Firewatch is an adventure game developed by Campo Santo and published by the developer in partnership with Panic. The game was released in February 2016 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, and PlayStation 4, for Xbox One in September 2016, and for Nintendo Switch in December 2018.
The story follows a fire lookout named Henry in the Shoshone National Forest, a year after the Yellowstone fires of 1988. A month after his first day at work, strange things begin happening to him and his supervisor Delilah, which connects to a conspired mystery that happened years ago. Henry interacts with Delilah using a walkie-talkie, with the player choosing from dialog options to communicate. His exchanges with Delilah inform the process by which their relationship is developed. The game was directed by Olly Moss and Sean Vanaman, written by Chris Remo, Jake Rodkin, Moss and Vanaman, and produced by Gabe McGill and artist Jane Ng. The game's environment was modelled by Ng, based on a single painting by Moss. The design draws inspiration from New Deal advertisements by the National Park Service and field research conducted in Yosemite National Park.
The game received generally positive reviews, earning praise for its story, characters, dialogue, and visual style. However, the presence of technical issues and the game's ending were both subjects of criticism. Firewatch won the award for Best 3D Visual Experience at the Unity Awards 2016, Best Indie Game at the 2016 Golden Joystick Awards, Best Narrative at the 2017 Game Developers Choice Awards and Debut Game at the 2017 British Academy Games Awards. By late 2016, the game had sold over a million copies. Campo Santo partnered with Good Universe to make it into a film.
Gameplay
Firewatch is an adventure game played from a first-person view that takes place in the American state of Wyoming in 1989. Players take on the role of Henry, a fire lookout who is assigned to his own tower in Shoshone National Forest. Through exploration of the surrounding area, Henry uncovers clues about mysterious occurrences in the vicinity that are related to the ransacking of his tower while out on a routine patrol and a shadowy figure that occasionally appears watching him from afar.
Henry's only means of communication is a walkie-talkie connecting him to his supervisor, Delilah. Players may choose from a number of dialog options to speak with her upon the discovery of new interactive objects or environments, or can refrain from communicating. The player's choices will influence the tone of Henry's relationship with Delilah. As the story progresses, new areas will be opened up for players. The game also features a day-night cycle. Objects found in the wilderness can be kept in the inventory for later use.
Plot
Following the Yellowstone fires of 1988, Henry (Rich Sommer) takes a job as a fire lookout in Wyoming after his wife develops advanced early-onset dementia. On his first day, Delilah (Cissy Jones), a lookout in another watchtower, contacts him via walkie-talkie and asks him to investigate illegal fireworks by the lake. Henry discovers a pair of drunken teenage girls, who accuse him of leering. On his way home he comes across a locked cave and spots a shadowy figure watching him. He returns to his watchtower to find it ransacked. The next day, Delilah asks Henry to investigate a downed communication line. He finds it cut, with a note apparently signed by the teens. He and Delilah plot to scare the girls off, but when he finds the girls' campsite ransacked and abandoned, they begin to worry. A note left at the site blames Henry for wrecking their camp and stealing their belongings.
Later, Henry finds an old backpack and a disposable camera belonging to a boy named Brian Goodwin, who Delilah explains was a lookout with his father Ned. Ned was an outdoorsman who drank heavily due to his traumatic experiences in the Vietnam War, while his son, Brian, enjoyed fantasy novels and role-playing games. Though it is against the rules for employees to bring their children to the towers, Delilah was fond of Brian and lied about his presence. He and Ned apparently left abruptly and never returned. The teenage girls are reported missing. Fearing an inquiry, Delilah falsifies reports to say that neither she nor Henry encountered the girls.
Two months after Henry had arrived in Yellowstone, a small wildfire breaks out south of his tower, but Delilah reassures him that it is nothing out of the ordinary and prompts him to name it. Two weeks later, while fishing, Henry discovers a radio and a clipboard with notes including transcripts of his conversations with Delilah. He is then knocked unconscious by an unseen assailant and wakes up to find the clipboard and radio gone. In a meadow referred to on the clipboard letterhead he finds a fenced-off government research area. He breaks in and discovers surveillance equipment and typewritten reports detailing his and Delilah's conversations and private lives. He also discovers a tracking device which he takes with him. Henry and Delilah discuss destroying the government camp, but decide against it. As Henry hikes home, however, someone sets fire to the camp.
The next day, he uses the tracking device to find a backpack with a key to the cave. Delilah reports a figure in Henry's tower; when Henry arrives, he finds a Walkman taped to the door with an incriminating recording of Henry and Delilah's discussion about destroying the government camp. When Henry enters the cave, someone locks the gate behind him. He escapes through another exit and discovers Brian's old hiding spot, where he went to escape his father when he tried to teach him how to climb. He goes deeper into the cave using climbing equipment left at Brian's camp, and discovers Brian's decomposed body at the bottom of a cavern. Delilah is upset by the news, blaming herself for allowing Brian to stay. The next day, an evacuation order is given for all the lookouts, as the wildfire that Henry had spotted and named earlier has grown out of control.
As Henry prepares to leave, the tracking device begins beeping. He follows the signal and discovers a tape with a recording from Ned. Ned claims in the tape that Brian's death was accidental, and that the boy fell due to climbing inexperience. Unwilling to return to society after Brian's death, Ned admits he has been living in secret in the area ever since and has chosen to venture deeper into the wilderness. Henry finds Ned's makeshift bunker, along with items stolen from the government camp, the lookout towers, and the teenage girls, who Delilah confirms have been found safe. The government camp was simply studying wildlife; Ned had been using its radio equipment to ensure no one was looking for him and to create transcripts to scare Henry away. Delilah blames Ned for Brian's death and leaves on the helicopter. Henry goes to her tower, and he and Delilah say their goodbyes via radio. Finally, the helicopter arrives and he is evacuated.
