I got my first sample of Firewatch during my 2022 playthrough of Stanley Parables, when the community informed me that Firewatch was actually a full game. Well, the time has come to experience the whole game. I have no clue what to expect, but you all have told me it’s a fantastic story, and you never steer me wrong – so I’m pumped!
Thanks for watching and I really hope you enjoy the video. If you do, it would be awesome if you’d consider subscribing to the channel.
Benjamight
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– SPOILERS –
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Thanks for checking out Firewatch! Back when this game released, it received a lot of criticism because I think a lot of people, like yourself, were expecting another big twist to come right before or right at the very end. But the twist never comes. Everything gets a reasonable explanation/conclusion, you say goodbye to Delilah and leave. This disappointed many, but I felt it was appropriate. Henry and Delilah built up a conspiracy in their heads (and Ned reinforced it) to make their summer together more interesting. Boring, maybe, but I personally appreciated how it remained very grounded in reality.
Believe it or not, there's actually an alternate ending to the game where you pretty much just wait outside the helicopter. Eventually, it leaves without you and then it cuts to black. Presumably, Henry can stay behind like Ned chose to, except he's surrounded by a massive fire and there's probably no getting out of that.
Oh and here's some more trivia… the studio behind this game, Campo Santo, was actually working on a new game for a while called In The Valley of Gods, with a very similar aesthetic to Firewatch. Campo Santo was acquired by Valve, then they started helping on Half-Life Alyx. Unfortunately, the project was shelved indefinitely and we have no idea if it's still being worked on. The Steam page for it is still up.
Great commentary!, enjoyed the ride
Some people have mixed feelings about the ending and the reveal but I love the ending . All the mysteries are coming together.
P.S.: LMAO . Delilah stole the Pork Pond sign
This game has 3 stories technically, and they’re all about characters trying to handle their past lives. Ned ran away from his regrets and that ended up making things worse for himself, Delilah grew some slight mental instability due to her family and ex-boyfriends from the past (which you can help her get over through your dialogue choices), and Henry who initially ran away from his deteriorating wife to try and seek out some peace of mind only to find out that he can’t let go of his guilt. In the end, Delilah and Henry leave the forest having overcome their pains, while Ned runs off deeper with a bigger pile of guilt than ever before.
When I saw Brian dead in that cave, it totally broke my heart. That moment had one of the biggest impacts I’ve ever had in a game before. It definitely hit close to home seeing how Brian was forced to do things that he never wanted to do, and ended up suffering because of it.
Really enjoyed this play-through, and I’m super glad you checked out this game. Time to delve back into more DS!
Great play-through. Probably not quite what The Stanley Parable set you up to expect, huh? Absolute legend of a game. Walking simulator with more feels than most games 100x its budget. The metaphor is so good, all this devastation and ruin and there's just nothing anyone can do to stop it, and even when you try your best to prevent it, sometimes the best you can do is to keep your eyes out, and sometimes even that just makes it worse because you see more than you were ready to see. Trauma and grief and mess and just humans doing their best with the bad stuff they can't stop. Thanks for doing this.
Great final ep. Glad you really liked the ending. I actually when i first played it was mixed on the anti climatic ending cause I like you were thinking of some big twist or reveal at the end but instead there wasn't and the that was all intentional but didn't know if i liked it or not but after having some time to sit with it and watching some other playthroughs I now love the ending and game completely.
I love how this game exploits the players mindset of "I'm playing a game" knowing the player is likely to think that whatever information crumbs they find/hear are part of some big, sinister and important operation that centers your character. I haven't seen one player not fall for this masterfully crafted mind trap. Some fall harder than others but all build up a threatening conspiracy in their head. All while the story actually is really down to earth and human. This game is so beautiful, tightly written and amazingly voice acted and I'm glad you played it and loved it.
The Mitch Michael missing Posters were just normal missing posters but aren't uncommon to see in parks but cause its a game I believed that somehow Mitch would have a role in the story but that's exactly what the game wanted me to think when really its just a normal missing person who prob drowned in the lake. The Delilah phone call the game purposefully worded to sound sus but in reality is either just Delilah talking to other lookouts or talking to her family maybe about Javier. Wapiti Station actually was a research station to test the soil and plants(the soil grids outside the tent) and to track elk. Those four subjects they were tracking were actually just elk and the notes just happened to line up with Henry's predisposed conspiratorial mindset and make circumstantial connections that weren't actually there. The research station just surveyed soil plants and animals and Ned broke in and merely used it while the research people were away to conduct his operation.
The teens who I was super concerned about them after their camp was ransacked and they went missing and because of the paranoia in the air you obviously assume that something nefarious happened with them but in actuality they got drunk lit a campfire and fireworks cause they were super irresponsible made another campfire before just fleeing after their camp was destroyed by Ned and then just got arrested doing some other dumb stuff.
I also love the blame game that happened. Ned broke into our tower because he was scared we may find Brian's body stole our sheets and then panted our sheets at the teens campsite to make us think they broke in to our watchtower while also stealing some of their beer cans and spreading them in the area of the cut wire(which he cut to stop Delilah from getting the hiker list which would have his name on it) and by spreading the beer cans made us think the teens also cut the wire while making the teens think Henry trashed their camp. It was and always was Ned just trying to scare Henry and Delilah and the teens from ever finding Brian. Ironically he obviously was just operating on fear and not reason cause if he never tried to scare them, Henry likely never would have felt a need to explore that cave and find Brian so in a way Ned on his way to stop them from finding Brian made it come to pass and maybe the guilt and shame made him even do so subconsciously who knows.
Another story that made you think it was going to lead up to something but also was just a real human story was the Ron and Dave subplot through those notes usually found at caches. You missed a few but in short their story was they were best friends who were both rangers in the area. Ron then gets in a relationship with Debbie(the forest service receptionist) which caused some tension between Dave and Ron unbeknownst to Ron. Eventually Dave gets into a bar fight in Wapiti. Near the end of the game you can stumble upon Ron and Dave's secret spot up near where Brian's spot was and at that spot you find a note that you then talk to Delilah she reveals that the bar fight was actually a homophobic attack toward Dave, revealing that Dave was gay and had unrequited feelings for Ron. Ron did not realize Dave was gay until Debbie told him about the bar fight and Dave ending up in the hospital. Ron was shocked and didn't really know what to say but made a recording of the song for Dave which lyrics you found in that old outhouse. Eventually Ron and Dave's relationship dwindled until Ron left the forest service moved to Alaska before breaking up with Debbie and Ron and Dave what happened to them after are unknown so just a sad side story of best friends drifting apart for various reasons.
Also speaking of that old outhouse if you had walked a little farther east you would have stumbled upon an old burnt cabin called Hawk's Rest(that's what the Witch's Hut on Brian's map referred to) if you go downstairs and opened the oven you would get jumpscared by a racoon and then Delilah would tell you the ghost story of Racoon Carter where basically the ranger Carter who lived here killed ana ate a racoon and the racoon spirit took its revenge on him devouring him and burning Hawks Rest down. Its very fun and Delilah really gets into the story. Funny enough I was the opposite of you. I found the burnt cabin but didn't see the old outhouse on my first playthrough.
You also can see likely the same racoon in a little side area by the lake where its on a stump eating a nut but if you approach it Delilah scares it away when "accidentally" yelling into the walkie. O you also missed a few notes in Ned's bunker that detailed his notes while listening to your convos with Delilah and you see his plans of the fake conspiracy form and gave more insight into how it all went down. Already mentioned the turtle last time. Also there's a dead elk right near Ron and Dave's spot with a tracking collar which helps show that the subjects the research's station were tracking were not humans but elk. I think you basically found everything else so good job there.
Really liked a lot of your thoughts at the end and agree with most of them. I agree on Ned. I think he did love his son, and wanted to teach him what he knew which was wilderness stuff but as you said Brian wasn't really into that stuff and much more was into nerd stuff and making contraptions. I think Ned could be guilty of negligence but he def never meant for it to happen and I think you can def tell he feels so much shame and guilt for putting Brian in that situation that he doesn't even want to return to society. He's lost and needs help but I don't know if he'll ever find help or peace now that he's run deeper into the Shoshone.
Another commentor already mentioned it but I love how not counting all the side stories its basically a game about three people trying to run away from the situation and the person they let down. For Ned its Brian, he let him down when he put him in a dangerous situation that he neither wanted to do or was equipped for and has run away from confronting it for over three years now and shows no signs of facing his guilt and fears any time soon and I pity him.
For Delilah she's been running away from the way she handled her boyfriend Javier ten years ago. She had a great thing going for five years with him but after his brother died she didn't make the effort to comfort him she prob should have and then instead of owning up to her mistake she just lied and said he cheated on her and she's not corrected that lie for ten years. We can only hope that after this experience she goes and at least makes amends with Javier and owning up to her mistakes unlike what Ned seems to be able to do.
For Henry we obviously are running away from Julia and her dementia situation. With your choices at the beginning Henry ended up just drifting away and seeing her less and less tho if you instead took care of her you would have grown to despise your life and drink almost constantly. (If you notice all three of our characters were alcoholics. Henry obviously drunk a lot in the backstory, Delilah was drunk at multiple points in the game and Ned has a bunch of alcohol scattered around his hideout. And drinking is often a way some people try and escape from the harsh realities of their lives.) Both ways in the backstory lead you to taking this job to escape and run away from your problems instead of facing them and I think you caught onto all that pretty well.
I do agree that I like we got answers with what went on in the game tho I'm also glad that whatever happened to our characters and all the side characters after this summer is a mystery. We can hope the teens eventually grow out of this phase and become responsible and kind young adults. We can hope that Ron and Dave were able to find happiness again after drifting apart. We can hope Ned eventually faces what he did and returns to society and seek help and peace for his son. We can hope Delilah makes amends with Javier and becomes a happier person. And we can hope Henry is able to spend and enjoy whatever time he has left with his wife and it obviously won't be easy and i don't envy him but can only hope that whatever the best outcome is, happens.
Loved the playthrough, great ending thoughts. Can't wait for whenever West of Loathing playthrough comes out. Small tip: be on the lookout for spittoons 😉
This game definitely subverted lot of my expectations.
I love how you chose 90% of the radio responses to Delilah same as I would 😉
Great game for sure!