Some of the best conversations are just random banter, which feels justified considering the boredom and isolation of the job. Though its central mystery ends up feeling muddled and several major story beats are ultimately out your control, Firewatch's refreshing premise, endearing characters, and achingly beautiful world anchor a thoughtful, engrossing experience that succeeds in spite of its flaws. Instead, it's about atmosphere, immersion, and exploration, both of an expansive Wyoming forest and a burgeoning friendship, one born of mutual isolation and built on idle radio chatter.

There are no puzzles, no quick-time events, and no combat of any kind. But over time, the fire spreads, and as its intensity escalates, so too does the tension of the narrative.Īs with other story-driven, first-person adventure games like last year's Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and the seminal Gone Home, Firewatch isn't about gameplay, per se. She comments on the fire, how beautiful it looks, how it's all smoke and ash during the day but utterly resplendent under the cover of darkness. It's Delilah, radioing from her own tower several miles away.

It's a natural brush fire, unlikely to do much harm, so for now I rest my elbows on the railing that surrounds my lookout tower and admire the view. With the sun having long since disappeared below the horizon and endless acres of forest warding off the artificial light of civilization, its flames flood the night sky with incandescent hues.

Firewatch crash