Firewatch is a game that has had a big impact on me. In April 2025, I replayed it for the Helmet Gaming Challenge and while it would fit multiple categories (like extreme weather, game I’d like a sequel for, world I’d like to live in and visually stunning), I decided to use it for the visually stunning category.
When I first played it through, it completely changed how I see video games. I started gaming at a very young age and as a kid, you have a lot of time to play but basically no money to buy games. You get a couple of games a year for birthday and Christmas so it’s very important at that point that those games are long and such that you can play them in different ways and that they are challenging.
Firewatch is none of those. It’s more of an interactive graphic novel than what I would - for a long time - consider a video game. But this game changed that perception and widened (to my delight!) what I consider a good video game. As an adult, I’ve learned to value short but well-written stories over games that take 40 hours to complete because as an adult, I don’t often have that much time to play games.
From the very first moments, the first piano tunes on the background when the prologue tells the background story of the protagonist Henry sets the mood for the game and even on probably 20th replay, it still hits hard. The soundscape all in all is one of the best I’ve heard in games. The music is wonderful but what really immerses you into the game is the other sounds: the rumbling thunders, the waterfalls, the birds singing and the wind all combine to a lively atmosphere.
During the pandemic, being stuck in a small apartment in city center, Firewatch served as a valuable escape to the nature. Its world is so immersive. Your only connection to other people in the game world is through a walkie talkie with your supervisor in another watch tower. The relationship building happens purely through the dialogue and it’s fantastically written. You have some flexibility in choosing what to say to Delilah (or not to say at all) and the future dialogue changes based on that. It’s not the type where you’d get a completely different game play based on different choices but it’s a nice touch.