In Firewatch takes you on a journey as a man called Henry, who leaves his old life to pursue a job as a park ranger in Wyoming wilderness. Set in 1989, you are tasked in keeping the forest safe and apprehending those who wish to disrupt the balance of the forest, for the most part. Delilah is the only connection you have to the outside world. The game leads you to setup a relationship with Delilah which also causes you to explore the outside world of Firewatch, this will inevitably become a game which dictates your relationship with Delilah. Playing as Henry comes with standard chose your own adventure tactics, which allows you to pick up items, chose dialogue, explore for your own gain. The choices henry is faced with are what I assume to be directly influenced to the messy life he left behind. For example, towards the end of the game Delilah choses his next step after the events that occur, to visit Julia (Henry’s wife).
I believe the game creates moments that allows for the player to choose how the character develops. When Ned (the mysterious character) leads you into the cave, just to close you off. Once you have escaped the cave you are allowed to go back and Delilah asked a question
“are you sure you want to go back” Henry is given the option to refuse or accept. When you accept to go back to explore the cave Henry clarifies why he’s going back, “I need to find out why they’re going through all this trouble for” somewhere along those lines.
Firewatch has many layers to it, but the plot summary goes as follows, Henry leaves to Wyoming to leave his messy life behind. Behind that messy life is his wife Julia, who’s ill and has early-onset dementia, which develops into Alzheimer's Disease. This is what motivates henry’s choices and character development. For example after Henry is attacked and knocked unconscious his paranoia ramps up and starts to question if the reality he’s living is real or not, if Delilah is real. This paranoia stems from what his wife is going through.
The game allows you to explore choices but still the story does not change due to the choices you make. The mechanics of the game for me does not create story since the story being told is already pre-written but the game mechanics does create a pleasant experience. Throughout your gameplay you are given many paths, but they usually all end the same. So, in my play through I decided to go with that henry will move on from what happened with Julia. This gives it a sentimental value due to the choices you have chosen, the ending seems more contempt. Julia having Alzheimer’s disease in 1989 just makes it more understandable that she’s a lost cause. If Henry would return to her will only reemphasize what he already knows.
The central idea of Firewatch is all about escapism, to get away from what stresses us out, the hardships, mistakes, and real life. That everyone is faced with hardships, we all face the consequences from running away from these situations we are put it. The game reminds us of this right at the beginning through the embodiment of a deer, As you approach the deer it becomes startled and runs away, I took this as the obvious symbol for what the game portrays.
The decisions made in the intro of the game in regards to Julia, the mistakes made are unavoidable, Henry runs away from the situation rather than to confront it. When she comes home late you can express your emotions or ignore it but overall the game favors the negative consequences of the choices we make. The game emphasizes that henry is not just a video game character but a human who makes mistakes to remind the player that humans are flawed and will inevitably make mistakes. It’s unavoidable to make a mistake, Unable to deal with Julia’s illness and see their relationship degrade right before him he escapes to Wyoming. He seeks “a breath of fresh air and some adventure” to escape from his situation with his wife.
The conspiracy that the game leads us to believe is just a ploy to emphasize what escapism is. The conspiracy we all wanted to be true towards the end of the game was nothing but to distract us, to distract Henry. The conspiracy, only spiked his paranoia. If playing the game through a second run through knowing the ending and realizing it was all under Ned’s manipulation to get Henry off his trail, It blows the lid off the conspiracy as something that was never there.
Delilah at first glance made me think as a possible path to move on from what he experienced from Julia. But this is in vain due to Delilah having her own reasons to escape from her outside life. The fire that is lit, is forcing them back on to reality. To me this just emphasizes that escapism will always be temporary.
The game creates parallels between Ned and Henry, both escaping into the woods after losing someone close to them. Though Ned is the extreme route and choses to keep running away, switching hideouts and avoiding confrontation and coping with his son’s passing. This is what I would imagine what Henry could have done if it weren’t for Delilah.
The reality of Firewatch is that there is no escape, no big conspiracy, nothing grand about the 1989 Wyoming forest. Be it by a fire or other circumstances we will eventually come to terms from what we are running away from despite what we due to avoid it. Humans will attempt to avoid mistakes, avoid confrontation but eventually the life we lived will catch up to us. Firewatch in a nutshell tackles the fear, escapism, and mortality of what humans will go through. Never truly escaping the gruesome reality of it all, despite the decisions we make to avoid it.