Firewatch was meant to spark a subgenre but its influence didn’t spread. A decade on, we ask why Roblox and Minecraft are more
Firewatch was meant to spark a subgenre but its influence didn’t spread. A decade on, we ask why Roblox and Minecraft are more
I really liked the first 80% of Firewatch. The last 20% though… I guess I didn’t hate it, but I also really didn’t like the switch in tone. Without giving spoilers, the ending left me feeling kind of disappointed with how normal it was. I remember finishing the game and immediately going to look if there was an alternative ending, because certainly the game wouldn’t just end like… That.
Like, imagine working on a big murder mystery where a man was found dead inside a locked room with no windows. You gather tons of clues, interview countless people searching for a motive, spend a lot of time putting together all the pieces and… It turns out he simply tripped and hit his head.
Like, there’s still a mystery. There’s still a good story. It’s not even a really bad ending, it’s just not nearly as exciting as where you thought it would lead.
That’s a great way to put it. The game’s ‘feeling’ wasn’t managed well, I think. They did some great atmospheric tricks, with some good tension by using the very fact that you’re playing a game to lead you down a particular thought pattern. I even thought it was a good ending that fit everything, but it just felt like that switch in tone you describe wasn’t really done in a way that was pleasant to experience.
I had this dilemma with Danganronpa 3.
The first case is very well structured. It transparently sets up a very easy-to-miss stinging motive for the act that happens. It distracts you in the trial, and whams you with it in a perfect way. Everything makes sense; I remember feeling impressed by the twist they pulled off.
But then, due to the outcome, I honestly had little interest in finishing the game. It was a “fitting” twist, accurate to the characters as they’d defined them, but it wasn’t a satisfying one.
I see this opinion quite a bit. I also see the opinion that I’m about to give you quite a bit.
I think the ending was fitting. Life goes on, not everything has a spectacular ending. Yet we go on.
I think I related to the game quite well because I finally played it after ending a long-term relationship. I think it actually helped me process some stuff - not that I couldn’t without it, but it maybe helped bring it out into the open.
edit: on a reread, the two opinions aren’t exclusive, both can be held. and I do agree with you, it’s a bit of a “…that’s it?” moment. in my haste to form a reply on the internet for validation I read a little bit deeper into your comment then you actually wrote. I like how you worded it. and there is a commonly held opinion that is more opinionated than yours, which I thought you leaned a little more towards than your comment actually does
Yeah, I actually think from a narrative perspective it’s very fitting, maybe anticlimactic, but fitting.
You have this guy trying to get away from the realities of life, he wants things to be more than what they are, but in the end that just isn’t the case. It’s melancholic, but also cathartic in a way.
The ending is perhaps wrapped up a little too perfectly. You look at something like Twin Peaks and you know who did it, but it ends in whatever the opposite of wrapped up perfectly is and people talk about it for decades.