This game has one of the best intro segments in my opinion. It got me invested with the character. Other games would go to the easy route and just show you the backstory through a cutscene or give an amnesia. This game let's you live it. I've always been a fan of choose your own adventure games. And that's what FireWatch for the first few mins. You were basically living the life of Henry. So it narrates how Henry and his wife Julia first met, how they fell in love, and how slowly Julia got sick with Alzheimers. It was super touching and short but sweet. It's not some huge text block or word vomit. It's not overwhelming. It's straight to the point and effective. I appreciate good story writing.
In between the text story are the quote un quote tutorial level. You are pitted into the forest and shows you the basic controls. That's the other point, essentially this is a walkathon game walking simulator. Most of the games in this style has some questionable control schemes and just feels off. In this game the controls feel natural. Although I'll admit it took some time to get used to the controls but once I got it everything just clicked. Now it's like 2nd nature. For example the radio, you use the ZR ZL buttons. It became like an extension of my own hand, felt like I was really using an actual radio as weird as it may sound.
Ok now let's go to the bulk of the game. The story itself, playing this game is like reading a great book. Brilliant story, gripping and even mysterious. You are in the Wyoming woods as a solitary fire lookout, and there are several days which serve as your chapters. Your only primary human contact is Dahlia which is Henry's boss. The beauty of this is that they only communicate via radio thus there are no like facial cues and such BUT their relationship is so very convincing. And that's really hard to pull off, it just goes to show how great the writing of the game is. Talking to her is very realistic, like I noticed how she would use humor or sarcasm to mask the nitty gritty things of her personal life. It's an escape from the outside world, I really felt the isolation.
In between the text story are the quote un quote tutorial level. You are pitted into the forest and shows you the basic controls. That's the other point, essentially this is a walkathon game walking simulator. Most of the games in this style has some questionable control schemes and just feels off. In this game the controls feel natural. Although I'll admit it took some time to get used to the controls but once I got it everything just clicked. Now it's like 2nd nature. For example the radio, you use the ZR ZL buttons. It became like an extension of my own hand, felt like I was really using an actual radio as weird as it may sound.
Ok now let's go to the bulk of the game. The story itself, playing this game is like reading a great book. Brilliant story, gripping and even mysterious. You are in the Wyoming woods as a solitary fire lookout, and there are several days which serve as your chapters. Your only primary human contact is Dahlia which is Henry's boss. The beauty of this is that they only communicate via radio thus there are no like facial cues and such BUT their relationship is so very convincing. And that's really hard to pull off, it just goes to show how great the writing of the game is. Talking to her is very realistic, like I noticed how she would use humor or sarcasm to mask the nitty gritty things of her personal life. It's an escape from the outside world, I really felt the isolation.