Review: Firewatch

The less you know about this BAFTA winning game going into it, the better.

Firewatch is a a first-person mystery adventure game developed by Campo Santo and published by Campo Santo and Panic.

Set in the Wyoming wilderness, you take a job as a fire lookout at Shoshone National Forest where you will be living alone. You have one source of company though, Delilah, a lookout supervisor who is always at the other end of your radio.

As the game opens you immediately learn a lot about your character, Henry, and the emotional rollercoaster that has been his life. It makes sense why he wants to spend some time alone, but prepare for your heart strings to be tugged.

The visually stunning game has been dubbed a walking simulator, and while I suppose that is essentially all you do, it’s what you see along the way that counts. Like I said, the less you know about this game going into it, the better. It made me laugh, it made me cry but for the most part it left me feeling genuinely terrified as I held my breath, waiting to see how the story turned out.

A game like this, that can be completed in around 4 hours, is best binge-played. There’s plenty of time to free roam once the story is complete.