I first 'experienced' this game back in 2016 by watching a let's play of the game. At the time, I was under the belief I'd never have an opportunity to play the game for myself, so I just watched a lot of games.
Flash forward to now, finally able to get my hands on it after remembering about it, forgetting about it, re-remembering, forgetting, going to GDC hearing a dev reference it and immediately purchasing it on my switch with me.
The convention ended on March 25th, and here I am submitting this. Well, in short, I forgot again.
A lot of my experience with the game is walking through the gorgeous rolling hills of Firewatch while listening to the banter between Henry and Delilah. I respected these characters, their tribulations and even the flaws that made them feel human to me. Hands down it's some of my favorite voice acting in an indie game in a long time.
I have respect for the small-scale stakes for (albeit) most of the game and the excuses to venture through Shoshone National Park. I don't feel like I take on the persona of Henry, but almost act as a supporter - a cheerleader of sorts, making sure he gets through the journey alright. Guiding his responses so he doesn't break ties with the only other person he can talk to in the forest, Delilah.
We're in the hike together, Henry and I as we're leading each other through the forest, into the ravines, past the lakes and right back to the outhouses. All to learn more about this temporary getaway for him.
His experiences with Julia, her dementia is brutal to hear about from the eyes of Henry as he so lovingly tries to find a way to force himself to go back to her, "even if she won't remember me." His emotion here drives his conversations with Delilah in only the best ways.
Delilah is the perfect partner in crime for his escapades, providing both kickass punchlines and a helping of her own moral dilemmas.
They're like me, they have problems just the same and aren't afraid to talk about them.
I initially watched the lets play for the promise of horror (okay, and or comedy). It wasn't innately for these characters, or the gorgeous colors - I didn't even know those existed yet - but for Markiplier.
Today, I finally was able to remove a 'reactor' from the situation and lead Henry directly. I wasn't watching someone else cheerlead - and don't get me wrong, Mark is a great choice for cheerleading - but I got to make my own path through the game.
After finishing the game, I googled Campo Santo to see what they had done since. Only to find out, the answer was... not really anything (that has been released yet). Dear god was that sad to see. Bought by Valve, with a supposed 'spiritual successor' on the way, for years.
I wish nothing but the best for everyone at Campo Santo and who worked on Firewatch. Weirdly enough a few months ago I stumbled upon game designer/composer Chris Remo's crossword puzzle YouTube channel and started watching that for a while... and then realized he worked on Firewatch. Thanks Chris. I'll add you to the mix.
Only docking of points is for the Switch port. Quite often the game would lag to let areas render in, or the game would just freeze for a moment. It sometimes just took away from everything, but god I love this game. I really hope to see what Campo Santo does next.
And as Delilah once said, "stop avoiding your responsibilities," and that means you, reading this, too.
Flash forward to now, finally able to get my hands on it after remembering about it, forgetting about it, re-remembering, forgetting, going to GDC hearing a dev reference it and immediately purchasing it on my switch with me.
The convention ended on March 25th, and here I am submitting this. Well, in short, I forgot again.
A lot of my experience with the game is walking through the gorgeous rolling hills of Firewatch while listening to the banter between Henry and Delilah. I respected these characters, their tribulations and even the flaws that made them feel human to me. Hands down it's some of my favorite voice acting in an indie game in a long time.
I have respect for the small-scale stakes for (albeit) most of the game and the excuses to venture through Shoshone National Park. I don't feel like I take on the persona of Henry, but almost act as a supporter - a cheerleader of sorts, making sure he gets through the journey alright. Guiding his responses so he doesn't break ties with the only other person he can talk to in the forest, Delilah.
We're in the hike together, Henry and I as we're leading each other through the forest, into the ravines, past the lakes and right back to the outhouses. All to learn more about this temporary getaway for him.
His experiences with Julia, her dementia is brutal to hear about from the eyes of Henry as he so lovingly tries to find a way to force himself to go back to her, "even if she won't remember me." His emotion here drives his conversations with Delilah in only the best ways.
Delilah is the perfect partner in crime for his escapades, providing both kickass punchlines and a helping of her own moral dilemmas.
They're like me, they have problems just the same and aren't afraid to talk about them.
I initially watched the lets play for the promise of horror (okay, and or comedy). It wasn't innately for these characters, or the gorgeous colors - I didn't even know those existed yet - but for Markiplier.
Today, I finally was able to remove a 'reactor' from the situation and lead Henry directly. I wasn't watching someone else cheerlead - and don't get me wrong, Mark is a great choice for cheerleading - but I got to make my own path through the game.
After finishing the game, I googled Campo Santo to see what they had done since. Only to find out, the answer was... not really anything (that has been released yet). Dear god was that sad to see. Bought by Valve, with a supposed 'spiritual successor' on the way, for years.
I wish nothing but the best for everyone at Campo Santo and who worked on Firewatch. Weirdly enough a few months ago I stumbled upon game designer/composer Chris Remo's crossword puzzle YouTube channel and started watching that for a while... and then realized he worked on Firewatch. Thanks Chris. I'll add you to the mix.
Only docking of points is for the Switch port. Quite often the game would lag to let areas render in, or the game would just freeze for a moment. It sometimes just took away from everything, but god I love this game. I really hope to see what Campo Santo does next.
And as Delilah once said, "stop avoiding your responsibilities," and that means you, reading this, too.