I finished the game yesterday. I've been watching and reading theories all day and night about the story and the characters.

I see that a lot of people think that Delilah is a liar and that she works with Ned. I'm not gonna lie, it sounds interesting and you can't just throw it off, but if you go a little deeper, it actually doesn't make much sense.

First of all, what would be the motive? You want me to believe that Delilah got herself in a big teenage love story with a retired rigorous military man who could fix her daddy issues and make her fall in love with the little family life? And after that, when Brian died, how would the conversation go:

Delilah: "Ned what do we do now?"
Ned: "I don't know, my love."
D: "Oh, I know, babe, let us become complete psychopaths, let's leave Brian's body in the cave to rot, and then I will lie my coworkers that everything is great while you can live like a monkey in some other cave and scare the shit out of people for no reason. It'll be so fun."
N: "That's great, my love, we'll do it for some time and after that, we can disappear like nothing ever happened"

D and N: *proceed to have the wildest sex ever*

I mean no, I just don't believe that. Delilah stated that she was aware of his ptsd from war and that she always liked Brian more. Who would want to be with a ptsd man just like that?

So outside of that silly love story, she wouldn't have any motive to lie, if she knew about the Brian's death she wouldn't behave like she did. She even said at the end, "He killed his fckn son", which implicates that she's angry.

Delilah's talk with "some other guy" on the radio was just put to make game more dramatic from the start. She most probably talked with the coworker from other tower. I think it was also confirmed form the developers. And after all, if I was about to snitch someone, I would be damn sure my radio with that person is turned off.

Ned is a retired soldier, he has ptsd. If there is one thing that always goes with ptsd, it's paranoia. So it's pretty reasonable he wanted to go with his son outside from the world, to live without people and to live in nature where he can clear his mind from his thoughts. When his son died by the accident, he saw him in the cave and his ptsd kicked in bcs he looked at a dead body. And because of that, he wasn't stable enough mentally to bury him. So he decided to lock him, and to make sure nobody finds him.

Maybe I would somehow swallow the story where Ned is the worst possible father and that he did everything wrong from the parent perspective. But to leave your child's dead body just like that without any reason...No you don't do that without some really good reason. So the only rational explanation was him not being mentally stable to do anything while looking at a dead body with blood and everything.

If you analyze what he does the whole game, it's the same thing he did in the war, as I explained bcs of ptsd and paranoia. What's the most important thing to do, when in war, outside of just killing? It's to gather information about your enemy as much as possible and to make sure the enemy doesn't do that to you.

That explains why he threw the typewriter from Henry's tower and why he cut the communication wires, because he didn't want any information to go anywhere. Just look at the Delilah's and Henry's profile documents that he wrote. It's looks exactly how some military person would write it (bio, qualities, how manipulative the person is, behavior...). He also destroys everything that he doesn't need anymore, which is exactly what you do at war when you can't use something anymore. You either destroy the evidence or intentionally leave the wrong one. And he records the conversations which goes along with what I'm explaining.

At Wapiti station, Henry points out that everything there is some high budget electronic stuff which implicates it's some government/military thing. And we know Ned is good at both, so it's clear how he did everything technology related. Delilah didn't give a shit about some fence and military station, she just did her job about reporting fire and that's it. She didn't need to be interested in that.

When the big fire got out of control, Ned realized Brian's cave might become unreachable or forgotten, so he made peace with his mind, he "gave" Henry the cave keys, so he can go and find Brian. Ned knew that Henry is going to report that to Delilah. And Ned also knew that Delilah loved the kid, so she would surely call someone to go and pick the body to be buried. That's somewhat a win-win situation for him at that point. So he'll continue to live somewhere else in the forest with his mind relieved a little bit and Brian is going to get buried. That's it

Thank you for reading all this :D

usualy games die like this but no this game alive and well i like they make part 2 i like

Done by notsoevil.ink on instagram, in Mo treal!

So I'm a couple of hours into the game, and I have several questions.

1.What was the two teens' fate? Did they die? Was it a bear? Or something else?

2. There was this scary scream from some creature while I was hiking. Was it a wendigo or something?

3.Was that guy that was stalking us Ned?

4.Did Delilah know about what happened to Brian?

5. What's the deal with that old cabin at Hawk's nest? Why is Delilah silent about it?

6.Should I be collecting those books from the guy called Sturgeon?

7. Should I keep the camera for emergencies and not take pictures of the forest?

I don't mind spoilers.

Just started this game last night and I already finished it. Definitely one of my new favorites. I know this post is short and to the point but I just had to share. 10/10 game

On Day 77 you will receive a wave receiver. This, after this point will become your compass. It is also stupid large and blocks your view of the audio tour stops. Here's how to fix this.

BEFORE day 77, or during day 77 BEFORE you have picked up the wave receiver, open your map and pick up your cell phone. Take a photograph of your screen & the map. Then download any drawing app (or just use the editing mode on your photos app if it allows you to draw on pictures) and use this picture to checkoff your progress. Still use the map to locate the cassettes but this image will act as your new tracker to ensure you've found them all.

Ii just got done replaying Firewatch, last time I played it I was in highschool now I'm 21 with a job and the game has actually made me question things and has made me feel very emotional lately. I don't know if it's me or if it hits differently now, but I have been feeling like I need to actually be a fire lookout somewhere or that I have a moral responsibility to be a service to nature itself. If anyone else feels the same I'd like to hear there end of the story or any tip on how to be ok with completing such a small yet impacting game.

u/Hefty-Paramedic5718 this one better be the right one!

Last week this book got suggested here, and I decided to swing - why not! In the spring, someone recommended Tower 4, and that became one of my fave things to listen to this year, and because of that, I replayed Firewatch for the first time in like 7 years and it was way better than I remembered. So, I think this sub has some good curators here.

I don't read that often for leisure, but if the past content on this sub is any indication, I'll like this too.

brooo, it's my first post on reddit but i had to make it. i've just finished Firewatch, and the mood was unique. i basically started to play at 3am, in the dark, with a monster to be able to stay focus and awaken hahaha. and duuuude it was magic, i finished the game in 3h and half and it was magic, the story, the plot twist, the revelations, the mood, relation between characters, just everything was so amazing. its definitely one of my favorite games now, i'd like to spend more time in this little forest tbh haha, i'll try to get all the achievements and maybe start speedrunning it? time goes by too fast in this forest

I was just starting to really enjoy this game and then on day 77 I was leaving the fire tower and at the bottom of the steps hopped the rail and am stuck on top of it now. I can’t move can only spin and I saved so I can’t go back to last save. Does anyone know how I can fix this

I don't usually post on reddit, but i started playing this game 2 weeks ago, slowly finishing it. i've known this game since june of this year, and man its crazy that i just finished it. even though it was short i really enjoyed it, props to the whole team behind this, had a blast playing this to the end.

I just played this game a few weeks ago and forced my boyfriend to play it so we can discuss.

As I watched him play through going to Ned’s hideout, I noticed Ned mentions many times “Mama Grizzly” and was reminded how annoying it was that bears are mentioned a lot, but never shown.

Afterwards, we were discussing how much Delilah knew, why did Ned do certain things, etc. But he pointed out something I never considered, why would Ned wreck the teens campsite? And, why would Ned throw my typewriter out a window? Ned doesn’t want to be found. And the teens campsite truly looked like it was torn to shreds. Sure, Ned needs to ransack campsites to survive, but he wouldn’t want to leave any evidence behind. But what if, we’re putting the wrong criminal to the wrong crimes, what if everyone is?

What if the teens threw the typewriter out the window, as revenge. He of course heard them making a ruckus, and went to see what was going on and thats when you saw him. And then, what if an ACTUAL BEAR destroyed the teens campsite? The same “problem bear” you’re looking out for when you find the clipboard? And they thought it was you? Getting your revenge?

I know there’s reasons why Ned might have thrown the typewriter out your window or trashed the girls tent, like scaring people into leaving the area and not discovering Brian. But at the same time, Brian was locked up behind a gate with no key and in Ned’s own NOTES he says henry shows no interest in the cave early on. Why would Ned go through all this extra trouble and expose himself to scare people away when it would be easier to just hide? Even if Brians body is found, no one would assume Ned is still in the forest.

So I’m in day 77 on my second play through, and when Delilah tells you to go to cottonwood creek to pick up the new radio, once you come out from the river and you turn right to go to cottonwood creek, to the left and right you can here bushes that are rustling. Is this Ned, and if so how does he know where Henry is going? Creepy.

Howdy!

I’m a former Gila Hotshot (New Mexico Wildland Firefighter) and I recently wrote a novel called American Fire.

A Firewatch gamer messaged me recently to say my book really reminded them of the game. If you're into wildland fire you may enjoy it. 

I wanted to share the book's link. I’d be really honored if you checked it out.

I also had an audiobook made and have some free promo codes. I’m happy to share some. Just message me!

Have a good one!

https://preview.redd.it/ok2didru1ywd1.png?width=1311&format=png&auto=webp&s=d2f3423666c3daa4b2a33a8b1934e9acb32e896e

I've played the first day, and while the gameplay seems ok the starting story was not a good experience. Felt like it ruined the game before it even began.

And it's not just because it's depressing, though that certainly doesn't help. After all I play games as a means of escapism, not to get caught in someone else's depressing story, and you'd need to be a sadist to enjoy that one.

What bothered me the most was actually the "choice" selection in the backstory. What struck me was the fact that after getting to choose a choice the game then goes on to describe what "You" end up doing, and it was not what I had in mind at all. So I've been given the illusion of a roleplaying game but left disappointed, actually worse than that because it's now clear that I'm in the body of someone who I do not and can not relate with, and I am stuck here for the entire game. I feel like this is the exact opposite of what the game was intending to do with that intro.

It is actually rather strange to experience this as I have played a lot of games as some main character with a fixed backstory etc etc and it never bothered me, but this experience with Firewatch really did. The "choice" paired with the scripted actions really set the sense that I'm stuck in someone else's miserable fantasy forced to play as someone who I cannot relate with. And it's all because of the game describing what "You" did after letting you imagine what you'd do given the "choices". I believe this would have been entirely avoided by the game not going into describing what "You" did after letting you choose and just giving you the outcome, or even just giving you the backstory with no choices involved at all, and then you're free to act/imagine however you like the rest of the game as a typical roleplaying game.

I know this may seem like a minor/unnoticed thing to some people but it did bother me, which along with the depressing nature of the backstory created a poor starting experience. Btw I also don't think it was a good idea to start the game built around more than a decade of backstory with someone not even in the game while offering basically absolute zero detail on who the main character you're playing even is. I don't think that's ever a good idea unless the main character is supposed to be an amnesiac/suppressed memory or something in some literal crazy plot line, even then that's still a maybe on being able to pull that off.

Can't say I'm impressed with the game so far but I think this whole thing at least makes for a case study of bad narrative design in game creation.

I really wanna try it out but I don't wanna buy it for 20 dollars then it's 10 like a couple days after does it go on sale often?

As beautiful as the game is, I lowkey wish I never played it. First off I thought it was very interesting that all the “excitement” of this game was pretty much all in my head

• Is something gonna happen to me while im alone in a forrest?

• Should I be suspicious of Delilah when she accidentally hit her walkie button?

• Is there a secret government base listening to our conversations and made us some sort of experiment?

• What do u mean you see someone in my tower when im not there??!

But most importantly when am I gonna meet Delilah

I had a similar relationship as the two characters (lot of connection yet didnt really go anywhere and it all died) and I think I found that most disappointing in the game especially going through it. Now i cannot stop thinking about this game.

Also on top of that when I was in Ned little cave area I kept reporting everything I saw to Delilah while Henry is basically in a forest fire. She seemed oddly disinterested but then it subconsciously hit me. All of the equipment and radio chats logs really didnt matter anymore. It was just some dude in the woods. Being in the fire was actually more important then all this.

Overall great game that really makes you think and reflect but i cant stop thinking how it ends and Delilah. Maybe this is just me but idk felt like I needed to get my thoughts out.

even though it couldn’t be made by campo santo unfortunately - i really hope to see a remake or continuation of this game. feels like that will never happen though

anyone think we got a chance of seeing a firewatch remake/sequel?

I loved the atmosphere, the detail and the graphics, can't forget the career; so much that I want to be a lookout irl (very unlikely sadly) and I was wondering if there were any mods I could install that will make free roam more of a simulation or other games I could act as a fire lookout in.

I recall checking the steam page not too ling ago and seeing release TBD now it's 5 years off? I assume it's a placeholder but why would campo Santo update it at all?

What if Delilah wasn’t real? She said in one scene, “I’m as real as the sky is blue”, yet the sky at that time was not blue. That’s not all, humans are known to create vivid images and hallucinations when deprived of human interaction for long amounts of time, coupled by the fact that Henry’s wife just left could play a significant role in this theory. This would also explain why we never actually see Delilah in the game despite Henry becoming dependent on her. She is also never actually present in her tower despite claiming to be able to see you at all times.

at the beggining of the game when she’s on a phone call to someone saying he doesn’t know etc- who is this and what is it about?

hello! so, i have played through the first three days and none of the items i can save stay after each day except the first note. is this gonna be a problem as the game goes on? i heard the switch version was not the best but is it really that bad?

What if we all strike against valve and see how popular in the valley of gods would be, maybe then they will let the campo devs start working on it again

The last Update on their Dev Blog was in 2018, Same for the latest Quarterly Review and their last twitter post was February of 2023.

Last update on the website for In the Valley of Gods in 2018. Even the official Firewatch Support and their merch store links lead to a 404 page.

Firewatch chanegd my life and so much other's so what is going on ??