keep me engaged and I'm still trying to figure out Ned really. The biggest thing I do love about the ending IS because it's anticlimatic. We're in Henry's shoes, feeling that loss of Julia even though she's still alive. This is his escape and not have to condtantly reflect on his past and what's happened. The ending is the way it is because in the end (outside of the actual fire starting) what does the rest of everything matter? Delilah was just some woman over the radio we chatted with. Who would believe us about Ned? They were the crutches for Henry to not focus much on Julia or be able to talk about her fondly when he wasn't in a bad mental spot anout her. Then the fire forces him out of this space. Forces Henry back to the reality of his life. Everything that's happened doesn't actually make him feel better, but it implies the ideas of what he could do: Be like Delilah and return back to regular life and continue with the struggles... or do as Ned did and run from it, scraping by in the semi wilderness because he can't face what awaits him going home.
The first and only trailer I saw of the game beforehand was the one that focuses entirely on Henry being scared about what's going on and asking if "people die out here" and such. That trailer has multiple voice lines that I have never heard in the actual game. I felt really deceived by that, the trailer is incredibly misleading about what the game is actually like, and I have had a sort of grudge against the game ever since. The trailer is still up, video id `KqJ2yW1cbPY`
That's really cool, though. I know a lot of games and movies have different takes, and they end up in the trailers, but this was completely different to anything we saw in the game. You reaction is understandable.
I remember this trailer, though it ultimately didn't color my perception of the game very much. Maybe I took "never trust a trailer" a little too close to heart. It does seem to be a miss between the marketing and development teams though. And given the axiom I just referenced, a far too common one.
@@warmachine5835 Someone else mentioned that the game's script went through some rewrites, so perhaps this trailer's voice lines were from an earlier version of the script, when the plot could have been quite different.
I played Firewatch once years ago. It was a beautiful and devastating experience. I didn't expect there to be that much alternative dialogue and stuff that you could miss, however I'm kind of afraid to play it again, therefore I depend on people like you. Thanks by the way. The glimpse in the characters lifes before the game and the relationship and it's ending between Henry and Delilah are heartwarming and breaking at the same time. Finishing the game left me empty... but, if that makes any sense, in a good way. Like the feeling someone might get after finishing a really really reeeeeeeeally good book. This interactive movie might be in my top five video games of all time even though I just played it once and just for like four hours or so. Edit: I'm actually very glad the ending is what it is. While I would have loved Henry moving on with Delilah as a future partner or at least a friend, this ending ist just much more believable then the alternatives. I can't imagine an ending with a real conspiracy or something supernatural.
Firewatch is the game that made me decide my true dream job. I love nature, and camping, and am willing to be out in the wilderness for that long. The life just seems so nice to me.
My biggest issues with Firewatch stem from being a writer, myself. In good character-driven stories you have an internal character arc where a character must overcome or fully submit to a fatal flaw (depending on if it's a positive or negative character arc) and an external plot arc where people and events are adding pressure on the main character right where their fatal flaw is. Ideally you want to marry the two together so that the external events push internal change which then alter the character's reaction to the external events. The external plot of Firewatch is that Henry and Delilah discover someone is spying on them and they're trying to find out who it is and why. The internal plot, regardless of backstory choices, is that Henry is running away from the reality of Julia's illness and the loss of the woman he loved. (He either put her in 24 hour care and avoided visiting or kept her at home and put her at risk at night running away to drink. Either way he was avoiding Julia). He needs to confront his grief and find a new way to cope. But the story never really finishes either of these arcs, partly because they don't affect each other. You could argue that Ned is a more extreme example of Henry's running away from reality and the loss of a loved one but they never do anything with that comparison. Being spied on and feeling paranoid doesn't put pressure on Henry's tendency to hide from his problems. Henry's grief and avoidance don't make the mystery harder to solve or give the spy an advantage. Then the mystery fizzles out without ever confronting Ned, making him face justice, or dealing with Brian's body. Henry never confronts his own grief and never admits his coping mechanisms are hurting him and the people around him. Nothing is resolved and Henry leaves the same way he entered, running from his problems (He's TOLD to go back to Julia, he doesn't decide it himself) and Ned avoiding responsibility for his son's death.
My problem with the game wasn't the ending, but that it's such a railroaded walking simulator. If the point of the game is the characters, then why not reward exploration with something that promotes the building of the relationship between Delilah and Henry? For instance, finding the Wizards and Wyverns character sheets could unlock a night where you both play a game over the walkie-talkies, or maybe you could spot a mother bear with cubs out in the distance which could lead to you two talking about parenting or child rearing. There was so much potential in this game to naturally build the relationship instead of skipping weeks ahead where they are already close. I feel like this would have made a better visual novel with how underwhelming the environment plays a role on the narrative. We didn't need a 3D map to tell this story, which is a shame, because the area was under utilized. There's only 3 instances of seeing wildlife in the whole game and they are all in game cutscenes. The rest is just a lifeless map with sounds of life nearby, but not seen. Having a mechanic where you stand still or walking quietly allows birds, squirrels or deer to poke their heads out would have really helped make the experience feel more immersive. The ending didn't disappoint me because by the time I got to it I had already fallen into tunnel vision. I knew nothing was engaging my experience with my surroundings. It became a generic fetch quest with no incentive to do anything besides the current objective. Most of the areas served a single purpose and never needed you to return. How great would it be to find some materials to fix paths to make travel easier instead of 'here's a bag of infinite rope' to solve all the problems of off limits areas? Anyway, it was still worth the time I spent playing it, but I just wish there was more to do. A lot of love went into constructing this visual delight and I just feel let down that it wasn't taken advantage of more.
Pretty much this. Gameplay needs to serve the narrative in some form when you have so much of it but also a lot of story. But here it doesn't do that, the gameplay does tell you or let you experience anything about the narrative itself, it exist seperately as a means to tell the story while ultimately being divorced from it. Which is ultimately why I stopped playing the game as I found it hard to get invested. Compare this to other 'walking simulators' like the Stanley parable, where the movement of the game exist for the player to explore options beyond the base narrative the narrator gives. Unplugging the telephone, jumping to your death/to the railings, walking back as a door closes on you, etc... all of these are the simplistic gameplay manifesting itself into the narrative by creating choices for the player with mechanics.
@@theresnothinghere1745 i certainly don't think that you're wrong at all about the fact that walking simulators CAN be a lot more in terms of engagement, but i think it's worth noting that 1) stanley parable came about during a huge boom of walking simulators being the trending genre w/ bursts of innovation, and came out like 5 times. i love it too! but it's had a lot of time in the oven versus a one and done with only so much funding & a dev team that needs to wrap up and keep it pushing like firewatch. 2) interaction doesn't really suit firewatch? like to what end would it add to the story, unless we deeply change the story to necessitate more branching and interaction and so on. it's meant to be a contemplative story that doesn't drag it's feet and make you play too long with only a little variation to speak to different subtle, but impactful little aspects of henry and delilah. your actions are meant less to say something grand about metanarrative, and instead are meant to angle the light differently through the complicated suncatchers that are human beings. it's a character study! the problem in the end rather is that like. if you don't connect to the characters enough to find that interesting, then you're not going to have fun. it's just an entirely different story than something like stanley parable is. i feel like firewatch is really one of the most Classic Novel-like games from this era, not for like level of pretension or being particularly highbrow (slow and "mature" does not quality make), but because you'll either think it's the most emotional thing ever or you'll wonder what the f everyone is talking about when they call it classic lol, i.e. my mom loves On The Road by jack kerouac, but it doesn't land for me. or for games, i was a lesbian punk-enjoying teenager when gone home came out, by all rights i was the target demographic, all my friends loved it... i HATED it. but i can't rightfully say that it would be better served with different mechanics, since it is very much meant to convey the very literal actions of coming home, finding it empty, and poking around. adding more to it would probably detract from the focus for people who do love it, and only serve to like. jangle keys in front of me to keep me going just a little longer, when i still won't enjoy the essence of it and could spend my time elsewhere (would that we could resell games we don't enjoy the way we would a book... looking at you, DRM). i love firewatch as is, though i get why people find it empty. but i think compromising on it to get a little bit wider appeal would just make both of us unhappy. that's what i really think is missing from the cultural consciousness around games as art - that it's okay to make something only some people would like, in service of doing your best to serve the art you're making. art, not product. looking at it from that lens, the question is, did i communicate what i wanted to how i wanted to? i think firewatch would be considered a Yes. doesn't mean everyone will care a bit about what's being communicated, though, and there's a difference between that and thinking the mechanics SHOULD be different. personally, addressing onlytwoshoes ideas, i would probably get bogged down in completionism and get distracted from the story hunting for interactions instead of being more immersed. something like that doesn't really serve firewatch. it DOES serve stanley parable, since the point of THAT game is exploring many many different possible conclusions and story paths, like, to the extreme.
@@redringrico999 I don't believe having 'a lot of time in the oven' is really a noteworthy point. My point about the Stanley parable is just a true as it is for the original mod as it is for its most recent version. It's ultimately the developer's responsibility to deal with the time they have to prepare the game. If the game lacks time to develop that's ultimately on them. Interaction does not nessicate branching stories or anything of the sort. The role of interaction in a story-heavy game is to let the player experience aspects of the story first hand via gameplay. To recreate the emotions the game is portraying by letting the player experience them first hand. Even in a game based around a character study this remains the case and the OP gives some examples as to how this could be done. I can understand that not every game is for everyone but that's just distracting from the point because I'm not asking for compromise. Regardless if the game suits me or not I can still ask what purpose the gameplay serves. I've yet to recieve any answer to that question which makes me wonder why even make it with the gameplay it has, why not use a different gameplay system that better suits the games aim?
I don’t know if it’s a recent change but it feels like RU-vid is feeding me “older” content, which I’m all for. Fantastic video. You really put the time in to articulate some really deep thoughts about this game. Really enjoyed it :)
@1:29:44 the continued read of "vulnerable" is painfully relatable XD I constantly do this with a few words but my current struggle has been centered around "rural"
damn, 7 years already? i remember "back in the day" watching markiplier and jackscepticeye playing this game with our boy FORREST BYRNESSS, but seriously though, Ive played this game every year by now that its tradition ever since 2020 purely for the reason of my love for this game and its story making such a big impact on me. Its always THE game to do to relax or reminisce on the world with its incredible soundtrack, so massive props to the team that created this game
While I was watching this video, my partner asked about Firewatch and I was surprised to hear "It's my favorite game" come out of my mouth. I haven't played it since launch
the atmosphere alone carries the game for me, the feeling of hiking through the wilderness while casually chatting with someone over the radio is absolutely wonderful, and while it's not perfect, I have yet to find another game that can evoke that feeling
The algorithm seems to be blessing you! 1:37:20 Never seen your channel until now and i love your style of presentation, will definitely be checking things out!
seeing that the video is (nearly) 2 hours feels me with so much joy that this video goat is getting the praise it needs. checked ur channel and its great with the consistent good content!
Thanks so much for doing this thoughtful appreciation of Firewatch! I couldn't play it when it came out for computer reasons too. Very glad I finally got to do so. I was captivated by the characters, the writing, the scenery, the voice acting. But I don't have time to play it multiple times so it was so great to have you talk about the paths I didn't take. (Tho' I did restart the game after figuring out the ... don't talk option in dialogs because my Henry was a recovering alcoholic and disturbed by Delilah being drunk when they met, and so would not (in my head-canon) have gotten romantically involved with her which I accidentally stumbled into in my first game.) Really enjoyed your analysis and yes, I'm satisfied with the ending too!
I've finished the game just about 11 hours ago and from that time then, i've felt with a hole in me, wanting something more, watching videos, going onto websites, reddit and such to find answers and even searched for a sequel : Firewatch 2, to maybe fulfill what's missing in me. But your video made me realize that can't be the case because the game just portraits real life perfectly. Sometimes you can't have answers, sometimes you can't always want what you want, sometimes people will leave you and you cannot force a realtionship. The only i would've liked is a bit more length in the game because it was really beautiful, maybe more bonding between H&D, maybe more about the actual firewatch job, getting more tasks. All that to say that i loved the game and finally understand the game. (But i still feel like i need a sequel, i know i'm weird lol)
Just finished watching this video and I loved it. Thanks for making it. Ur voice is great for listening to in the background so I’ll watch any other videos u make like this for sure 💛
Nice video, thank you for taking the time to go through and analyze the dialogue options and their effects on the game. It's interesting to see how the discussion on this game seems to revolve around what people disliked about it lmao. I personally found the ending charming and understandable, Ned reacted to loss and grief the same way my Henry did; Henry lost his beloved wife in a home and isolated, Ned lost his beloved son in a cave and isolated, the similarities between the two tickle one of the dozen brain neurons I still left and made me forgive Ned for being a bit of a menace. However, I was thoroughly disappointed by the overarching story. At the beginning of the game, Julia seemed like a lovely person with one of the worst conditions one can get, and now I get to experience this harrowing story about early onset dementia through the eyes of a loved one. How exciting, I thought, only to be disappointed by the fact that the game actually revolved around the relationship with Henry and the profoundly annoying Delilah, who I ignored for about the first half of the game, thinking she was just a side character for the Julia storyline. As you said, ignoring her didn't end up as a satisfying story, and maybe I roleplayed it wrong, but I really hoped there would've been an option to tell D to go fuck herself and stay professional while I deal with the emotions regarding the condition of Julia. The part where Julia calls me on the radio didn't help the way I went across roleplaying through the story as it gave me hope that the game still is about her. I do however realize that adding more invasive storyline options is an unreasonable ask for the devs. As a sidenote, I never understood why I was supposed to be mad when Julia came home drunk, I don't think cheating or anything was implied, she just had a fun night, that's nothing to be mad over, especially in the time before cellphones. And the last nitpick and biggest plothole that made me lose my goddamn mind, who the hell joyrides a tractor? It is the opposite of joy.
Man, that was a GREAT breakdown. Just played for the first time just a few days ago. I think I've enjoyed the varied breakdowns I've watched after the fact as I did the actual game. 11/10
It wouldn't have been forgotten if it actually had some interaction. They went out of their way to make sure you never really meet anyone even though there's 4 other people around. BioShock did the same thing by conveniently making every interaction with the another character take place behind a window or locked door.
I want to thank you for this video! As a big fan of the “walking Simulator” genre, I think you have articulated something that I have felt for a very long time. Lots of people, when they play games like this, want most or all of their choices to have big sweeping impacts in the game. I believe this is because they are not role-playing their/the character. When I make a choice in these types of games, I can feel the sweeping impact in me [emotionally]. But anyway, I digress….. Thanks again!
Finished the game today and the ending gave me chills, sadness and anxiety lol. I'm still rooting for Julia but the fact that we didn't have a chance to see Delilah is so fcking brutal. Nice story tho.
Firewatch hits hard for me because my dad has Alzheimers and my most recent playthrough was pretty emotional. Henry's choices regarding Julia are incredibly accurate, I take care of my dad during the day cause we can't afford a home or a nurse and henry doing that all himself is just crazy. It's exhausting, draining, and just honestly heartbreaking especially for a lover. Sometimes running is all you feel like you can do because unlike loosing someone suddenly, you are forced to watch them waste away before your eyes and slowly die. I like to think for most versions of henry he faces his problems and talks to Julia's family and finally starts to cope and take this experience to heart. I enjoyed the video and how you broke down how the narrative's flavor changes depending on what you choose. I definitely enjoy the game but I understand the hang-ups that people have with it.
Hey thank you for the long form video. Your content was very easy to digest. I listen to this kind of stuff at work so I’m not looking at the video technically but it was a really interesting listen keep up the good work I hope this RU-vid thing works out for you
As someone who has never played Firewatch, I really loved and thoroughly enjoyed this video and am considering buying it and playing it myself because of your video. Your video was easy to follow and extremely thorough. Thank you for posting it :)
The ending was one of the reasons i love this game. It felt like an adventure but smacked you in the face with mundane life. I played it exactly on the breakthrough of my adulthood and it spoke to me deeply. I dont know if that was intentional, but it left a huge impression ill never forget. I love this game.
Been replaying it on my switch every ~2 years and the story and acting is PERFECT! I even love the music. I saw a preview on steam for the dev teams next game, and I’m hoping it’s good!
Boy, this is a Firewatch ... er ... monograph. My deep respect for the work and dedication that went into all of this, and for the elegant and thorough result of your labour. 👍🏻
I don't know when I first heard of Firewatch, but I know the second time I heard of it was when I was looking at the voice work done by Nicki Rapp, who had a role in the game. The third time I heard of it was watching people play The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe. I was told I shouldn't play it, because it had something to do with memory issues, which I have, and would upset me. Your video is the most information I've gotten about it, so thank you for that. I suppose this is just me saying "I didn't forget Firewatch, I never knew about it to begin with"
This was a real gem. A really thorough and critical analysis of a great game, on par with game analysts like Chris Davis and Joseph Anderson (who you mentioned). Excellently done and hope you do more of these.
Hah you were close. It's not the game's subreddit that won't let me forget it, it's the wallpapers sub where the same wallpaper gets poster over and over.
@@criticalcoffee Oh i like them as well but jesus, enough already. I have seen so many variations of it. I bet a ton of people have no idea the wallpaper is even from a game.
It was alright but really nothing happens, ever. I know that's part of the feel it's going for but the whole experience felt flat because of how little actually happens
Late to the game, I know, but I just needed somewhere to remark on how well Ol' Shoshone is written. It's an exlempary case of contemporary folk music that sounds like its roots go much farther back than they actually do. Also, fantastic video, looking forward to another of these long ones.
I think Ned is responsible in the sense that he pushed his son to go climbing in that cave that day and Brian got a little sloppy and his death was an accident but his father still pushed him to go down there
1:18:40 (around there) i believe the implication is that pack was found entirely on accident on neds behalf - iirc theres dev commentary mentioning about referencing irl stories where rogue lookouts set up 'getaway packs' stocked with supplies in case they need to leave in a pinch, since obviously they arent supposed to be there and for security would have to get away quickly (among other potential reasons, such as fires or other sources of danger) he hadn't realized the reciever could track it, as if he did he would almost 100% have removed the key from the backpack himself (as his notes imply he didnt want henry to find the cave it lead to, or more specifically brians body) id go as far to say that, since his kid kinda died, that the key had bad memories attached to it so he couldent handle carrying it around (thus it being placed on the getaway pack) but thats mostly just a theory based on hearsay, so make of that what you will
Only now did i manage to clear it from my backlog. And this game is just like celeste, soma or life is strange. It just shooks me to my core. Characterization is flat out perfect, and the themes of Paranoia and change with 3d characters is just beautiful
I just played this game, yesterday. Seldom has 4 hours gone by this fast. The game is great, it really sells the feeling of isolation. I forgot to bring the turtle, when I evacuated, I still feel guilty.
Great video! The ending for me was disappointing but only because I got sucked into the narrative that there was something more to it than just wiley ol' Ned. But who do we think we overheard Delilah talking to on the radio? Was she in cahoots with Ned?! Great video again! Cheers!
I don't personally subscribe to the theory that Delilah was in contact with Ned (nothing wrong with that interpretation though!) To me it was more of a red herring to imply that something more nefarious was going on. Thank you for the kind words and for watching! 🙏
I will never play this game simply bc I remember how they did PewDiePie after he put SO many eyes on their game. And they had no issue letting others stream the game. Shtty developers won’t get my $$. Really sucks bc I’ve always heard it’s a good game narratively speaking, even w the ending. They don’t care about my $10 or whatever but I try to vote with my dollar as much as possible I suppose. Edit: same goes with Disco Elysium and what those guys did to the writers of that game.
Thank you for a very thorough analysis about an excellent game! Subscribed and waiting for more!
7 месяцев назад
I really enjoyed playing Firewatch. I reckon I first played it in 2018 or 2019. The ending made me feel disappointed, but not from a personal standpoint, rather from the perspective of Henry. Also I managed to get an entire hour into the video before I realized how long it was, but it was a good watch 👌
One of my favourite things about the game is the fact that the only other “person” you see throughout the whole game is Brian. It’s such an isolating touch, if Henry got to meet Delilah at the end of the game it would completely ruin this. Yes, you see the silhouette and the guy on the helicopter but you don’t see their faces and you don’t really get a lot of screen time to familiarise yourself etc. the only other thing you can do that with is Brian’s body. Very clever touch, it’s one of the many reasons as to why I love this game.
We just need the same game but bigger. A bit more open world, more choices, more story, more survival crafting kinda think. make sure you eat and keep yourself warm and so on.
As of me commenting this it’s been a month since you uploaded. I understand your schedule may not be the most consist but by god if you don’t post 1000 more video essays of this quality I will kashoot my self
Excellent video 👏 I loved the depth that you went into this. I played thru most of the game near its release and enjoyed it. Then when it was getting scary and after the cave escape, I recall feeling like there was someone watching and following me, and I just stopped playing the game. I didn't experience the cold water ending until very recently, I continued the same save on the day where you find the hide out then wrap up the story. I didn't find that disappointing, but my memory of the story and choices were blurry from when I last played it 6-7 years ago. I finally returned to it because of it showing up in the Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe, I was reminded how nice the game looks and wanted to explore it again. Currently replaying Firewatch with dev commentary, now with the understanding of how it plays and makes you feel. Also just enjoying the details 😄
From my point of view, Ned stole the panties to make Henry uncomfortable. As he is listening in on our conversations, and henry does get really weirded out by the first set of them
I still love the beginning, because none of it matters, it doesn't change the game, or any lines, as far as I'm aware(maybe a handful optional ones? idk) but what it does is it immerses you in the game, you're the one who chooses those few choices, and seeing it all crumble so soon.
Cool video. I just played Firewatch for the first time, and played it again straight away with the audio commentary (what a great feature to build into a game). I loved the story and I don't think the ending was an anticlimax. I look at it as: a heartbroken guy takes a job to retreat from his life and, with the mental burden of that plus isolation, reads far too much into incidents and builds a conspiracy for himself, stoked by someone else with their own issues. I think it's a reflection on the toll that grief takes on mental health. Whatever was intended, it was memorable, really well performed and I loved it.
Just played Firewatch recently for the first time, knowing nothing about it, and it's one of the best games I've ever played. I don't think I've seen many other games with as great of a story and with such good storytelling than it. I actually learned about it from someone talking about the parallax effect on the website
I started playing the game in 2023 because I saw a video where somebody recommended it without saying too much about the game and said it was a masterpiece so I decided I was gonna play It, and I absolutely loved it. I didn't pick up on all the themes that you laid out in this video, but I'd looking back now. Realize that I too completely forgotten about Julia and everything that was going on. Because I was so invested in the mystery. My experience with the game before I actually played the game was not at all I feel like I probably saw a wallpaper too but I've never heard about the game firewatch before last year and now it's a game that I love so much. Keep recommending it to a lot of people because it's genuinely an enjoyable experience.
Unpopular opinion, I don’t think this game deserved more attention because when pewdiepie played the game (showing it to his whole audience) the creator got upset and didn’t want a nazi playing his game
49:11 When I heard that guitar over the walkie, I went back to the abandoned burned down cabin and the guitar was gone. This is when I first started suspecting that there was a crazed hillbilly living in the woods planning to murder me and wear my skin.
I have two trains of thought after watching: I think a reason I'm so positive on Firewatch has to do with how it rhymes with my own critiques of choice in video games. As you point out, games tend to have to follow the Telltale common ending formula, because of the very real material limitation of "we cannot design a system that presents a long, arbitrarily branching narrative on anything approaching a reasonable budget or timescale." Length, reactivity, budget--pick two. Firewatch sidesteps this elegantly by not changing the sequence of events, but instead putting the sole focus on how the characters perceive the events, and in doing so demonstrates one viable solution to that problem--don't attempt to make the world react. Just let the player (and by extension the character) react. Use that to define who the character is, and have that character definition be the 'choices matter.' Even the anticlimax ending works fine for me, for the different reason that an anticlimax can be an interesting point to land at and in Firewatch's case actively works to paint more characterization onto Henry and Delilah. I don't think a concession to both sides needs to be made, though. It's OK if a game isn't for you. There's lots of games out there people rave about that I'm just not interested in no matter how amazing the reviews are. And there are others (Alpha Protocol...) that I love that are widely panned by the community at large. Saying "you don't get it" is definitely pretentious, but saying "it's not for you" isn't. No matter how amazing a horror movie might be, I don't like horror and I'm not going to watch one voluntarily. If you don't want an anti-climax ending, don't consume media with anti-climax endings. Which is a massive concept to unpack far beyond the scope of a RU-vid comment (Mass Effect 3, spoiler culture, authorial intent... hoo boy).
