Firewatch
Firewatch is a game where you play the character Henry, a man who has taken a job as an isolated fire lookout at a park in Wyoming as a way to try to make sense of his life after his wife passes away. The player performs a number of basic duties in this wilderness, such as reporting conditions and chasing off kids shooting illegal fireworks. All the while his only regular interaction with other people is through his radio chats with the nearest other lookout, Delilah. The primary joy of the game is in the subtle ways you get to perform and bend the context of the narrative between the two misfits trying to figure themselves out. The overall arc of the game, which includes a somewhat clunky mystery plot, remains the same, but the fine-grained details, relationships, and motivations are woven from the player’s actions and words. With subtlety and an and ear for subtext in dialog, Firewatch is an exquisite digital dramatization that lets the player chart the nuanced ways loss and tragedy shape our character.
Creator: Campo Santo
Link: https://www.firewatchgame.com/
Connections:
Nobuyoshi Araki - Diary Sentimental Journey
May Sarton - A Journal of Solitude
Edvard Munch - Melancholy