GAMETECH: Blazing a trail in new role-player

GUILT, like a fire, can consume us. It starts small, but eventually spreads to every corner of your life. It feeds on the unresolved, writes Ronan Jennings

But what if that guilt is misplaced? What if the fire rages because of bad luck, and nothing else? This, in part, is the theme of Firewatch, a thoughtful first release from developers Campo Santo. Set deep in the centre of an American national park (think Yellowstone), it is a game about one man’s struggle with a very real-world problem.

A short, text-based introduction opens the game beautifully. You are told the story of how Henry met his future wife in a bar, and how they came to make a life together. You are told how they fell in love, moved in together, got a dog, mulled over marriage, and spent the next ten years getting older together. During this introduction, there are moments when you choose Henry’s path for him, but the end result is the same regardless — Henry’s wife is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Before long, she is all but lost to him.