Firewatch

It's time to get back into checking out some Xbox Game Pass games and I thought I'd start the year off with a mystery adventure game called Firewatch! The game released back in 2016, but only made it to Game Pass Last December. I've seen a couple of my friends playing it so I thought I'd give it a go! The estimated completion time is around 5 hours, however I clocked in at 8 hours as I took a bit extra game to check out some of the amazing visuals the game offered.

To briefly set the scene, the game is set in 1989 and you play as a guy called Henry who becomes a lookout in the Wyoming wilderness. This is after his wife developers Dementia and Henry wanting to escape from it all. You spend the game exploring the wilderness searching for clues to explain some mysterious occurrences that are happening. You spend a lot of time talking to your supervisor, Delilah, over the radio and she helps you navigate the wilderness. I won't mention any story spoilers here as I think it's definitely a game to try out for yourself.

The game definitely instils a feeling of loneliness as you never actually see Delilah in person, and the very few NPC's you do see are merely figures in the distance. That being said, I think that is perfect for this type of game. The visuals of the game were incredible, the game features a day and night cycle which also adds to the atmospheric nature of the game.

The dialog in the game was very well written and the conversation between Henry and Delilah provided a good counter for the loneliness I mentioned above. It's definitely more on the adult side, I don't think the dialog would make much sense to a kid.

I took some screenshots whilst playing the game, to give you an idea of how it looks when playing:

I think you'll agree it looks absolutely fantastic!

I'd definitely recommend this game to someone who loves a good storyline, with beautiful graphics to go with it but also doesn't have too much time to play. I think you could probably get through this game in an afternoon if you played it non-stop. The paths are are pretty straight forward and Delilah does a good job in guiding you to where you need to go. That being said, the game provides a lot of suspense and mystery if you're into that.

Given this only landed on Game Pass last month, you've most likely still got a couple of years to play this, but I wouldn't bother waiting!