A Narrative Critique of Firewatch

[@DukeofWhales]

Hey everyone! With Starfield coming out in a few weeks I wanted to work on something a little shorter than my usual thing and finished a lot earlier than I expected, but there will be more chonky videos coming this year. Morrowind is on the short-list, as are the Dragon Age games, Assassin’s Creed, Oxenfree, Red Dead, Pentiment, Ghosts of Tsushima…okay maybe it’s not that short a list. I’ve enjoyed making these videos and I’m hoping to just get a little better every time-thank you all for watching!

[@tnttiger3079]

To make the list even longer, check out Disco Elysium if ye haven't already!

[@SuperHermii]

This channel is a gem, and I'm lucky to have come across it!

[@immortalmecha8770]

Starfield and Red Dead sounds awesome. Do you mean RDR2 specifically, or the overarching story of all three games?

[@abartel6]

black flag would be great

[@kingofthegrill]

Did you not find the turtle? That was a big moment for me. I raise endangered tortoises that live for 200 years, and they mention in the game that box turtles live for 50. They definitely stand as a symbol for unwavering commitment. They're something you have for the rest of your life, and abandoning them is the ultimate act of selfishness.

[@0Lottee0]

I named it✨Shelly Duvall ✨

[@opticalsalt2306]

@@0Lottee0ME TOOO

[@racobjeba]

My family had 2 box turtles that lived in a luxurious custom built outdoor enclosure designed for them to have a natural environment and they dug out and abandoned us. I miss those little lads to this day

[@crepslayer]

Turt reynolds is the only valid choice

[@Celestial_2016]

I picked up mine again and hit adopt before I left to get him in the backpack. Hope that means I took turt with me lol

[@AndrewTime9106]

Firewatch & What Remains Of Edith Finch are master classes in showing, telling, and thoughtful design & tale. Love them.

[@apollorainer1991]

I rate them 4 Streams of uncontrollable tears / 2 Eyes

[@Yourlibrarian]

I made my friend play What Remains of Edith finch blind, after I did the same thing. Then had him play Firewatch to recover. It was an experience I wish I could do again.

[@highdefinition450]

hate the end of firewatch tho lol

[@themostdisturbinginhumanes1627]

@@highdefinition450 yeah it was kinda boring, was hoping to clap some delilah cheeks

[@lunathetrip3241]

@@themostdisturbinginhumanes1627 you learnt nothing from the experience, then

[@kukuvau3408]

I had a problem with your assesment of Henry and his "avoidance of duty", I have to be careful so as to not sound overly confrontational because I feel passionately about this matter. I have personally lived with a dementia patient and I'm currently taking care of someone with a deteriorating mental state, possibly dementia but hopefully not, and I was genuinely wondering if you've gone through something similar or if you know someone who has. To be a caretaker to someone with dementia or a similar condition is one of the most taxing things on body, mind and soul; your love and your patience are tested daily through acts that are ultimately no fault of the person you're taking care of. I've seen this completely destroy people and it looks like I'm headed down the same path so it hurts me to see that someone who was in the same situation as me and some of my family members gets called a coward when they try to find a way to escape, specially for Henry since it seems as though his wife's family takes much better care of her than he ever could. I'd kill to be able to do something like what Henry is doing here, I'm willing to take any oportunity to get my humanity back and get out of this pit that I've found myself in however my circumsances won't allow it. I'll give it to you that in every other aspect you've captured him perfectly, he's an emotionally immature person with deeply flawed coping mechanisims and his path through the game shows it. I have no issues with your skill at analyzing the game or it's characters, I'm subscribed to your channel and I love your content, but I do feel that in your condemnation of the worst aspects of Henry you also showed what, at least to me, is a lack of understanding of the deep pain that a situation like his can put someone through. I hope I expressed myself correctly and that my comment didn't offend you in any way.

[@DukeofWhales]

Thank you for the thoughtful comment, I’m sorry you and someone you love are going through that. I’ve seen someone go through something similar and I’ve watched how world-altering it can be. In Henry’s case it was more the manner of his taking the job than taking the job itself that earned my scrutiny. It’s not something he talks over with Julia and her family, it’s not just a break for a man that definitely deserves one, it’s framed in the story as an act of flight and it’s up to the player’s dialogue choices to determine how sure Henry is that he’ll return to her. Depending on how you play Firewatch, Henry can never mention Julia, take off his wedding ring, put her picture face-down on his desk, and then invite Delilah to come live with him in Boulder. And that doesn’t make him evil, Henry deserves happiness too, but in that instance he’s essentially moving on without ever having an honest and impossible conversation with Julia and her family about how he just can’t keep doing what he’s been doing. If Firewatch was specifically about Henry going to the woods to take a break, rediscover himself, and then gather his strength to return to Julia and make a firm decision about their future I’d be a lot more sympathetic towards him and I would never label that as cowardice or avoidance of duty. Instead that’s just where we arrive at the end of his arc if the player has been talking about Julia honestly. The fact that it’s possible for the player (and by extension Henry) to just have a woodlands adventure, never mention their wife, and then invite their work flirt to live with them makes me reluctant to give Henry too much of the benefit of the doubt. I hope that makes sense, it sounds like I probably could’ve been clearer in the script.

[@SolDizZo]

I know I'm biased but I also mean nothing confrontational with my comment. My answer to all of the suffering I am witness to... or the vicarious trauma that impacts me is... Complete Reality Taoism. Yes, I get it. I'm in a privileged position in life to be able to set my mind at ease on a daily basis, even when I'm personally sick in bed for several days. I pick myself back up just like Spiderman, and I used to not really understand why. Everyone else asked me "how?" But it really is that simple. I found such simple answers for life that allow me to face the suffering and stop [effing] resenting everything so much. Nothing is perfect, especially not me. I recommend the Thomas Cleary translations of Taoist texts, especially the Secret of the Golden Flower. This doesn't breed conflict with my religious persuasion. Just as an aside, I'm probably more in agreement with you.

[@gorilla-grip-pussy-support7976]

I'd rather be put down, we treat animals with more kindness. People only seem to care about the "in health" aspect of relationships ig.

[@roxiep2010]

My grandparents moved in with us after a hurricane smashed part of their house, and it was the most emotionally taxing few months of my life. My grandmother wasn't the woman I used to know. I had experience with dementia as I spent a lot of my early teen years staying with my best friend at her grandmother's house on the weekends, but there's no preparing for the chaos that invites. When you listen to the woman that used to make you chocolate cake and read you stories scream and rant for an hour straight? When you come home from work to find police in your driveway because she attacked your father, her son, by clawing at his face hard enough to draw blood? When she's completely beyond reason? I love her, I don't blame her for her illness, but the day we placed her in an assisted living home felt like a dark cloud had been lifted from the house. I spent months feeling like there was a monster living downstairs wearing my grandmother's skin and I won't deny that it was a relief when she was in the hands of professionals. It's heart breaking and guts your very soul. She's resting now. She lived to be 92 and passed shortly after my grandfather's cancer finally took him. I'm glad they finally have peace. It's so hard to watch someone you love suffer, especially when they lash out and throw that suffering at you when all you're trying to do is care for them.

[@TheGreenTaco999]

​@@SolDizZookay??? Lmao

[@El_Rey_247]

I think this is the first thing I've seen from this channel. The only thing I'm disappointed about not being addressed was the "alternate ending", where Henry can just wait for the helicopter to leave and then follow in Ned Goodwin's footsteps, fleeing civilization and running into the forest - though in Henry's case, far more likely to die in the fire than to scrape a living from the land and by stealing from campers. Even if it's not explicit, I think that this is the most important decision in the entire story: at the end of it all, is your version of Henry one who is ready to stop running, possibly growing during the events of the story. I think this is made a _little_ more explicit by the fact that the prompt on the helicopter doesn't say something neutral like "board helicopter" or "leave the forest". It says "go home". I interpret that to mean very explicitly that that version of Henry has stopped running, and is going to face Julia, whatever that entails.

[@D1SZZ]

today ive learnt of this alternate ending, thats makes such a different character arc

[@DeusGaming-xh1nl]

I agree however him not mentioning it, at least from my perspective, could be because he felt that it's not very hard to understand it. Henry doesn't want to go back home or simply it's a game mechanism rather than an actual story choice.

[@riley.....]

27:21 oh my god, i'm sobbing. truly heartbreaking. when something like dementia, alzheimer's, or another type of brain damage takes away someone's ability to communicate, memories and dreams about how they used to speak to you can be both comforting and devastating. Henry might never hear Julia's voice that way again. This interaction is interpreted as a sign that Henry is healing, under the assumption that he has a platonic connection with Delilah and that it facilitates a sort of opening up toward a memory of Julia - but to me, it seems like a sign that Henry is desperately trying to get the "old Julia" back. Julia will never be that person ever again, but perhaps Delilah could put a perfectly Julia-shaped band-aid over that Julia-shaped void. The "old Julia" is *gone* - and I think the slightly more-than-platonic feelings that Henry cultivates for Delilah paints her as an oasis resembling the old Julia. (also: Henry's silence after Delilah confides in him can make sense in this context. If he's using Delilah to further distance himself from the reality of Julia's condition (which is reinforced later by the flirty conversation), he might not necessarily know how to comfort Delilah here).

[@Blox117]

even better to get delilah and julia in bed at the same time

[@russelljackson2818]

Thanks so much for this insightful deep dive. I played Firewatch during the pandemic, when my wife was having a mental break that we later found out was bipolar and also suffering seizures. The constant vigilance to look out for her health while also driving her everywhere, working my own full time job, taking care of everything to run the household, and dealing with her erratic mood swings made the summer of 2020 the single most exhausting and painful period in my life. I really related to Henry and his desire to just get away and be done with it, and I leaned into the flirtation with Delilah hard because it was something fresh and new and without the old baggage.... I suppose it was something I was thinking about a lot at the time as well. The ending was unsatisfying but fascinating, and in retrospect I don't see what more appropriate conclusion the game could have come to. You can only escape for so long, your problems don't go away if you don't solve them, and there isn't some big finale where you defeat the evil villain and save the girl in real life. That's just not how it works. Relationships with other humans are complicated, messy, and often end with a lot of mixed feelings. There's no Happily Ever After, there's just After. Sometimes you just have to learn to accept a conclusion without resolution and move on with life. It's no wonder why a lot of gamers didn't care for this one.

[@nickbooze9766]

That is my age-range and I DO want a Morrowind video.

[@TweedleDeem]

Love that you said triple underlines like the commentary said double underlined in his commentary about the infectiousness of language 🤯

[@DukeofWhales]

Oh damn, good catch. That’s kind of freaky!

[@TweedleDeem]

​@@DukeofWhalesAnyway great vid! It's interesting to see others perspectives, like I just let Delilah leave so to me I didn't face any betrayal lol. Didn't even know people experienced that ending.

[@d007ization]

I've accumulated a layer of pragmatism around my heart, so Delilah leaving before we can meet her face to face never seemed like a betrayal to me. The helicopter was hovering and even if that wasn't her reason, like I intuitively -and shallowly, as it turns out- thought it was, it's not like the story really set her up to be this heroine or damsel we could meet up with in the end. Our protagonist is emotionally secluded and brushes off/ignores her prodding, as well as some attempts at connection, the way I've seen many older men in my family do, it seems silly to expect such a person to be part of some kind of romantic or emotional climax. Maybe it makes sense for him to think so despite of it, but that's only because as the video laid out so well, that's just him trying to find a reason not to think about Julia. To make a contrived literary interpretation that falls apart under scrutiny, D avoids her problems, which serves to mirror Henry's attitude towards life, as his mirror image, it makes sense that they'd only ever reflect one another but never truly interact.

[@verasul]

I've always meant to play Firewatch but never did, simply due to other games or things vying for my attention - when I saw this video popup on my feed, I figured it's the best excuse I'll ever have to take an afternoon and a couple cups of coffee to finally sit down and play through it before actually giving this video a listen. First of all, thank you for giving me that push - I thoroughly enjoyed my four hour playthrough of it. Secondly, thank you for the video itself; as with your previous narrative critiques, I found it quite pleasing to listen to. You structure your sentences well and your voice is nice to listen. Overall, you granted me a very nice experience. EDIT: Something of note, perhaps: 33:40 - In my playthrough, I had been staring at the fire constantly while talking to Delilah. When asked by her whether he was looking at it, Henry immediately responded with "Yes" instead of saying he's looking at her.

[@DukeofWhales]

That's really interesting and kind of changes the texture of that whole scene! I always thought Henry was pushed to be flirtatious, maybe it was just a hiccup with my playthroughs.

[@verasul]

​@@DukeofWhales In retrospect, maybe it depends on the the way you've been talking to Delilah in that scene up to that moment, or maybe it even considers how you've been talking to her throughout the entire game before the scene overlooking the fire? Another difference that is perhaps of note: In the finale of the event, I expressed doubt that the helicopters would return to me when Delilah states she's leaving. Obviously she rebuffed this idea, stating that of course they're coming back. I was then again given the option to ask her to wait, which *she flat out denied instead of lying*. stating that she "HAS to go", most likely due to the reasons she mentions in your playthrough. This lead to Henry NOT calling out to her as he ascended the stairs to her Lookout Tower, no "My god, it's an apocalypse out here!" cry, nothing. Henry just silently regarded her living quarters (I ate her apples. They'd just go bad anyway) until he picks up the headphones and the conversation begins as normal. Also, a small detail I noticed during their final conversation and loved was the Pork Pond sign hanging just to the left above her desk. On the way to the Firefighter's camp, the two talk about the whole thing, and how the sign *mysteriously* got stolen due to its name. Made me chuckle.

[@childishgrimm9610]

I love how in depth you go into story analysis on this channel. I don't notify many channels, but you've earned yours. I like listening to essays to fall asleep to, and I've recently used your ES videos a lot and can practically start quoting the themes xD

[@kiddtoroi9473]

Just want to say I interpreted in many ways why Henry started to not wear his ring anymore, but the one I like to think is that being out in the wilderness and on a completely different diet, he would have lost weight. He doesn’t wear his ring because it keeps falling off his finger. That’s why he keeps it on his desk. If he was ashamed of it, he would have put it somewhere he wouldn’t see it everyday.

[@BigBadBalrog]

Aa someone whose marriage fell apart, the intro to this game reduces me to a blubbering crybaby, so I really appreciate how you cut the tragedy with that Witcher 3 bit. It's nice to have a hearty laugh through the tears 😅

[@mischiefcal]

I lean towards long-form analysis-type videos, I saw this and thought "i dont even know what this game is", scrolled down more, saw nothing new, scrolled up to actually play it i'm from arizona. few years back we lost 19 firefighters. maybe im emotional about that just because of the games setting. now i'm salty-eyed about the story, and i love your commentary. never even heard of the game before this, and now i genuinely appreciate it. great video. keep up your youtube stuff as much as you feel inspired to, because this rocked. I wouldnt have the patience to play this game, so having a video capture the feelings so well felt like experiencing it myself. thanks, dude.

[@manwe1532]

Delilah starts working there after javier leaves her. As she says "to ger away from stuff". And shes been doing it for over a decade. At the end she says we should tell each other what to do and she tells henry he should go back to his wife. As you mentioned she always chooses the easy way. She constantly lies instead of facing reality. But after she learns the truth about brian she finally faces the consequences of her lies. She mentions shes no longer gonna work there. I think she stops running away from reality. And when she tells henry we should tell each other what to she says so because she wants to tell henry that he should go back to his wife. To tell him he should stop running away and face the reality. Maybe she doesnt wait for him because she doesnt want henry to become like her, someone who avoids their problems until the harsh reality reveals itself Idk

[@HTJason_S12]

There's the possibility of never actually telling Delilah about Julia, you can stay silent or just tell her about Julia but not mention the alzheimer's. Fair warning: Delilah gets rather annoying.

[@antoniocortes7945]

Your analysis of the degradation of the forest with hell and Henry looking at both lives (outside and inside the forest) turning hellish and feeling incapable of action within them made me realize the title of the game is how Henry must feel like about his life. Watching it all burn. Sorry if my english isnt good.

[@kylegonewild]

Can totally understand a lot of the themes and choices present but also it kind of felt like you have to accept the romantic undertones and kind of lean into them for the ending to have any real depth. If you were not really attached to Delilah then her not waiting for you kind of doesn't matter. Approaching the whole relationship from a purely platonic perspective it feels kind of hollow. Thematically and realistically they probably wouldn't end up meaningfully involved in each other's lives after this but they definitely felt like the pair of happenstance friends who would at least feign a commitment to checking in on each other in the future. From a development standpoint I get that actually having a fully rendered and animated character model raises a whole bucket of problems the game wasn't trying to approach, but I do feel there was a bit of room for some more varied final outcomes. No matter how things ultimately play out both these people know this connection they had, no matter how warm and fun it was, was always ephemeral. Could even see one of those bittersweet final calls where she figures out how to get ahold of him and asks with genuine care about him and Julia but dodges any indication of forward momentum or future plans for herself when he asks in kind, still tying into the theme that she's been running from her problems longer than he has and how she's still at a place where she will lie to others and herself to avoid difficult or painful situations. Either way I appreciate it for what it tried to do and the comfy hours that it gave me going through it picking Henry's responses with a friend.

[@sportsjefe]

I have gotten the sense in the past that the people who praise this game like the fact that it told a man "you are bad for wanting more and deserve nothing" by pulling Delilah out from under us. The developers have patted themselves on the back for doing the same. Our lives have enough of that in it, we don't need it in our interactive escapism, thank you very much.

[@siobhanelysia8852]

^incel

[@andie.3632]

Whaaat. I get interpreting the relationship in a romantic light (I did!), but the platonic approach doesn't make the ending instantly hollow just because the relationship isn't romantic. You can get really attached to someone and not see them in such a way. I don't know, this feels not unlike the assumption of "Oh, A Man and a Woman have a lot of chemistry together. Surely the relationship would be worth more if they wanted to kiss."

[@jwc-lw3sp]

@@andie.3632agreed

[@icantstopsparkling7450]

I got the same impression. I thought everything was purely platonic until the not so subtle booty call. However, I disagree that it made the ending hollow just because she leaves- if my friend can escape before me, I’m all for it. To me, the ending was a letdown because Henry was surprised she wasn’t waiting. I chose the prompt to encourage her to leave, yet he’s still shocked she left?

[@talullah1065]

this is such a good breakdown of firewatch, it helps me understand the feelings I got when playing the game and you really go into the whole theme in such an eloquent way. I feel like I understand the message that this game was trying to say so much better now. I loved this game and this was a wonderful way to deepen my feelings. I can't break writing down like this, so thank you.

[@angelleann4550]

I found your channel a couple days ago and started listening to your videos while I crochet. I’m absolutely obsessed with your content now. I love how you explain everything, and you’ve genuinely given me new perspectives on games I love. The Witcher III is my favorite game ever and when you briefly mentioned it I got super excited. I know it’s had about a million videos made on it, but I would adore hearing you talk about it if you were ever interested in making a full analysis on its story. Regardless, I love your work, thank you for uploading !!

[@marblemunkey]

I played Firewatch in VR, and I think it would have been a bigger deal for me that it was if I hadn't JUST finished playing through The Outer Wilds (also in VR), which was mind blowing. But Firewatch was still a very moving existence that has stuck with me. I played Firewatch in two sittings, and VR made it very immersive. I stopped playing my first session somewhere between the teenagers and the beating. I had real visceral responses to this, and began wondering exactly how reliable Henry (that is, ME) was as a narrator. I had a working theiry that maybe it was Henry and not Julia with the mental problems, and thought libg and hard about if I wanted to be part of that narrative if that's where the plot went...

[@AgentGWG]

I feel insane watching other people’s fire watch critiques. I won’t go into all my decisions, but the last one I made was to tell Delilah to leave without me because she was my friend and there was a huge forest fire taking place. Of course I’d want my friend to get out of danger without me, that’s what friends should do. I have yet to find a review or critique of this game where others told her to leave. Makes me feel almost insane that people would want to be selfish and make someone stay in an extremely dangerous situation just to meet them. Any ways, the rest of this video was great, just thought I’d throw in my perspective as to how weird it is that I seem to have made a niche, though sensible decision.

[@DukeofWhales]

You’re totally right that it’s the more mature and sensible decision, and Henry making it would be a satisfying moment in his arc and probably leads to the best possible ending. I wish I touched on that choice more. I focused on the ending where Henry asks her to stay and she leaves because I remember that being one of the more discussed parts of the game back at launch, and it brings up a lot more thematically interesting things to discuss. It’s a last, understandable moment of weakness from a character who needed this friendship/romance(?) in a way he didn’t really understand. Seeing her, meeting her makes it feel more real to both Henry and the player, and after the summer he’s had I think Henry just wanted to know it was real. But you’re still right, let’s save the closure for the trailhead or some dingy, hunting-themed Wyoming bar and not the middle of a wildfire.

[@Marley-Kabin]

This was such a thoughtful video, I never get tired of hearing people’s perspectives on Firewatch. I’d love an Oxenfree analysis!

[@antdogboyness_66]

this video is too emotional for me right now. i’m inbetween worlds. deciding what to do next. the first 10 minutes of your video are about as emotionally heavy as i remember firewatch being. i’ll come back to it when i can because i can already appreciate your critique and the depth you expand these ideas to. i’m gonna put this in my watch later for when i can be a little more vulnerable with myself. thank you, friend.

[@janek.gehrlein]

I feel the same way right now

[@abbymoore6784]

Great video. I don’t think I appreciated this game enough when I played it, but your breakdown helped me realize there was a whole realm of subtle storytelling I missed

[@gloomaker9875]

the way you explained the story finally made me understand why i got immersed and invested in it so much, and why the ending didn't make me angry as it did to many. it feels like a slice of my life too, not literally, but it mirrors it perfectly, I've lived this events in different ways, I've decided to leave someone i couldn't take care, and also met someone that made me accept that life changed and it wasn't my fault, gone through a mystery, nothing like this one, but just as intriguing, of course not everything is a fit, this is a game, and my life isn't really that much like it, but these feels... human, to me, they felt just as real as all the people I've met in my life, so i got invested, i wanted to know where they would lead this whole relationship, where this job would end, the overall mystery paled in comparison to the humanity i felt a part of, maybe I'm just too emotionally needy and this was something to fill a hole in me during a not so good time in my life... all i can say is i think about this game from time to time, and every time i relate to it more

[@0DriveYT]

Just wanted to say this is one of the best videos I've seen. You go a bit deeper into the details than most other VEs I watch and it gave me new perspectives on a game I played and forgot about years ago. I was initially in the camp that was very disappointed by the ending but you've helped me see the value of it.

[@LB_]

The first and only trailer I saw of Firewatch beforehand was the one that focuses entirely on Henry being scared about what's going on and asking if "people die out here" and such. That trailer has multiple voice lines that I have never heard in the actual game. I felt really deceived by that, the trailer is incredibly misleading about what the game is actually like, and I have had a sort of grudge against the game ever since. The trailer is still up, video id `KqJ2yW1cbPY`

[@DukeofWhales]

That’s fair, they mention in the developer commentaries that the game went through a pretty big rewrite at some point. I think things were originally going to get darker and then the Henry/Delilah relationship was supposed to fracture about halfway through, but they ended up going in a different direction.

[@Shadowspeed2]

One thing that I love about the ending of the game is there is technically two choices you can choose. The obvious one is to get in the helicopter and leave, but if you wait for 2 ish minutes after talking with Delilah the credits will roll. I feel as if it's Henry choosing to do anything but go see Julia and I think that's a very powerful choice that doesn't even get shown to the player but they can still choose it.

[@sharker100]

I remember playing this entire game in one sitting. It took a whole day but I was just so gripped by it.

[@IMPUNKPUG]

I never get tired of this game. Your video is definitely one of my favorites about Firewatch. Thankyou for making it!

[@iiropeltonen]

Nice to hear a narrative analysis from someone who actually understands narrative 😊🎉 Subbed!

[@CorvoFG]

I’ve never even heard of this game but your work to date has impressed me. Quality game essayists are hard to come by on KZbin. Morrowind is a definite, I think you need to complete the current trinity so I can get annoyed about things you say and then realise that maybe you do have a point!

[@JeronimoStilton14]

Ah you missed out so much. I’m a milsim and fps gamer and this was still one of my favorite games of all time

[@shannonking6402]

I just discovered your channel and the one thing I lament about it is that it’s so young. You so clearly put an incredible amount of effort and work into these analyses and have so much love for what you’re doing here. It comes through in the final product! It’s extremely refreshing as someone who watches a lot of video essays to find someone who is willing to dive so deep. Keep up the good work! I look forward to seeing more from you!

[@DaanVos-oe2bn]

what i found interesting is that delilah asks you at the end to giver a sexy british voice. In the story there is one person with a sexy british voice and it is julia. If you look at the story as if it were written by hank himself after it all happened. He apperantly went back to Julia and in this way shows that he chose Julia over Delilah.

[@noahkirschtein8169]

this is the 2nd 1+ hour long video essay on firewatch i’ve been recommended today and i’m so excited abt that. i LOVED this game when i played it last year

[@Kntrabssi]

You have an insight to narratives that isn’t seen that often. I’m twenty minutes into my first video of yours and I’m subscribed. Please keep up the great work

[@stenkamx5406]

Love that you slipped in that always sunny reference at the very end

[@theCurteye]

I absolutely missed the entire point of the game. I never replayed it. This is an absolute masterpiece of an essay and I completely agree on all points. Fucking great work! This was all there, latent, in my brain, but I never got past the mystery aspect and completely missed all the symbolism and metaphor. I played it during the pandemic, drunk as fuck. Maybe I was running and missed the forest for the trees myself.

[@carmenlin1048]

It’s been awhile since I was reminded of this game. I loved Firewatch and enjoyed listening to your take on it. Well structured videos & definitely on my roster to fall asleep to! Side note: I’ve always wished we got to meet Deliah, at the end or in a sequel…

[@Regis1603]

There are theories that Delilah knew about Ned, and that she covered him all along First thing, at the end of the game, if you are really paying attention, her chair and Ned's are facing eachother from distance Plus, she seems really odd multiple times in the game Like when she was talking to someone else, saying "he doesn't know". I think she was talking to Ned Other off moment, when we meet who we can assume was Ned in the forest at night, she doesn't seem that much caring about Henry's safety, even joking about "yeah it's an open space, f it" Other off moment, why does she demands Henry to lock himslef up in his tower when he discovers he's being listened? Not for his safety, maybe it's because he wouldn't notice Ned travelling across the campus to put his stuff everywhere and trap Henry, Henry being a man who knows too much by this point Every next days, Delilah always correctly guides Henry where Ned's stuff are disposed Even tho she clames that from her tower, she can't see anything, so it's really odd when you think about it Now, if all this is correct and that she's indeed protecting Ned, why does she do it anyway? That's something i can't put my finger on, neither is why she doesn't wanna meet us in the end? Something she said she wanted to, during the game Oddly, she changes her mind once Ned is discovered, and tgen she leaves the campus without Henry and basically sends him back to his wife, asking him in her own way to forget about all of that

[@DiabetesActual]

I really enjoyed this theory and learning about it ! It for sure adds some excitement that gamers who are less into imagery and symbolizm will enjoy. I believe If anything I'd say maybe she knew about ned but ned lied about what happened to Brian. Maybe they carried a relationship of some sorts in the past? Idk every avenue you go down in this regard had a plot hole. All I know is that this game is in my top 5 favourite games of all time. It is so well done that even my wife thoroughly enjoyed watching me play it and thought the story was great. I think you could even argue at the start that Henry is trying to use this job as a way to move on ( if you chose for Julia to be in Australia based on your actions.) I'm not saying he meant to but maybe he's so scared this is his attempt to suppress or hide the fears and concerns. I honestly would love to have a good discussion about this game with someone 😂

[@loorthedarkelf8353]

First time on your channel, although I came back on mobile to leave a comment after I watched via Parsec with my lovely as a virtual date. We're a Navy couple, so uncomfortable talks with co workers in isolated places is A Thing He Is Used To, and I get to hear all about it 6 months later when he comes back to port. Lotta those stories sound like this. TMI and blind oversharing in a bid for finding anyone to talk with, even if just to *annoy.* but laughter is more fun all around. You get to know eachother fast, get practice summerizing big events in your life, telling your grossest moments with *just enough tact* it could pass the PG sniff test, and it Made Him So Happy to hear that dynamic talked about. Thanks for the fun date night movie!

[@willw2107]

i just noticed in that last choice too where henry suggests that she become a crossword editor, delilah says “couldn’t be further away from here”. when before she said she wanted to get as far away from here as possible when reacting to the news about brian. i thought that was a nice touch, given that the environment and its situation was a sort of metaphor for their responsibilities

[@kingjoefish3074]

Absolutely love the channel. Very much a joy to watch.

[@jordiejenkins6175]

In my own interpretation of the game is that it highlights the illusion of freedom/choice. I haven’t played it a while and I’m not the most eloquent so I’ll keep it short, but I think Henry’s nightmares and dreams about Julia are interesting in this interpretation. He can choose to go to the lookout and run away from his problems, but there’s only so far you can run - he will maybe never be truly free of these dreams. The gameplay choice to ask Delilah to wait also supports this idea, as the player you are used to having ultimate control. You ask her to wait, she says yes, choice made right? But then she’s gone when you get there. This also has some elements of the freedom idea - Delilah is now free of Henry to pursue her own life however she may be losing the freedom granted by being so far out in the wilderness. Again, these ideas are patchy at best. If you like this theory and have more ideas please feel free to write them in replies, I’d love to hear what other people think

[@Mecheres]

The game, at least in my view of it, already has a 'set in stone' personality that Henry has. It gives us responses in *how* Henry was already portrayed, and kind of shoved that sort of portrayal in very thoroughly in the beginning. That's why I feel like the illusion of choose only makes the experience feel more linear; you aren't really making decisions based on what YOU would do, but what Henry would do. It requires the player to immerse themselves further, which makes things a bit clunky. While we as players know we're playing as someone who isn't just 'our visage', I think it could have been handled better in that aspect. Regardless, this game has a good narrative that I was definitely emotionally invested in, until the lackluster endings.

[@Monoryable]

10:06 Genuinely chuckled on your deadpan delivery of “moderate effort” joke. You’re so good at inserting those at the precise moment I don’t expect them to

[@coronelkittycannon]

Firewatch is like an interactive piece of art. I can't compare it to anything else I've played. It's the only game that I can say hit me in a very emotional way. Many games and even movies try to pull off emotional heartstrings, and fail, but Firewatch really made me stop and think about it. To this day I still think about this game.

[@filippo.diberardino2863]

i hope you carry on having a great success with those essays,i'm sure you will, cause you're damn good

[@Quadrenaro]

As the holder of 140th place for most playtime in Firewatch, I really enjoyed your analysis of the game. At 19:36, that's underwear lol. I live a few valleys over from the Thoroughfare trail, and during the long winters, it's fun doing some virtual summer hikes. I think I've seen and heard everything in the game.

[@dw3yn693]

How much hours?

[@Quadrenaro]

@@dw3yn693 97.9 hours. Winter (and sunset at 4:30pm) is beginning to set in, so I'll get some more in in the coming months. One of my favorite things to do is draw or paint landscapes from the game while a winter storm is howling outside.

[@ihms16]

Your video really showed me how the game was meant to be understood, i finished playing the game 14 hours ago and felt kinda like there was a hole in me. I had watched a gameplay a few years ago but was too young to understand, then just about before yesterday i saw a recommended video about a narrated gameplay of Firewatch and it clicked, i remembered about the game and i wanted to play it, unfortunately i ruined the experience by watching said video, now when i played the game for myself, i could say that i have liked it even enjoyed it, but the ending left me hollow, i wanted more, maybe too much. I wanted too much because i started searching about the game, if there was going to be a sequel, a Firewatch 2 to fill the feeling of unfullfilment, started watching loads of videos explaining nearly everything and then i found this video that explained so much, your analysis was such into detail that it opened my eyes onto some stuff that left me frustrated and for that i want to say thank you, thank you very much. Now i've come to accept the ending and how life always catches up. Now i would've liked for the game to be a little longer, maybe have some more bonding moments with Delilah or her giving you more tasks about the job being a firewatch. (But tbh i would really want a sequel, maybe with different characters, maybe something where we meet delilah again, idk something would do)

[@ClockworkBanana]

I played and beat this game a few years back and remembered being so frustrated by the twist and the ending. But this was such a thoughtful critique... I think I'm going to go back and play it again with a fresh and more mature mind mind. There's so many little things I missed because I didn't realize I could even interact with them - the dropped soda cans, the ring in the tower - in my rush to rush ahead searching for story beats I forgot to take my time in the here and now. Great video. Thanks for posting.

[@michaelthompson3262]

I just recently found your channel and have been enjoying myself immensely. So much so that when this video began playing after the Dawnguard one, and you told the listener to play the game before watching I immediately went and did that. Thank you for the wonderful recommendation and the insights into my favorite medium. Wishing you nothing but luck with your future videos

[@sxhizornsmn]

4:17 interesting, I didn't get those choices nor that circumstance. in my playthrough, it was Julia that was coming home drunk and you had to choose either to get mad at her or ignore her. I wonder which choices we made differently to be given different ones? anyway, it's not that important. just an observation! edit: oh and also dude, you can actually put on henry’s wedding ring on every new day btw (at least I think it’s every day) and it still plays into what you said about making those seemingly small and mundane choices

[@Elegiast]

I can’t believe you made me cry over a game I’d never heard of before. Thank you for your hard work, Duke. This was a video I needed to see.

[@Venus0Kets]

I want to say that one of the things that I think is such a highlight of this game is that I always get freaked out at Wapiti Meadow. No matter how many times I play it. The lighting, the staging, the music, their reactions and dialogue delivery. It’s such a phenomenal game.

[@kizunadragon9]

Sometimes good things in life, no matter how much we don't want it to .. sometimes it just ends.

[@Asimov_]

please release another video bro it's been 2 months im starving. Literally one of the best channels on this app

[@SentientMeatloaf1]

“Deflated flotation device looking thing” XD In all honesty tho it’s said with such a straight delivery I can’t tell if that’s a joke or he never recognized/made the connection between the “flotation device” and the teens stolen panties mentioned in their last note. I say this mostly because it took me like three playthroughs to figure it out myself lol. The positioning of the message doesn’t make it clear what is written on and you can’t pick them up like you could in the walk to the lake, so it’s easy to miss if you aren’t looking closely. Very possible, considering most players will probably be looking up at the severed cable instead of at the rocks below.

[@dead_fox]

Incredibly well written video, I enjoyed the literary references, I have never heard that comparison before. Firewatch is such a special game for me, I re play it at least every summer, but sometimes when I’m going through something I find myself replaying it as well.

[@crustbread5504]

I thoroughly enjoy your narrative commentary and watch it bit by bit during my mornings :) Would love to hear a DA: Inquisition narrative critique ever since you mentioned it in your Skyrim video. Kind regards

[@AhrenAKADan]

Had to pause it at six minutes I wasn't going to play it but your narration of the into has me needing to

[@SANTAtheGREY]

this was a fantastic watch, thank you for all that work. Can't believe you don't have at least a couple hundred thousand subscribers, but I'm sure that's just a matter of time!

[@sifayun6336]

Some times a piece of work can be difficult to separate from the creators' actions. Often, phrases like, not "in a vaccum" is used to explain the art is impossible to distinguish from the artist. Firewatch might have a recognizable story, but I'll always remember how they tried to DMCA a KZbinr (who I don't even watch).

[@rowan4327]

What sort of video did they try to take down?

[@sifayun6336]

@@rowan4327 They DMCAed Pewdiepie's Firewatch playthrough - not sure I spelled that right - because they disapproved of him saying a bad word while he was playing PUBG. Regardless of the language or who the gamer is, to reach out way after the Firewatch videos were done, to attack someone you recently disagree with is a dangerous precedent for gaming KZbinrs.

[@rowan4327]

@@sifayun6336 Yeah that does seem like a bad move.

[@Bamaboy435]

I just finished my second time playing this game at 22, and it is a lot better than the first time. Unfortunately, I realized the team behind this game got bought by Value, so no Firewatch 2 or anything similar. It is still a great game though

[@ORANOID]

I love the game and the video: it (the video) is so well structured, that every few seconds my heart started to pump and I felt the urge to talk to someone about it. The game is awesome. The video is too.

[@firstcanonkill1767]

I wanted to play this since it came out when I was 11. I never had the money. I got it yesterday. I avoided spoilers for almost 8 years. I have no regrets. I’m going to play the guided tour version tonight.

[@jatelitherius9842]

I like listening to people who are capable of noticing details talk about narratives with detail. Pretty much this whole game went over my head. I do like gameplay a bit more. I’ll run the same gameplay loop for hundreds of hours for almost no reason other than I like it

[@catlawyerwilldefendfortrea6038]

Great video! This is one of my favorite games. I love the use of Firewatching as a metaphor. There will be fire in your life and all you can do is watch and manage. If you ignore it, it will only get much worse

[@tytyh]

Okay so you can't just drop a line about how the witcher 3 main quest is "shaky" and not elaborate. That statement just feels so far from my experience I really need to hear your perspective on the game.

[@zeeloo101]

I wasnt able to afford games growing up so instead I watched playthroughs of anything that caught my interest. I remember when Firewatch came out and hearing about the beginning where you make choices about Julia and Henry's life and immediately I jumped to find a playthrough. I actually watched PewDiePie's playthrough, I don't remember the experience very well but I think a part of why I didn't enjoy the game very much initially was because he didn't, and also didnt take the time to read things and what not for the sake of entertainment. Since then I've watched a lot of essays about the game and always saw it as something that was good but flawed and a bit of a unsatisfying ending. I think you're essay managed to convince me that isn't really the case. I'm not in highschool anymore, and suddenly I'm more fulfilled by stories like this. I remember initially just being confused about Brians death. But this time, I became emotional. One of my favorite games is What Remains of Edith Finch and Brians situation reminds me of that. He's a kid that died due to neglect from his family, even though they loved him they weren't good at their job. I had a whole paragraph about my relation to Henry's need to escape after taking care of someone with dementia but then it got a little too real so I cut it. Anyways that was the longest comment of the century. Thank you for your video and giving me a newfound appreciation of this game.

[@lilylohmann614]

As someone who grew up around the woods, even watching playthroughs of this game makes me anxious. For me it doesn’t matter what Ned’s motives are. That is a man who has lost everything, and has survived despite that. He is far more familiar with the area than I, and that makes him dangerous. The wildlife isn’t what you need to fear most of the time. That said, it is a good story with themes that I think a lot of people avoid. It’s messy, and it hurts, and the fact that our instinct is to run away from those topics means we fall into the same category of the characters we try to condemn. Life is impossibly difficult sometimes, and being able to talk about a narrative that confronts that head on is always a good thing. I just can’t stop thinking about the figure silhouetted by the setting sun, watching my every step.

[@ImaginePixel]

i have played this game several times now and i love it so much. it lives rent free in my mind

[@TwoStravvs]

Fantastic analysis. Good luck on any future projects you may have. Ill be checking out your other videos for sure after I play those games and form my own thoughts.

[@goodtaste2185]

Great video! You are a good writer and your analysis/critique is clear and thorough.

[@nuke2625]

wow. This game is one my top 10 games ive played. of all the video essays ive watched ,this was one of the best ones. one thing i did not catch on my play through that why did Ned lock him in the cave. subconsciously i thought mysterious and evil things are happening so yeah why not. but Ned after hearing on the radio about how henry abandoned julia he wanted to show henry what it does to a man when you run from your problems. henry was was on the path to become ned who wants to go deeper into the forest and never come back. Damn the more i see these videos i learn how brilliantly they are written.

[@K.Arashi]

just a little bit of feedback, if you're open to it: it's difficult for me to listen to both your commentary and the character voices when they're overlapping. i'm 16:27 into the video and so far i've mostly been paying attention to what the characters are saying, while what you're saying is being passed over by my brain. possibly because of the subtitles on the screen. i do have auditory processing disorder, so it's possible neurotypical people don't have trouble with this, but i thought i'd let you know just in case. i'm not sure how you could avoid this in future videos, but maybe a different balance of audio levels? i... do not really know how video editing works, haha. feel free to ignore this! i'm just miffed at my brain for being bad at braining. i am going to hit it with the squeaky hammer of punishment **squeak**

[@TheLadida9]

so quickly after your skyrim video! uploading faster than the speed of light 🙏 i look forward to listening to this

[@ethancooper1056]

My problem with this, and most stories like this, is that we are all flawed people. Yet somehow, despite that, good things can and do happen to us. If I was an alien, and all I'd seen of human culture was this game, I'd think we were all weird sad-sacks that can't just have fun. Have bad parts, and good parts, but mostly just shockingly awful, terribly sad bad parts. Life is good! Life is worth living! I'm not saying bad things can't happen, but this game is entirely just one big bad thing and there are so many stories like that. I just can't get behind them.

[@yugatrasclart4439]

I was going go use this video as white noise to fall asleep to but it ended up so interesting you ruined my entire sleep schedule so uh thank you

[@Brennanrr]

This game is sick I’ve never finished it great video and I love your elder scrolls videos!

[@graysongdl]

Something interesting about this game and its ending is that, when you think about it, it was probably (at least partially) born from the limitations of the developers probably not being able (or willing) to animate another person close-up. They get around it with the guy in the helicopter having a mask on, as well as the only interaction the player is allowed to have with them being to get on the helicopter. They didn't have to worry about where you'd be relative to them in the room, or what you could interact with or throw around. Your interaction with the world ends as soon as you interact with the only human you see up close. I mean really, what if Delilah WAS in the tower? What would happen? How would that work? Would you lose control of Henry as soon as you step in the door, so that the developers could ensure you don't break anything with what would inevitably be the most complicated "object" in the entire game world? That would feel strange after having direct control of Henry for almost every moment until that point. And even if the game gave you dialogue choices, it would look really weird to have her just staring at you while you make your decision, instead of the plausible deniability of the pauses you can have in a non-face-to-face conversation on a radio. The player is used to it after a long journey of only that, and it feels real to them. People would probably complain (at least to some extent) about the immersion of the game being broken or compromised if there was even a single flaw in how Delilah appeared, acted, or reacted in-person, especially since it would be so unusual compared to everything before. In reality, Delilah couldn't have been in that tower. When looking purely at the "game" aspect of this game instead of the story aspect, How could she possibly have been? It reminds me of Presentable Liberty, although I won't spoil anything if you've never heard of that game.

[@Breadward_MacGluten]

Presentable Liberty is an amazing comparison for this, and thank you for reminding me of it's existence. It's such a shame what happened to that game's creator, rest his soul

[@DustyyBoi]

presentable liberty is such a fantastic game

[@Uri6060]

Very happy to see this game getting some love! I thought it looked interesting back in the day when like pewdiepie played it, but ive only heard since then about how they sorta forced pewdiepie to remove that. So cool to see it being not forgotten, and appreciated.

[@ayochill9716]

I’m a huge fan of your commentary style and how accurately you break down the narratives of games! However do you think that you would ever consider doing long form content?

[@VE7QH]

This game is what lead to my time with my local wildfire service. My career has taken a different path, but one day I hope to make it back... This is one of the few games I have played more than once and even watching some scenes in your video still genuinely make me laugh... I may need to play through again soon

[@saintlacrimosa]

I've enjoyed all your videos immensely, and I would LOVE to see your take on Outer Wilds. Thanks for all the content

[@shadowbunny7892]

I've adored this game since it came out and I dig what it's doing with the complete subversion of the traditional video game narrative in favor of a more true to life emotional journey but the ending did fall flat for me and I think after this video I'm finally able to articulate why. Throughout this video you emphasize the distinction between the real, mundane events going on and the grand conspiracy that the characters have convinced themselves is happening. But the whole reveal with the Goodwins and particularly Ned and the surveillance and stuff doesn't really fit cleanly into either of those categories. There IS a conspiracy going on. A guy hiding out in the wilderness for several years after the death of his son and then out of fear of being discovered trying to convince these two people that there's a government conspiracy targeting them does not feel remotely grounded nor does it even really make sense. What even was Ned's goal? So ends up being this weird middle ground where it's not a very interesting or satisfying mystery because it's not meant to be. But at the same time it's a fantastical event to the point where it actively detracts from the overall theme of, "They've made up this whole thing as a form of escapism." I think for me it would have landed better if the characters learn earlier on that something bad likely happened to the Goodwins and the conspiracy they made up was about what happened to them and why. Maybe they think the same thing happened to the missing girls and that they'll still be held responsible so it's still personal for Henry. Then we have the same moment with finding Brian's body and it immediately brings the entire thing crashing down. There's nothing particularly crazy going on at all. Ned was a shitty dad that went on the run when his negligence caused his kid's death. No ambiguity where Ned is a video game villain in a story that is otherwise about how real life doesn't work like that.

[@jamescampton2275]

This is a fantastic video man please keep these going!

[@turtleyoutubeaccount]

i wish i could wipe my mind of my initial experience of firewatch being a youtube playthrough instead of playing it myself. id love to experience this game on my own but i know the story already anyway

[@marinocturne]

bless the youtube algorithm for actually recommending me a masterful video like this, looking forward to your future videos!

[@TheMotlias]

If you also just wait when the helicopter comes it will eventually just leave, and credits roll, the secret ending of Henry surrendering to the fire and giving up all control

[@DukeofWhales]

I've only ever seen that ending discussed as a bit of a joke or an easter egg, but I actually love that interpretation. Feels like a moment out of a classical drama, like Dido in The Aeneid.

[@Märkäriittaah]

Firewatch taught me that if you're a boss you're free to drink at work and romanticize with your subordinates through walkie talkie.

[@Niijiwan]

With fire watch I see a lot of parallels to the podcast “tower 4”.

[@TheGreenTaco999]

When Delilah leaves Henry to a forest fire you get so detailed explaining her reasoning feelings and thought process, when Henry leaves Julia to her family who want to have her and want him gone you call him a coward repeatedly. You refer to returning to Julia as his obligation, but when Delilah repeatedly lies outright you don't see her as having an obligation to keep her word.

[@souporwormgaming]

26:24 is the truest analysis ive ever witnessed

[@briancordry8165]

this video extremely rocked, great work

[@Oniwolfx5]

So imma say my piece on Firewatch. I remember seeing it on the xbox game pass menu after I got annoyed playing Call of Duty and likely the art style and saying f*** it I'll give it a try. I beat it in one night and I was completely blown aware on how invested I was in the story and the characters. I got extremely freaked out with the whole Ned situation and was absolutely devastated when I learned about Brian. Firewatch is always be in my top 10 favorite games due to what I experienced from it and learned from it. Also Delilah is still Queen for me and I still wished we got to see what see looked like. Maybe a post card she sent to Henry after the credits?

[@Grimzies106]

26:25 The point about the there being three socks can be seen to symbolize Henry seeing partnership with Delilah over partnership with Julia. If he is to make a pair with one and not the other it would leave one sock without a match.

[@michaelcc7190]

Thanks for another great video! Love these!

[@lydz7451]

Just about to head to bed. But I'm really excited to have stumbled across this video and your channel. I can't watch to watch it tomorrow 😊

[@Sir-Dribbles-a-Lot]

In my opinion, I struggle with the relationship with Julia, because we know she got sick and we were married, therefore when Delilah tries to make a romantic conversation, I always ended up thinking like "this is wrong". That's the thing, I realize that was the hardest choice, to say "no" or avoiding those conversations. Ofc even if you could choose to move on with Delilah, and let Julia with the parents, there were always be something strange to that decision, because Julia is your wife, it's not her fault she got sick. And so, it's a game that doesn't have a good ending, because there's no good ending. Henry just tries to "leave temporarily" the situation with Julia, because he probably exhausted, and he found a job were he could just "relax". That's the biggest key thing in the game, at least to me.