3/13/2024 0 Comments Firewatch game different endingsMost players just expected to get to meet the voice on the other side of the radio - at least if they were friends with her and asked her to wait - but in the end, your princess is in another watchtower. The Firewatch subreddit is full of threads looking for closure on this character they bonded with in three short hours of gameplay: “Why couldn’t we meet Delilah?” “Can we get a sequel where you get to meet her?” “I miss Delilah…” While I’ll admit that the denouement of the whole mystery plotline was a little disappointing to me too, there was another complaint that seems to keep popping up.Īt the end, Delilah turns out to be one of the biggest promises never fulfilled. Whether that makes for a good story, however, is another question. What seems like a huge conspiracy is actually just a guy with implied mental health issues and a couple of coincidences that aren’t actually connected at all. If nothing else, Firewatch’s ending is realistic. It’s the same question that Firewatch left me pondering - should games strive to depict reality, or are they made for telling fantastical stories? Do they owe it to their players to give them more agency, more control over the game world than they realistically should have? “Although I suppose that the same women who want to romance Cassandra have probably experienced the same kind of rejection in real life, and might not want it in their game as well,” he added a moment later, seeming to question his previous assertion. He said that, while numerous players were disappointed that they couldn’t romance Alistair when playing as a man, or Cassandra as a woman, he thought it would weaken the character if they just did everything the player wanted of them. Bioware’s lead writer David Gaider touched on this idea in his talk at GX Australia this year. That was my first taste of games refusing to give me what I wanted. I always felt as though that initial mess of an ending was the real one. Of course I played through it again, fixed my mistakes, saved everyone, but that ‘perfect’ playthrough felt oddly sterile. I had decided to sacrifice myself in a noble finale, but when the moment actually came all my coercion skills failed me and Alistair - my love interest of choice at that time - made the sacrifice himself without my permission. As I drew towards the end of the game I had gotten used to being unquestioningly obeyed, so I started planning how I wanted the ending to pan out. Of course, once you level up your coercion enough in that game, people will do almost anything that you tell them to. In the end, Delilah takes that decision from you.ĭragon Age Origins was one of the very first games I played with the promise of game-changing decisions and multiple endings. The whole game through - from an amorous conversation with your supervisor over the glow of a new forest fire to finding your wedding ring and having to decide whether to put it back on or not - Firewatch seems to be setting you up for a difficult decision - do you go back to your wife, or do you stay with the quirky, clever, flirty Delilah? If you’ve read any of the promotional material for the game this feeling is even stronger: “you’ll explore a wild and unknown environment, facing questions and making choices that can build or destroy the only meaningful relationship you have.” “Oh no.” The game immediately feels like it’s setting you up for something, especially once you hear your supervisor’s cheery and very female voice across the radio on your first morning. She’s still your living wife, but sometimes - more and more - it feels like she’s dead to you. You’ve left a wife you love, who sometimes doesn’t even remember you, who’s forgotten the dog she used to adore when you tell her of its passing. But where Up sets its main character up for a journey to let go of his past and move on, Henry’s story is not so straightforward. Short and sweet, it builds a believable and beautiful relationship between the characters and then tears it down only moments later. In explaining Firewatch to other people, I’ve often likened its opening sequence to the infamous one from Up. Warning, this story contains spoilers for the ending of Firewatch. All because, when it came down to it, their choices didn’t matter. Steam reviews chronicle players building up endless expectations for a certain ending, and then being hopelessly disappointed. Viewing only a small sample of the Steam reviews for February’s breakout indie game Firewatch seem to turn up the same theme again and again - love turns to apathy turns to hate in the closing half hour of the game.
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