[Critical Play] Walking Simulators

I’ve watched a few gameplays of walking simulators but have never thought about playing one myself. Thus, my experience with Firewatch today was my first time ever being in control of a walking sim. Below are some of my thoughts about the exposition of the game, which is as much as I got through today.

The storyline with Julia did its job of tugging at my heartstrings and getting me emotionally invested in the character. It make me frustrated when I was given two options for his actions that I disagreed with where I felt as if I had to choose between the lesser of two evils. I understand now that I was being led to an inevitable tragic backstory for the character.

It seems as though Firewatch and walking sims in general get a lot of hype for beautiful 360 view graphics. While I agree, I also notice how the graphics still look distinctly cartoonish. A few movies and video games in the past have made the mistake of making their world look too realistic to the point that experiencing the world makes it feel eery — Firewatch does a good job of avoiding this issue.

I was most impressed with the dialogue between Delilah and Henry. Often times, video game dialogue feels forced and unnatural. Delilah and Henry’s conversation was intricate, witty, and filled with banter and emotion. From the roasts to the timing of the audio in which each line is delivered, the dialogue in this game feels easy and natural to digest.

While I enjoyed playing this game, I can see arguments to both how one can easily be engrossed in such a game and also how one can argue that the experience between viewing a gameplay versus playing the game yourself isn’t very different. I’d love to explore walking sims more to come up with my own conclusion on this topic.