Just stumbled upon this in my steam queue. It looks fantastic, just not exactly sure how the game play will be. An with XCOM2 out as well…
It sounds like it’s pretty short, and I’ve been real curious about it for months now, so I may grab it and try to play through it tomorrow night and Thursday night (and into Friday morning if XCOM 2 is a noon release). It sounds like it’s only a 5-6 hour game, so it shouldn’t be hard to enjoy it while I wait for XCOM 2, in theory. I have to beat Rise of the Tomb Raider first though, that’s going to happen in the next few hours, I think…
I read those same stories about it being a 5-6 hour game and that made me willing to hold off a bit, considering the game deluge that’s hitting us. Still looking forward to it, though.
Up for pre-order on STEAM @ 10% off.
Game is somewhere between 4 and 6 hours long from what I’ve read online. (see Charlatan’s post above, as it took me forever to hit post on this.)
Also a new trailer thingy!
I am probably swimming against the tide, but games that wrap up a narrative arc in a nice concise amount of time are my new ideal. I don’t have a lot of gaming time so shorter games like this or Banner Saga are perfect experiences for my life. I have been growing weary of the 100+ RPG epics because they don’t really feature more meaty narrative just more filler and side content.
-Todd
I was going to post something remarkably similar to Todd; I like me a long, meaty RPG or a strategy game I can play for hundreds of hours, but when it comes to adventure games (especially ones with a strong focus on telling a story) I kind of want to be in and out in under a dozen hours if I can. Rise of the Tomb Raider, I just wrapped up, was almost 18 hours for me, and it was wearing out it’s welcome by the last few hours, I think.
Firewatch at about 6 hours is perfect, I think, and it’s only $18, so it’s fair that it’s half the length of a higher profile title. That said, I thought (for some reason) it came out on the 3rd, tomorrow and instead it’s smack dab in the middle of when I’ll likely still be really into XCOM 2, so I will probably hold off for now. I may buy it right now though, to support the developers for launch week and pushing the game to the top of the Steam charts and also to take advantage of the 10% off.
Oh I had lost track of the release for this. Totally on board. It definitely looks like an easy buy for the price and if it won’t require tons of time to enjoy even better.
Firewatch at 5-6 hours sounds perfect to me. Especially at $18.
Can’t wait to play this, and coming out just as I finish Life is Strange. Perfect timing.
But, what IS Firewatch?
Firewatch is a single-player first-person mystery set in the Wyoming wilderness, where your only emotional lifeline is the person on the other end of a handheld radio.
Okay, for real, just watch this little trailer, it’s my favorite and it catapulted the game from “neat” to “Oh, okay, I have to play this for myself” levels:
(left most video on that page)
EDIT Found it on YouTube, too. https://youtu.be/kZX3MgsRb0A
“What is Firewatch” is just an annoying meme created by Giant Bomb. The game itself is not some inscrutable thing.
I’m beginning to think it may not be a timekeeping device that doubles as a flamethrower. Disappointed.
Yeah, I was sad to learn is was not a version of the Apple Watch that included a flamethrower as well. :(
Still, after watching the Giant Bomb video this game looks like just my bag of biscuits, so that’s a nice surprise.
Review embargo lifted just a bit ago.
Looks like generally people have been really enjoying it, with a few outliers. I haven’t read any reviews, the first place I saw such a review was IGN (9.3) so I was honestly surprised to see such division, but I may skim some of them after work.
I already picked it up, it looks like a ton of fun, but I’m bummed to hear things like “the ending is anticlimatic” or “the story is confusing” or what have you.
Most of the reviews seem to agree that the ending is either “abrupt” or “anticlimactic.”
That’s better than wearing out your welcome, I guess.
I picked it up also, after watching a bit of the giant bomb quicklook. Loved the dialogue and humor.
MUCH better.
Too many games wear out their welcome nowadays in the constant pursuit of the sacred length requirement that unfortunately became an unspoken rule in this industry.
-Todd
This is the Idle Thumbs guys so I expect it to be relatively clever.
A couple of them grew up in the mountains so it’s also bit autobiographical.
It’s weird to me that its ending seems to be the weak point considering how strong of an ending Jake and Sean wrote for the first season of The Walking Dead.