Firewatch: One Month Later

Great post from Cabel Sasser.

I haven’t played a first-person game in years. I think the last one was Halo on the original Xbox back around 2000. But Firewatch intrigued me, and once I started, I couldn’t stop. It occupies a wonderful intersection between narrative cinema (thoughtful story, interesting characters, great actors, evocative beautiful visuals and sound design) and the immersive nature of playing, feeling like you are there.

My son — 12 years old, and inclined strongly toward frenetic shooting games like Destiny — very much enjoyed Firewatch too. He more or less played it straight through, driven to keep going in the same way one is with a good novel.

Toward the end of his life, Roger Ebert argued that “Video games can never be art”. I really wish he had lived to see Firewatch.

★ Friday, 18 March 2016