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Genre: Adventure
Platforms: PS4, PC
Year of Release: February 9, 2016
Developer:Campo Santo
Summary:
Firewatch is an emotional tale of a man, Ned Goodwin, whose story unfolds as you explore the world around you. Taking a job away from everything and everyone is the escape he needed. Using your radio, you can communicate with Delilah (a fellow park ranger) and learn your way through the wilderness, both the player’s understanding of Ned and his own sense of self are explored subtly and meaningfully.
Firewatch is not an action heavy game but instead a game that sets itself up for action. The tension in this game is done realistically and brilliantly.
Core Mechanics:
Radio: Talking to Delilah over the radio is core to the game feel. Being out in the wilderness alone means hearing that buzz over the radio is the only sign of human life in your day to day. The player comes to need that interaction, not only for story purposes but for the sanity of Ned.
Navigation: rather than waypoints or objective markers of any kind, not even a path of blue dots. There is only one way to find your way around and that is with a compass, a map and directions given only in the form of landmarks or North/South/East/West.
MDA:
Radio - Navigation: Your Radio gives you the missions to follow and is the main source of storytelling. Talking with Delilah, you are given missions and directions which you then need to follow with your navigation tools to successfully complete the mission. Doing so is vital to the player experience. There is a sense of survival given to everyone who successfully makes to each checkpoint. Getting lost and being able to find your way back to your mission is empowering.
Setting - Navigation: There is very little in this game that causes the player to stand back and go; “I’m in a video game”. But at the same time, the player needs to be able to find their way around the map and navigate to their next mission. Using navigation tools to help can only get you so far, the world is built logically around the player in the sense that there are mountains and trees, lakes and rivers and they all follow real world conventions. Using these devices the player is subtly familiarised with the world. Gaining that immersion and understanding of their surroundings. Making the player feel like they are surviving through this tale alongside Ned.
Game Loops:
Moment to Moment -The player is constantly talking over their radio, checking their map and/or compass and walking through the level.
Session Loop - I would say about 5 days would be a session loop (the equivalent of 5 level loops) about an hour of gameplay.
Level Loop - Wake up at the start of the day, the player is given their mission, they follow their directions and complete the mission, and go to bed at night. Concluding the level loop as 1 day.
Core Loop -Same as the MTM Loop; The Core Loop would be checking their radio, checking their navigation tools, and progressing through the world in accordance to that.
Innovation: Firewatch is one of the first games I have played that hasn’t shoved the story in my face. It has a gentle way of storytelling that both entices the player to keep going and allows the player to transport themselves into Ned’s story.
It also has a very relieving way of guiding the player. I honestly felt like I was getting lost and it’s been a long time since a video game has done that. The world was there, I was there but we weren’t forced together in anyway. It was more of a “World, this is Player” situation. I wanted to get to know this place and everything it had to say.
The other main point of innovation which may also be considered a spoiler so...if you’re still reading but haven’t played the game feel free to skip down to the Level Design section…
I didn’t see another face, I felt like I was in danger, at some point someone or something was going to attack me or jump out at me but there was nothing. It was ALL tension which was infuriating but in a good way, it gives me a reason to go back and relax on my second playthrough. I know what’s coming so I can just enjoy what the game has to offer without being on edge the whole time. (I mean, it may have been the old 3:00am delirium talking but either way it was very well done).
Level Design:
I feel like subtlety is one of the best ways to describe this game. It hands you everything you need to jump into what it has to offer and trusts you to get as much out of it that you want. Everyone will walk away with something different and a slightly different experience but at the end of the day, they’re all Ned’s stories. The level design is so complimentary to the gameplay and the story that you don’t even notice what it’s doing. Even playing with a design perspective in mind, I found it hard to point out anything cheesy with it’s leading the player or narrative devices.
Why is it on the list?
It has something to say that should be heard. Whether that’s the level design, the narrative design, the storytelling in general, the character development, or the refined mechanics there is something there for every type of dev to take notes on.
