The soul of Firewatch lies in its characters. You play as a middle-aged man whose marriage is on the brink of collapse. Either as a way to cope with his feelings or to just avoid the problems at home, he takes up the job as a fire lookout, essentially isolating himself from all of his problems as he spends his time alone in the middle of the woods.

The story is heartfelt and compelling, and I found myself emotionally engaged with Henry's story. It isn't half-baked or forced, as the emotionally beats it hits are naturally developed through getting to know the characters during the course of the game. I can't think of a single point where the game was trying to trigger some emotional response that wasn't earned, as I really did start to understand Henry the more I played.

Unfortunately the gameplay falls flat, often leading me to wish I could skip ahead of the tedious tasks in order to get the next bit of dialogue or story beat. The gameplay can basically be boiled down to hiking from point to point to reach an objective (colloquially known as a walking simulator). I wouldn't have a problem with just walking from objective to objective if there was something engaging with the process, such as having to use the map and compass to find your way through the walking trails and thick forest. Unfortunately the game keeps you on rather narrow paths you can't stray from, and often completely locks you out of certain areas by requiring certain equipment to reach. It made for a very linear experience, like an RPG that only gives you fetch quests. You can only walk a path so many times before it all kind of feels mundane, and since it all takes place in the same forest even new areas can feel very similar to areas already explored.

Near the end, when you are putting together a mystery that has been playing out since the beginning of the game, the walking becomes less tedious as you explore secret hideouts and piece together the story of what happened, but there is a significant section in the middle that just feels like a slog.

This is a hard game to rate because of how much I disliked playing it at times. It really is a chore, but it's a chore worth doing to experience the excellent writing.