Critical Play: Walking Simulators
I chose to watch a playthrough of Firewatch. Firewatch is a first-person mystery where you play as a character named Henry who is a fire lookout in the Shoshone National Forest. Throughout the majority of the game, the character navigates through a vast forest, uncovering a mystery while simultaneously interacting with a fire lookout supervisor, Delilah.
From what I watched of the game, there seems to be a lot of freedom in player movement and choice. As a result, I believe this mechanic of a walking simulator allows the player experience the story of the game at their own pace. For example, throughout the game, Delilah speaks through the walkie-talkie and gives the player certain objectives they need to complete. However, there seems to be no indication that these objectives are timed (from what I saw, the only portion that does have a timer is in dialogue choice). I think this mechanic is important because it gives players the freedom to either explore and immerse themselves in this world, or just play the game like they wanted to. Players who do take the time to notice small details receive more insight on the personalities and quirks of the characters in the game. For example, while it didn’t explicitly state that Henry was married, I was able to pick up that detail through: when the player was looking around his outputs, there was a picture of (potentially) yourself with a potentially (significant other). Moreover, there was a point in the game where you fell, and from that angle, you could see that your character was wearing a ring. Noticing these small details definitely engages the player more to explore more of the world that these games designers built for them.
