Lord Svnday

Video games give us the chance to experience something we may never get to. A good example of this is Firewatch. Firewatch is a walking simulator that combines beautiful scenery, amazing sound design, an incredible score and great character development. Even though we never get to see the face of the characters involved, the communication over radio with your supervisor feels genuine and full of personality. You experience a middle aged man, Henry, who is going through a rough time in his life as his wife is diagnosed with dementia; he then applies for a job as a fire watcher in a protected area. You follow him as he runs errands around said area, keeping an eye on any dangers that could lead to a fire. You learn a lot about your character and even the character on the other end of the radio who is your boss, Delilah. This game takes no skill to play, since the only thing the player must really do is move around and decide the character’s responses to questions and other things said to him. Apart from the great interactions and voice acting that makes this game feel realistic and gives it character, the scenery is beautiful. Not many of us regular individuals will get the chance to work in a forested area where we can witness beautiful trees, plants, lakes, mountains and wild life; Firewatch does that spectacularly. With the warm and cozy color scheme throughout the forest and the score accompanied with it, it’s surely to make you want to visit your local forest and just have a walk. I strongly believe games like this serve as a healthy way to escape, rather than games like first person shooters that may even cause stress or take some dedication to get good at. A valuable lesson that I believe Firewatch teaches us is that no matter how bad your problem is, taking a break and escaping temporarily is never a bad idea, as long as that problem is not forgotten about. As well as nothing lasts forever, a sad lesson to be learnt, but a lesson none the less. This is established early on in the game when we get to learn the main character’s life and everything he went through, from being happily married to losing his wife to dementia. It is sure to be an inspiring story for writers or anyone looking to create something like a poem, film or maybe even another video game. I also believe composers and producers can take note, as the pacing and almost perfect usage of the soundtrack makes the gameplay even more immersive. Firewatch is rather short, a game I managed to get through in 7 hours throughout about 3 days. It’s not to say that was the end of Firewatch for me; I kept coming back just to experience the beautiful cinematography again and again. It even made me do some research, from getting to know the voice actors, composers and graphic designers; to even looking into lore and discussions about the plot and characters since the ending does leave you with some unanswered questions. In conclusion, Firewatch is a harmless game that I recommend to anyone, especially to casual writers, screenplay writers, photographers and cinematographers, producers, voice actors and game developers alike.