SPOILER ALERT: No attempt is made in this piece to hide major plot points. I highly recommend playing Firewatch before reading unless you don’t plan to play it at all.
Firewatch is definitely best played all in one sitting. My wife and I spent Valentine’s Day experiencing it together. It was a beautiful way to spend an afternoon. The exquisite environment design and well-written character dialogue engrossed us, but on several occasions I found myself disagreeing with my wife’s decisions.
I interpreted Henry’s mental state as letting go of his wife. He took this job, far in the wilderness away from everyone, to escape the pain of his wife not recognizing him or remembering their life together. After playing for four hours, Julia seemed distant to me as the player, so I assumed she was to Henry as well. Delilah, in contrast, seemed omnipresent. She seemed more central than even the protagonist to the plot.
Thus, at a point in the dialogue, I basically had Henry “flirt” with Delilah. My wife was really unhappy about this, and Delilah’s reaction in the game was the same. Rather than responding to Henry, she encouraged him to go back to Julia. After hearing that, I knew that was the right choice for Henry as well. He had to face his pain head on and stop running to the woods.
Upon reflection, I still think my dialogue choice was true to Henry’s character, and I think Campo Santo’s complete production led me emotionally to this place.
After all, the player is highly encouraged to see Julia as a distant, almost unreal character. The opening sequence is a black screen with white text telling the story. It is juxtaposed with the breathtaking landscapes of Two Forks as Henry hikes. It is no wonder that this exposition feels, despite its poignancy, like a past memory, fading against the vibrancy of the present.
Because Firewatch has no other physical, living characters (except for the two teenagers seen from a distance), speech is how humans express their presence, and Julia is almost nonexistent in the plot. The only time she “appears” is during a dream sequence where Henry speaks to her over the radio. In the morning, though, we find that he was actually speaking to Delilah. This is a powerful assertion of Julia’s presence in the narrative, but it is vastly overshadowed by the sheer volume of Delilah’s dialogue.
Then we are led through the plot line of the suspected surveillance experiments, which ultimately leads to an even darker conclusion, though one that no longer threatens Henry and Delilah. During this experience, though, we hear the desparation both characters feel and sense that they are forming an intense bond. They believe they may be arrested or killed, finding refuge only in their relationship.
Can I, then, be blamed when I sensed that Henry may be more inclined to build a further relationship with Delilah at the conclusion? The emotional tone of the whole piece led me to that point, but at the same time, I felt it was right when Henry was corrected when he spoke my dialogue choice. He trusts Delilah at this point, and she sees more about him than he himself does. She senses the connection that, even ignored for a whole summer, still holds him to Julia.
Despite never knowing the kind of pain Henry faces as he tries to make meaning of Julia’s illness, I almost feel like I understand his emotions. Campo Santo led me, as a player, along the same emotional journey Henry went through. I empathize with his desire to escape the specter of slow decline in his beloved, and I know why he ultimately chooses to go back.
Human emotions are complex and ambivalent, and Firewatch portrays them more precisely than any game I have played. I am excited to see how this type of storytelling can continue to thrive in other titles.