Posts

Showing posts with the label story

Firewatch: Why is the End the Reward?

One of my favorite games of the year is Firewatch which puts you in the role of Henry as he spends his summer in a lookout tower in a Wyoming, watching for fires. His only means of communication is a walkie talkie he uses to talk with fellow firewatcher Delilah, who is your only guide as you investigate the vast wilderness. You begin to build a relationship with her but soon events begin to unfold that bring both of you to your breaking point. Firewatch is a game that is as much about its own narrative as it is about the player’s personal experience within the game. Because of this some players have felt that the ending was bad. I do not believe they feel this way because they didn’t like the game, or because they failed to immerse themselves within the story. I believe that today’s gamers have become so focused on the “end” as the most rewarding experience that they have failed to see the “journey” through the game as the most important one. Recently in an article about the end