Firewatch — Review
Firewatch, released in February of 2016, is an indie game developed by the studio Campo Santo. It is a short adventure game set in a national park, where your character is instructed to watch over the forest for any potential fires, hence the name “firewatch”. The portrayal of mental health in the game respects the dignity of people suffering from it in real life. Rather than stigmatizing mental illness, Firewatch incorporates themes such as dementia, addiction, isolation, paranoia, and etc. to create a humane environment for the player to experience. Addressing mental health in video games is a portal of opportunity for a huge community to familiarize themselves with serious struggles that anyone is susceptible to.
The game takes place during summertime in the national forest of Shoshone that’s located in the state of Wyoming. Henry, the protagonist we play as, enrolls as fire lookout, looking to get away from his late marriage problems. During his time there, the only person he interacts with is Delilah, his supervisor, using a walkie-talkie. The game mechanics emphasize exploring the environment as well as dialog options to communicate with Delilah. As their relationship grows into intimate and almost “natural” conversations, an unknown presence is lurking in the shadows – invasively eavesdropping on the pair’s daily conversations, keeping meticulous details of the individuals’ personal lives.
The player is exposed to the sad reality of mental illness right from the beginning of Firewatch. The game begins through a series a text to read that contextualize Henry’s situation. It tells the love story between him and Julia, his wife, who, in her forties, has developed an early onset of dementia. As the dementia progresses and her memory deteriorates, the relationship becomes chronically harder for Henry to cope with. As a result, he takes up drinking in an attempt to escape from the hardships of his marriage. The situation escalates to the point where Julia goes back to her parents because Henry’s addiction debilitates him from his responsibilities.
Another theme, one that’s prevalent all throughout the game is isolation. The 79 days Henry spends in Shoshone are in near complete isolation. For the most part, he doesn’t physically see anyone else, nor does he have any interaction besides long-distance communication with Delilah. He is stoic in managing his emotions for the majority of the plot, but fear and paranoia rapidly take over his rationality when the feeling of being observed creeps into his consciousness. We witness Henry going through episodes of panic attacks and acute stress as a consequence of how helpless he feels from his privacy being completely invaded. Loneliness may not in itself be the cause of Henry’s struggles, but it facilitates all the negative emotions he experiences.
Late in the story, Firewatch introduces us to Ned when we discover that he’s been the one stalking Henry and Delilah’s interactions. Ned is a broken individual who’s remained in the forest ever since his son, Brian, died there during a climbing accident. The reason he has been following Henry and Delilah so closely was to scare them away from discovering Brian’s body, which is still left untouched from the location of the accident. It is tragic and heartbreaking to see the guilt and grievance of a father who’s lost his son, and a testament to how respectful and realistic the game is at showcasing the sad aftermath of the event. Firewatch also considers how years of isolation may influence a man’s psyche. The same symptoms which emerge in Henry are long internalized in Ned. It is his fear and his paranoia which drives him to keep such a close eye on Henry and Delilah. He never shows himself and is constantly running away from the opportunity of interacting with humans again. By assessing his actions, we could speculate that Ned shows symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder, chronic stress, and PTSD, as those run in-parallel with the way he behaves.
Beyond the plotline, the visual and audio elements of Firewatch are also relevant to the discussion of mental health. When Henry is out and about, carelessly exploring the forest and talking with Delilah, the beautiful art style and warming music of the game creates an anxiety-relieving, almost meditative experience for the player. Photography is one way the game encourages us to appreciate the forest of Shoshone, as you can photograph some incredible scenery while discovering the map. The Campo Santo studio make the most out of the open-world model of Firewatch by creating a scenic and diverse map which harvests a relaxing experience for the player.
Firewatch deserves applauds and praise for successfully combining a compelling and human story with a timeless art style and musical production. It elevates the standard for serious video games, as its portrayal of mental health is exemplary and pioneering in the gaming industry. The short length of under 5 hours makes it a small investment and an easy game to pick up and play. Firewatch is recommended for anyone who may be interested in a different experience of gaming, one where realism substitutes fiction, walkie-talkies substitute guns, and the tragic reality of mental health struggles substitutes insane asylums.