Understanding Firewatch's Brutal Ending.
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- čas přidán 22. 02. 2016
- Firewatch is known for taking players on a journey, and kicking them in the gut when its over. I decided to take apart Firewatch and give meaning to its controversial ending because believe Firewatch has one of the most powerful endings in modern games. It's almost too real to handle.
MORE VIDEOS LIKE THIS: / nikmoe
Shout outs to / firewatch for some inspiring discussion on this game!
Credit to RabidRetrospectGames for the playthrough footage used in this commentary! • Firewatch Full Game Wa...
The fact that we almost never see other people in the game gives it an odd, isolated feel.
it's both a way to tell the story and an economic development choice since characters are hard to do
@@SixCoreSecond True
almost as if you're alone in the woods
We never truly see anyone except, Julia and ourselves in a photograph, the closet we come is 2 blurry faces of random drunk teens, and a dead boy. Truly makes the game feel isolating
@@noahcrum956 actually, I just finished playing it, and you see the fireman in the helicopter up close :)
My Henry had a breakdown at one point and asked,
"How do I know if any of this is real?"
To which Delilah replied,
"I'm as real as the sky is blue."
It was dusk
The sky was orange and purple
Conspiracy confirmed
It's even funnier when you realize the sky has no color. So the blue is not real... Was Delilah real? I don't know.
Perhaps the biggest hint of all: Delilah's name is literally Delilah. As in, she's named after one of the most famous lairs in history, the manipulative woman who screwed with Samson's head and ruined his life for no real reason? I've always though Delilah and one of the other fire watchmen were actually working together to mess with new guy Henry for their own amusement...
This story isn't just about the problems of other people, but the things they do that carelessly harms others while they run from their problems. Henry leaves Julia on her own in their house to go drinking, endangering her life. He then runs away to the fire tower, burdening Julia's family with her care. Both times, he selfishly manipulated the lives of others to make himself feel better and avoid responsibility.
Who's to say "Delilah" isn't doing the same thing?
Maybe she's running from her own life problems, a nasty divorce, a failed career, etc. She sees Henry is out of his depth on the mountain, and starts to jerk him around a little bit, selfishly, to expend her own boredom and anger at her life situation.
Maybe he reminded her of an ex...
Then one of her other fire watch buddies wanted in on the pranking and gaslighting- in revenge for Henry kyping everyone food supplies?
Then like most bullying, things snowballed out of control...
It was day for me when I played that scene. It must depend on how fast you get to cottonwood creek.
Mesmer ASMR
Delilah ruined Samson because her people told her to. And promised her compensation I think.
@zachanikwano
Yep.
The worst part of the time was realizing that Ned couldn't even be bothered to give his son a proper burial before disappearing, he just left him there
maybe he couldn't get down there because Brian ''lost'' the pitons and the one piton Brian was using when he fell was next to his body.
Or he was just mentally not able to do it. I guess he wanted to forget what happened.
@@Companion92 yeah he was like Henry, ran away from problem and escaped all the hassle
Jaivardhan Deshwal they aren’t that different
It's not that he "could not be bothered", that much is obvious.
I knew we wouldn't meet in person from the beginning, If you pay attention, during the game you see no one's face. The girls are far and in backlight. The firefighters are gone when you have to go meet them. The kid is dead, face covered and at the end, the firefighter is wearing a mask that hides him completely.
U can’t even see your damn face
could just be lazy development
@@sxerwin How is that lazy development?
@@sxerwin Could just be a game design choice. Maybe they just don't have the talent for modelling 3D faces into the gameplay and I feel it never would've lived up to the players expectations of our image of Delilah or any of the other characters. The voice acting in the game is incredible and I think that's enough.
As soon as that scene happens at the lake, while the girls are talking to you, you can run around the lake and get closer and actually see naked girls..
this game is proof that endings can be good and disappointing at the same time
100%
A bunch of good CRPGs like New Vegas or the Witcher series demonstrate that too, granted they usually have good endings that are not disappointing as well.
That's resident evil
You just described Neon Genesis Evagelion
fallout new vegas portal 2 half life 2 modern warfare 2 fallout 1
The ending fits us the players. It ends, this wonderful little trip is over.. back to our reality, and to face it even if it hurts..
Hi Nep Jr!
like coming back from a summer camp. you made friends, adventures and memories. And it all just flew by quick. :)
dot. This sums it all up so nicely.
i love both of you guys for those meaningful words.
You know the bit in the game where Henry is talking to Delilah and he is
looking at the June fire and she says we could sit out side without
these radios we could umm ya know.... *sigh* is she implying sex?
Regarding the alcohol stuff at the beginning of the game, not everybody's play-through embeds alcohol so deeply into Henry's personality and actions. The choices I made never resulted in a DUI, and her parents never came to the house to see a "mess". My house was never described as being in a messy state and I had the option to put Julia in a home or look after her myself. The prologue can be drastically different for each player depending on their choices.
Sorry I'm a year late, but I came to say this. I knew that taking care of people with Alzheimers can devastate families, and abuse can happen. So I put her in a home where she would get the best care and it would be less painful for everyone. So I also did not get the alcoholic Henry.
I also saw the flirting, well not as cheating. But the real feelings of someone who is grieving, who is never ever going to have his wife back. And he is finding a way to move on. Yes, she's not dead, but she's really gone.
I never got the alcoholic part! My Henry witnessed his Julia suffer from Alzheimer's, get her help and put her in a home since he couldn't be with her 24 Hrs. My Henry saw her less and less since she didn't recognize him 100% but remained faithful and decides to face his problems by going to see her again
same
@@shouavang7288 lol I locked that old wetch up by putting a chair up against the door handle.
Brutal, I chose the option to get away from Julia and let the family take her, and I ended up telling Delilah that I had to move on and leave the past behind, forget Julia. I chose at all times to be alone.
The ending is symbolic for facing your reality, the characters took the firewatch to escape their problems, and then suddenly, they are forced back into the real world, just like you are in real life.
Except Henry never ran from nor denied his reality. He just didn't have any reason to stay.
@@promontoriumno he did
@@promontoriumHe absolutely did
I asked D to go without me in the end, so my Henry wasn't that upset.
Kevin Cheng same
Me too, but I was kinda expecting to see her in the tower after all we've been through. I was a little upset when I realized she had really gone. Just shows how much I've connected to the character. Great game.
He's still upset and Delilah just agrees to make Henry happy, she never fully commits she kind of just says that it's a maybe
Me too and I was surprised she agreed so easily to leave without me. Very good. She is not the one.
I never flirted with her or anything but christ the forest was on fire I asked for her to wait on me so I wouldn't die and she was like nope bye n I had to wait like hours for another one. Deliah was a shitty boss and always sexually harassed me over the walkies. Prodding me with questions about my love life. Firewatch was a shitty boss simulator
Emotionally, I was the other way around: I didn't want to meet Delilah. When she went off about Ned not looking after his son and facing his problems I was like, "ouch... I need to get back to Julia." Even before then, before leaving my tower I put my wedding ring back on and took Bucket Jr. (my turtle) and the couples photo with and Julia.
Fuck i forgot the turtle
Jose Zamorano
You ass
I threw the picture of Julia out of the watchtower and hit on Delilah as much as I possibly could.
Everyone got a turtle, but I didn’t? I’m hurt
I got the turtle but I forgot the ring... eh........
I'm here 4 years later to say that there is definitely an option where Henry does NOT get a DUI, and drinking isn't a big part of the exposition in the beginning.
Yeah I just finished my first play through and I didn’t end up with a DUI. Though I thought that alcohol was a fairly prominent theme throughout the entire game. But I guess as a non-drinker... I kind of assume everyone drinks too much.
I've gotta play this again now 👌☺️
I want a sequel or at least another game like this
No DUI for me either
Yeah alcohol wasn’t a theme in my playthrough either, I put Julia in a home because I thought it would be too painful to take care of a loved one who barely recognizes you
I was paranoid that D was in on all of it so never tried to connect with her. And remained loyal to Julia that whole time, no flirting etc. Made the ending just feel "meh".
I palyed Henry as a bit of a dick...he looks like one in Delilahs sketch. I was kind of hoping hed get to kill those teenage skinny dippers but alas he had to put up with Delilah
Yah, didn’t we hear Brian and D talking on the radio at some point?
I thought she was against henry, when she said that she wanted to burn to camp henry found, then it was just conveniently caught on fire by someone
Yeah, i was still convinced all the way till the end that D was being totally honest, i searched her tower thoroughly, Even after telling her to comeback to Boulder with me. I just wanted to know more about her, there was something extra.
But then Henry paused to look at the man with a helmet and I realised it was the first person Henry had seen in 79 days, and all of a sudden none of mattered.
No one cared, and Henry had to go back to being Henry.
Then my camera roll played, and so did photos of Brian and Ned.
It was by far, the best ending to a game I have ever played, it was done beautifully.
@@EggfooDC it was javier, but this game is hella strange
I thought you'd at least be able to find a picture of Delilah
I've been there with Tali from Mass Effect.. Can't say I've forgotten about that yet.
BigMisterApple what do u mean?there is a picture of talia
She's in New York
@@jacoblugtu7205 No there isnt, its literally a somewhat edited version of a stockphoto, there was even some fuss about it way back when.
Bread_ TM I love you for this
Delilah took the Pork Pond sign
I'll take the sign too, everytime I'll look at it I'll giggle like a kid XD
She was a shit boss
@@colonelfrogs you again
@@princesspeach9382 😂😂😂
@@colonelfrogs you are everywhere my man!
I have a theory on why Delilah just up and left.
I think she actually developed romantic feelings for Henry, and couldn’t deal with meeting him face to face for fear of making a move on Henry to be rejected or ruin their friendship, and she also doesn’t want to take Henry away from Julia, hence her final suggestion that Henry should go to Julia.
This comforts me more than believing she just always saw it as a summer fling kind of thing. She didn't want to put Henry in the position of meeting the woman he'd fallen for and then having to go home and care for his sick wife who he says won't even recognize him. Poor Henry, in trying to forget about losing someone he loved, he gained and then lost a new loved one all over again. His issues aren't any better, they're even worse.
I honestly deep down think they both fell inlove with eachother, but if she ever saw him, it would remind her of Brian. Henry truly loved her i believe
I haven't seen anyone mention the fact that in Delilah's report, it said that she was still in a relationship with Javier despite having several lovers. The fire watch position is a temporary escape from the real world. She's in her 40s, unmarried, no kids, drinking problem and she's been doing it every year for over a decade. She's been running for a long time.
Edit: or she's not real 🤷
At first, I was angry at the game for having a disappointing ending.
But then I realized that a video game ending made me angry. That's when I knew it was a good game.
well, you're not wrong
So mass effect 3 is the best game of all time, then.
@@KaneK1234 It depends on the reason you're angry at the ending. If it's because it's a bad ending due to poor writing, that's different. I was angry at Firewatch because I cared about the characters and it sucked to take in the fact that they never got to meet each other face to face. I was so involved in the story, that it didn't occur to me that it was eventually gonna end. Especially in the abrupt way that it did.
I felt cheated when I got to know I can't even see Delilah :-( Also I expected a more tragic ending .
But the game is more real ,and soothing now .Its weird , I finished the game fews mins ago .
Dark souls
I was shocked to see how people reacted to the ending. When I played, I thought it was perfect. The main theme of the game is about dealing with your problems, not a military conspiracy. You disagree? Well, the game doesn't start with "In November 1987, a man misteriously disappeared in the forest", it starts by telling how Henry and Julia met. Henry accepts the firewatch job because he wants to be in a calm place, to get away from his problems and responsabilities, but he learns that he has to face them once he has lived this great adventure, thinking that he is being part of some sort of government secret experiment, but finds out that all of this started when Ned didn't want to deal with the death of his son, nor take responsability for putting him in danger. At the end of the game, when you approach the helicopter, the option you are presented with is "go home", not "get in the chopper", because that was Henry's journey: accepting the truth (that his wife has alzheimer), go back to his home and deal with it, otherwise he was going to end up like Ned. Even Delilah's story arch deals with the theme of taking responsability and facing the truth, once she has to admit part of the blame for Brian's death, since she decided to turn a blind eye to his dangerous explorations. In the end, we get to see Ned's hideout, Delilahs workplace, we have a final chat with the only friend we had for the past hours and both Henry and Delilah decide to move on and deal with the truth, which means confronting Julia's family in Henry's case. Then, the game ends with Henry going back home, having learned a great lesson from the adventures he lived. The credits roll showing all the pictures you took with your camera. What more do you want? It's perfect in all the right ways.
Ricvictors what we want, is to know what Delilah,Henry's wife, and Ned looks like
You can see Ned in the credits.
Razer Lazer That doesn't really matter.
You can see henry's wife on the portrait that he took to the tower
Ramix09 isn't her face covered tho
really good explanation, calmed my rage down right away ahhaha
irgendwelchedinge
1k likes
First comment
No, your initial rage was and is justified.
irgendwelchedinge u
I think an end must feel satisfying right way, you shouldn't be searching for anything to justify it being good when it just isn't.
Luís Caldeira that’s ridiculous. A story doesn’t have to “satisfy” you to be good, even great. Many of the greatest stories have frustrating, unsatisfying endings
A little off topic, but something about the game that once I discovered it I found greatly interesting: remember the letters you find in the supply boxes? Between some guys named Ron and Dave? Well, the letters (and as I recall, there's also a song?) tell another story similar, or even parallel to Delilah and Henry's.
Ron and Dave were rangers a year or two prior, who were friends with that same closeness created by the isolation of being alone the woods for extended periods of time. Dave had feelings for Ron, which were (at least to the player's and Dave's knowledge) unrequited. Dave had escaped to the park (again, like Henry) as he didn't want to deal with his homophobic family members, who he recently came out to (? it was along those lines.) But eventually, Ron leaves with his then-girlfriend, like Delilah does, (minus the girlfriend lol) leaving Dave alone. Just like Henry.
Their stories diverge when it's implied that Dave either commits suicide, or dies in a forest fire after getting drunk, rather than going home to face his problems (his homophobic family). Whereas Henry leaves, to face his problems with Julia head on. Their stories are parallel. It's not the main message of the story, but it's something i found interesting after I saw it pointed out. It also made me a certain type of sad... Ron tells Dave to come visit him sometime, but little does he know, Dave's dead. And ranger's suicides often go undiscovered, and with Dave's family situation and mentioned social isolation, it's unlikely many people would even notice he was gone, let alone be able to notify his friend from his ranger job. So Ron goes the rest of his life not knowing what happened to his old ranger buddy... it's a certain kind of tragic.
Wow I completly missed this thank you
Gut punch oh my god.
Well that hit me differently 🥺
In the ending, you can actually make Henry stay and the helicopter leaves without him. I hate that fucking ending
🤢🤮
By coincidence, I started playing Firewatch when I was feeling really bad about recently acting like a crappy husband. I'd just found out about something my wife was having a really hard time with, but instead of reacting with understanding and love, I was a complete selfish ass only worried about how it would affect me. I was feeling extremely guilty about how I reacted to her when I decided to distract myself by starting Firewatch. When I first got to the tower and Delilah asked what I'm running away from, because everyone who comes out there is running away from something, I immediately thought, "Oh crap. This is me."
Even then, I didn't realize until the end that the circumstances that led me to play this game just happened to make it pretty much the most meta experience possible. I just finished it tonight. Now excuse me while I go deal with my real life.
I hope things worked out for you and your wife! Relationships are hard
I hope things are in a better place for you! Update us
Wonderful video.
This is one of my favourite games. It immersed me more than any other. Never have I been more paranoid in a game than in Firewatch; every little sound and bush shaking could be this unknown entity following me and I was genuinely terrified.
The ending was, in my opinion: perfect. So many people hated it, but I...understood it. I accepted it. This wasn't some fantasy horror mystery sealed with a kiss from a new lover...it was reality. Harsh, morbid reality.
If I could wipe my memory and play any game again, Firewatch is that game.
It's not a game, it's a poorly ported, boring, fetch-quest video book with a lazy ending that's the same even with a "Silent Henry" walkthrough.
Numberer1 I understood the ending too but I also hated it. I hate when people lead you on to thinking there could be a relationship between you then just bitch out in the end. If you don't like me then tell me don't fucking flirt with me.
Niall Or he just hated it? People are allow to have different opinion are they not? Also don't patronize people.
@@NiallEveritt I'm gonna assume they didn't watched the video.
That would be absolutely amazing, if not for the fact that after an hour and a half you already realize nothing is going to happen in this game, no creature will jump out of the bushes, absolutely nothing. The ending is nothing fantastic, but I guess it works for the story. If you manage to get to the ending, because the game is an absolutely boring slogfest
In my only play through, I felt really guilty about putting Julia in a home. So I just answered for Henry like I would - I asked HER questions, talked about my dog, talked about Boulder. I avoided connecting to D because I considered it a guilty distraction. I never WANTED to meat D, and was worried the game was going to make me. Then it got crazy and I didn't have to worry about it. The game let me go through it making 0 connection and I wonder if the game wasn't kind of a commentary about handling emotional things as I do to a T.....
I feel I should mention that at my end, I asked her to come to Boulder with me and she said she was going somewhere else but may stop by. She didn't mention Julia at all cause I NEVER DID!
You still have to mention Julia in your sleep leading to Delilah figuring out about Jules and essentially guessing correctly who she is even if you never agree or talk about Julia
I didn't really want to meet her either- I almost knew she wouldn't be there in the end, partly because the game has almost no 3D modelled characters (only the helicopter pilot?). Anyway, there was something transient about the "radio-only" relationship that you form, in a way that I wanted to appreciate, and then let it end. It's often good to keep those guilty distractions (nice description) at arm's length. She definitely came across as a homewrecker during my playthough haha.
@@Stitchcz Underrated comment.
@@Lors_101 yeah but didn't say who she was
lol "meat" D...
The thing that completely broke me in this game was finding Brian's body. When I saw the shoe when I went into the cave before getting the anchors I just had this gut feeling that it was Brian's shoe and he had died in there. I had no clue whether he had gone exploring into the cave and had slipped and fallen or whether he had see something he shouldn't (back when I thought this whole thing was a government conspiracy lol) and had been pushed down. I expected to find something: torn clothes, a rope, something that would have hinted at his death. When I turned that corner I never expected to actually find Brian's body. The rawness of it and the realisation that he was actually gone destroyed me. I would have handled his death a little easier if it had only been hinted at, rather than actually finding his corpse. The thing that hurt the most is how broken he looked. This kid who, probably moments before his death, had been happy with his science experiments and his Wyverns and Wizards, was now a skeleton. I knew this game was gonna be sad but jesus it took a real dark turn.
yeah he got some sick jordans ngl wish i had those shoes
The worst thing is, i bought it on sale and tought it might be happy game in the nature. Oh how wrong i was
I think we got real closure here, DELILAH took the Porks Pond sign 👏🤣
I laughed so hard when I saw that 😂😂
Fr 🤣
LMAO I DIDNT EVEN REALIZE THAT
@@gwyn4857 I noticed it while sitting down talking to her
i guessed that out loud when she spoke about it on the walkie. When i saw it in her tower i said, out loud, "i fucking knew it"
Please turn up your volume. I had my sound on max and still couldn't hear you.
it must be your headphones or speakers, because I have my volume very low and I could hear him perfectly.
had to blast my speakers also
ive the same issue
i had my speakers on 24 usually on 16
yeah it was real quiet
I actually told D to get on the helicopter while it was there for her, after all, to make sure she got away from the fire. I wasn't surprised at all that she wasn't in her tower, and it was a nice surprise to have one last chat at the end.
i know its been four years, just finished the game for the first time only half an hour ago. I chose the option to try to convince her to wait, even if you do ask her to wait, she'll insist on leaving regardless.
@@KiwisBeLike I'm a firm believer in not buying a game until it's been out at least a year.
I'm on Death Stranding at the moment, I could see Firewatch fans really taking to it because it's also about making the world a better place one trek at a time, alone but connected.
@@KiwisBeLike Hey, I also finished Firewatch for the first time a couple hours ago! I did the same as OP, so it didn't hit the same as in the video.
for me, the idea of the game ending with some crazy military plot would've drawn away from what gives it it's charm in the first place: realism.
for those claiming it was the writer's attempt to wrap up loose ends; if it had been about a whacko experiment on park rangers, then it would've been a different game entirely. in a horror/mystery game they wouldn't've gone so in depth with julia and henry's backstory. it wouldn't've been as summery and emotional. it would've focused more on fear factor and suspense.
people read too far into it- which is EXACTLY the game's intention. the military experiment conspiracy manifests entirely out of henry, delilah's AND the players paranoia; henry and delilah come up with the whole thing because when you're stuck alone in the woods for 3 months, with no one else around to rationalise the situation, and your only companion hyping up your theories, with that "at first i'm sceptical but oh my god it's all too crazy to be coincidence..." bullshit, you're bound to go a little stir crazy.
you're connecting dots that have nothing to do with each other (or you're connecting them in the wrong way) because you WANT to make that connection, and you WANT to have this conspiracy. it's more fun (or at least a better alternative to) than walking around in the woods with the abandonment of your character's mentally ill wife in the back of your mind.
also, with delilah; i'm glad we didn't meet her. it leaves this kind of... unfulfilment in you, that i think is necessary for the game's ending. that "one that got away" vibe.
I personally believe the weather station was possibly checking for signs of volcanic activity as in lots of woodland areas it can show lots of information about volcanic activity and other events
true in some aspects, but i don't agree on how *I* want to make all these connections, game just throws too many shit on you. The teenage girls for example, then brush em off right before the ending.
@@thevideocommenter3061 I think they were thrown in to show Ned’s craziness
You think it was MORE realistic that some guy living in the forest for 2 years was able to set up this elaborate ruse with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment for the sole purpose of making people paranoid when all he wanted was for them to ignore their surroundings?
@@promontorium he was just doing a little trolling
I never liked delilah throughout the whole game. I came to do my job and be left alone but she was always asking questions about my love life even though I told her to stop, and then she would call my walkie in the middle of the night saying she had feelings. Dude the game baits you to flirt with Deliah but I never did and had a completely different ending than the uploaders. I never flirted back and always told her to piss off so I ended up gettin a sexually harassed vibe and it ended with her being a shitty boss that left me in a burning forest instead of having the damn helicopter waiting for me.
lmao
Damn what kinda person would leave their employee in a burning forest????
Wait so there was no helicopter and you were left to die??
@@sliceofbread6929 no there is always helicopter
Lid ya he just missed the helicopter, the game abruptly ends if you wander around too long
I always take my bike and go a long 3-4h cycling to forget my problems and it kinda works :)
Call_Me_Mad but then you have to face the music once those 3-4 hours are up which is what the game represents in the ending for Henry
If I were in a city area, probably New York, I'll walk around the city to admire the architecture, the environment and aesthetics to let loose my problems for a while.
I go to partys and drink stupidly much or just play video games for hours and hours
Kinda works not.
Someday all rains down on you.
Luckily my friends seem to stay with me ;)
Same dude. Its really helpful
I could be angry at this ending all I want.
I just wanted to keep the damn cute little turtle ;-;
Underworld Guardian I think there is an option to adopt it before you leave the tower for good by picking it up and selecting 'adopt'.
@@HighScarlettFever "Adopt" is the only option you get if you want to just "take" it. I'm glad I took it with me before leaving for the helicopter, the little bastard is poised to outlive ol' Henry
Fair enough
So you have to go all the way to the turtle on the last day in order to bring it home?
Michael Bishop no u start in henry’s tower grabbing his stuff
I know this is 5 years later but I only saw the game through videos and theories. You know like Delilah and Ned are secretly in on the experiment on Henry or something. But then I finally I played the game and I realized something. There is no grand conspiracy, the game was TOO good at getting people invested, so much so that they thought there had to be something. The biggest thing people clung on to for their theories was the research station. I too was confused on what it meant, especially a clip board about 3 males and one female. I thought it was Henry, Delilah, Ned and Brian and eventually had an epiphany like “Wait Brian wasn’t meant to be here so maybe it’s Dave and Ron, the two rangers mentioned in notes”. But then I was confused when it turns out Ned was behind the notes on Henry and Delilah at the research station. Then it finally clicked, right before you go to Ned’s hideout there’s a rather big collar with a tracker on it and I finally understood. The research station was keeping track of bears, it explains the collars, the trackers, the wave finder, and the clipboard on the 3 males and one female. After that, I realized that Ned just created this whole conspiracy just to throw Henry and Delilah off of his trail. Fire watch is a damn good game and I encourage everyone to play it even if you’ve seen the entire thing on CZcams like I did.
If you go north after leaving Brian's fort, you'll actually find a dead deer with one of the collars from the researchers. The tracker will lead you to it. (Past the deer you'll find Dave and Ron's viewpoint, with the conclusion to their story too).
Yeah, Ned actually confesses to the whole thing on the last cassette tape he gives you. "I stopped caring whether you guys found out a few weeks ago" or something along those lines in addition to drafts of the 'research notes' he planted in the soil research station.
I never trusted Delilah so I never felt the sting of missed romance. It was very much an, "okay, going home to Julia now" ending for me. Made sure to wear my wedding ring and pack up the photo of me and Julia before leaving for the last time.
exactly
Yeah, I honestly thought she was super shady for some reason.
If Deliah doesnt want the pp its her loss
@@MrSqurkyup, telephone line broken but she was on another call, to whom? Another video says to Ned.
This plot was a slow burn.
Seriously 1 year and only 19 likes I'm dissapointed in you internet
I ACCOMPLISHED SOMETHING
Scott Steven Erickson
The game is 3 hours long, not very slow
I thought it was lit
@@ekathe85 by it you mean the forest right?
Something that does confuse me is that when she gets the new radio, instead of going south from her lookout and giving Henry the radio directly, she goes PAST the lookout tower and puts it in that cache even further south.
James Coburn yah exactly
+Pri3st80 4555 that's why I think she's Ned with a voice changer because she will never let Henry see her and that's how Ned is really getting the conversations
Raven English that may actually be it
Raven English who the fuck is Ned?
+Firas Ziada the guy tracking your calls and Brian's dad
I just finished this game.. oh man what an emotional ride it was... and you know what.. i kept the last shot on my camera roll saved for Delilah knowing that one day i will meet her and the last shot on my film should be of hers....... :(
I only took 1 picture and it was of the dead kid
@@RONALDII0 lmaooooo
I took a shot of her tower, that was my last pic! :)
@@oasisbeyond my final shot was of her desk :)
@@RONALDII0 😂😂lmao
I was so immersed with the game and Henry. I felt so connected that when he got "rejected" by Delilah I felt heartbroken for him myself. I wanted to know more about what happened after all that. I wanted to know if he finally got to see Delilah or what happened after he left the forest. This game managed to make player and character into 1 person. In my opinion its the single best "walking simulator".
I think an underrated subplot is a perfect underscore for the main game plot. Ron and Dave. Those notes you found around that you probably didn't think much of. Much like Ned, it says as much, if not more, about Henry and Delilah's situation as any exchange they have.
Let's start by laying out what exactly went on with Ron and Dave (imo): It's basically a sad version of Brokeback Mountain. Dave is gay, Ron isn't. Ron isn't even aware of Dave's romantic interest in him. Ron must be pretty thick, since it seems the town knows Dave's gay: He gets into trouble with the law in the park (this is never discussed explicitly) and gets beaten at a bar in town. One can assume he was killed or committed suicide, possibly in the park. It's a very tragic story of unrequited love. Delilah says Ron went off with his girlfriend Debbie (which didn't last) but no one knows about Dave -- probably because he's dead somewhere in the park. (Suicide in national parks is a sad thing that happens. I also think those missing person flyers from 81' also were a suicide case).
What this means for the story: Just as Ned represents the madness that can overtake Henry and Delilah if they continually avoid reality, Dave shows that the woods can eat you alive if you stay in them. Dave should have told Ron how he really felt and he should have moved out of the town once his sexual preference was known, resulting in hate acts. Though his situation is more complicated and urgent than Henry and Delilah, he also should have faced reality and left the woods behind. If he had, he may have had a boyfriend and be happy far away from the park.
His story is about staying in the woods. Henrys is about leaving them.
I think Ron jumped off the cliff near the "song tape" after drinking away his sorrows of discovering the letter and listening to the song he wrote.
I could be wrong but I think that was the implication.
Hmmm, have you heard of Matthew Sheaperd. Gay college kid in Laramie (South East Wyoming) taken from a bar, and beaten to death on the side of the road for being gay. This story seems similar.
Have you seen the updated info on Matthew Shepard? The perps knew him, looks like drug deal gone bad.
"basically a sad version of Brokeback Mountain"
lol wtf? It's not like Brokeback Mountain is a funny happy story.
Are you copy/pasting this comment? Or has someone copy/pasted yours? I've seen it somewhere else; word for word.
I’m glad we never saw Delilah. She seemed like a real person you were interacting with over the radio. There was an emotional connection there because what we heard was believable. No visual representation of her in a game could replicate that. There would be greater disappointment if we saw her. I’m sure of it. This game was amazing
Not seeing her face allowed everyone to form their image of what they THOUGHT she might look like making it much more personal to us than if she was just another face on a screen
I was all in on the Delilah relationship. I took the wedding ring off and left it, I was skeptical that she was in on it, but that didn’t make too much sense because there was more dirt on her than Henry. I felt bad for Henry. Based off of my decisions in the prologue, I put Julia in a home and all of his friends ditched him because of it. I think that’s messed up. It’s easy to judge someone for a decision when you don’t have to make it. I’d like to see what all of his friends would’ve done in his shoes. I was all in on Henry moving on from Julia and getting with Delilah. I thought the game was going to drop the “everything is a dream, it’s all in my head,” shit. That was partly based off my decisions that made the romance seem like this perfect dream romance.
I was the same way but got irritated of D towards the end and was like fuck her.
I remember when I first played this, and when we found out that everything had nothing to do with us (me, Henry, and Delilah) my first thought was "Jesus this poor kid" abruptly followed by "wait, we seriously wasted all that time?". This game does a really good job of getting all your hopes up and then dashing them in the most genuine way.
firewatches creepiness scared the shit out of me
Yeah and i felt dumb after realizing what was all those things about, btw hi in a 4 years gap comment lol
I was rushing to get out of my tower and accidentally left Bucket Jr. to die :(
the beginning of firewatch brought me to the edge of tears
i remember being so anxious about the side plot with those two girls, Charlotte and Lily, going missing. but then it's just revealed that they got arrested and that's why they had no contact to anything
*"what are we supposed to do? Live in the shadow of a dead child?..."*
Great breakdown of the game. I hadn't realized how connected I felt with the character until you brought up all of those points. I even remember looking at the picture of Henry and Julia that is on his desk in the tower and almost feeling a sense of nostalgia... as if I actually had a bunch of gameplay that involved Julia! The truth is, all I did was read some text based stories about his experiences with her before starting, but I still felt guilty for having a flirtatious relationship with delilah.
The thing that left me feeling a little bit bummed by the end of that game was all of the cliffhangers in the storyline. even little things like the bear that I kept hearing of (but never got to see). No resolution of why that research facility was there, no resolution about julia, or delilah, No mention of what happened with delilah's ex, no resolution (or even investigation) of the notes being passed between those two guys... idk. My point is that there was a lot of stuff brought up that you think may be a major part in the story that ends up just kind of fading away. Also, what made me mad was that Delilah tells me to make sure to take pictures of the teenagers tent for evidence, so I took pictures of evidence the whole game! Instead of having nice pictures of scenery (which was the point of having the camera) I had a picture of a tent, a cut wire, a kids camp, a research facility, and a dead kid.... lame.
Even though I make all of these complaints, I absolutely loved the game. I have all of these complaints because I got so emotionally invested in the character and storyline that I got upset when things didn't turn out as expected.
sorry for the long and pointless post
The research stuff was staged. Remember Brian's dad was behind the whole thing. He's the one who was listening to them, and he's the one who tried to frame them for burning down the park. He wanted to burn the park to cover up his son's death which he claims to be a climbing accident.
As far as I am aware the research station was actually being used to study elk. But Ned planting stuff all over the site to make Henry and Delilah believe it was all to study them.
***** He staged the stuff in the research tent, but not the entire fenced in quarantine area. That was still a mystery. Delilah stated multiple times that an area that big was way to big to be used for scientific research.
Bob Loblaw No it wasnt a mystery. The tracking collar that he used to lure you to his base was used for elk. There are documents/clues in the research area you can find to confirm that.
Taylor S my point isn't that he didn't use the facility, it's that it was unusually set up in the first place. he didn't put up the fences and bring in all of that equipment.
now this game really effed with my emotions. while i understand how the developers meant for this story to unfold, there’s just this part of me that’s disappointed that henry never got to meet delilah. knowing that delilah wouldn’t move to boulder to see henry, and knowing that their entire friendship through the radios was just.. gone? like it never happened. delilah and henry will never speak again. and while there’s no changing that, it’s just so hard as a player to face the reality of it. it’s so difficult to accept that i’m not getting that happy ending. it makes me feel like i’m missing something. not only that but out of every game i’ve ever played, this one left me so paranoid i was terrified at most points. even though i knew that i was never actually going to see any people in the game, the feeling of being so alone, yet not alone at the same time drove me crazy (in a good way). i couldn’t just quit, sure i took a couple breaks but i kept coming back because while the game absolutely terrified me, it lured me in and i couldn’t resist it. its just amazing to think about how much i loved the game, even with the ending leaving me with so many questions. while it hurts, i guess that must mean the developers did a good job.
is one of those stories after which you have to overcome this void and emptiness inside you...
My thought is that Delilah was tricking Henrey first because You can hear the radio chatter with someone else. But then things got out of hand and delihla freaked out. She knew Ned was out there but when she heard Brian died, she went silent. She was surprised and she was done.
Funny. I was satisfied with the ending, I set up from the start not to cheat on my poor sick wife and I didn't even flinch at Delilah's drunk flirting. I came here to see if there were other endings and not only you get the same ending no matter what (kinda), but also people got pissed... You can even take the game in a meta way and say that it mirrors how some people turn to a videogame to change their reality and get disappointed when they have to come back to it knowing nothing changed.
Also I've read there is a movie adaptation in the works, and I want to go into record and say that the part of Henry needs to go to David Harbour. I can't fucking stress this enough.
omg same, for a minute I was even thinking David Harbour voiced him
Let’s have a short 3 part series maybe? Not a movie, a movie wouldn’t get the full 4-5 hour experience that you, the player, did.
@@johnskahen3494 this game doesen't make sense as a movie either. You build up suspense with a government ploy and then its just absolutely nothing. Wouldn't sell
Same man. But I flinched when she was drunk but I knew she was a runaway from the start except that I thought she would leave me to die in the forest.
Henry's wife isn't sick, she's got dementia. There is no coming back from that.
The craziest part was when Delilah's voice slowly transitioned into Julia's
"My source is that i made it the fuck up"
@@DeputyDexin no its in the game when he suddenly wakes up at night
@@mansourrr_08 You mean the part where Delilah passed Juila's phone call through the radio? Yeah, that's in the game and Delilah also commented on the conversation so that's why you could hear both voices.
Such an amazing game. The story, the characters were so perfectly executed. I was pretty upset like many others when I found out that Henry wasn't meeting Deliliah. but this game is a 100% must play. 10/10
This video opened my eyes and now Firewatch is one of my favourite indie games! Thank you so much!
That is awesome to hear! Firewatch was one of my favorites as well, in some ways it was the original reason why I started my channel! Cheers.
This and Edith Finch really make you think. Both these games are amazing and these two games are the only games where I have actually cried.
it feels good to come back to this video after so many years. i used to get all of my video game knowledge and entertainment through youtube but recently i was able to purchase this game on my switch and experience the story i'd watched so many times for myself. the ending hits even harder when it's 'happening to you.' this game broke my heart and i loved every second.
This game truly reminds me of another game called SOMA the feeling of being alone, with no one to talk to. Very different atmospheres and very different perspectives and stories. The idea of isolation and insecurity is very unique in both of these games. I love it.
Except we got to see Cathrine and Henry isn’t Simon level stupid
@@Ooffoop "Simon level stupid" - I love it. I'll add into my vocabulary.
@@etodemerzel2627 he’s just *so* dumb
I chose the other option and told Delilah to go on without me. Along the way, I also chose to remain faithful to the wife and told Delilah to visit her family by the end. Maybe we could meet later. So the ending didn't feel like disappointment, to me at least, but bittersweet and slightly awkward. Like saying goodbye to a friend I never met.
I waited 5 years to play this game and it was exactly what I hoped it to be back when i saw the first trailer. A well thought out, minimalistic but beautiful looking emotional journey that speaks about inner issues which may plague many people. Its one of those examples of a video game that is very close to classical art-forms like books, slow burn films or paintings.
Definitely not an experience one would expect given the stereotypical notion about what video games are about, but I am incredibly glad I finally made time to experience it.
The only thing that worries me is that to escalate the feelings the game awakened inside me, I might have to become a fire lookout myself.
Hey there Delilah, what’s it like in that other tower-oh you’re gone, okay then, I guess.
Even the song fits the game
One of my favorite analysis video out there. Often come back just to watch it again. Good job !
Thanks for mentioning all the rampant alcoholism, it seems both Delilah and Henry have issues that are blatantly smacking you in the face, much like real life. Real alcoholics don't usually announce their addiction, at least not until they are in a program of sorts. I love that the game kind of slaps you in the face with reality.
ouch. it hurts
Holy crap! You deserve more subscribers!
Thank you so much! Looking to get into a groove of a new vid every other week.
nah after you take the food it ends the day and plus the food isn't assigned to her camp, so she would just have recieved angry calls from other rangers. I know, i wanted him to meet her so bad too
The channel just started out and it already is very neatly packaged, he'll get those subscribers eventually. Can't ignore quality.
***** lmao every single clickbait youtuber ever
Firewatch is truly something special.
It tells a beautifully crafted, character-driven, engaging story with impeccable pacing. It’s deeply reflective and thought provoking, not only in the context of its characters and their situations, but in a broader context of player interaction with video games. It involves and engages players to greater affect than many of its predecessors in the experiential sub-genre, and does so with astonishing presentation.
Firewatch is a piece of video game literature, propelling the medium forward with messages relevant to us all, especially to gamer specific audience. It had made its impact on me, and ought to contribute to a larger impact on the industry as a whole.
Liked it. Like your voice and style. Thanks man!
I think you don't even need to go so deep into the details...
The general idea is that the people who play the game go in it to have fun or to forget about reality a little... and then the game is so real, with the frustration, the fact that there was nothing special about the characters or about anything;
And to top it off the ending falls as flat as the rest of the grande expectations we had for the game that the only lesson you take from it is that you can't run from reality forever. Which is in and on itself a very frustrating thing to have shoved in your face, specially by a game lololol
this game is literally too fuckin real to handle haha
your pretty can i add you on ps4
ThePhenomenal1x wtf?
A Medium sized bag of trash isn't the person in Mine S. profile picture a guy?
Mine S. I
Mine S. It makes me feel sad when I wanted to feel happy.
No game honestly has made me feel more than this game. Sincerely touching and immersive from start to finish
In the tent inside the compound Henry still found detailed reports on him and Delilah. Plus the sensor thing that led to the alarmed backpack? It's not really clicking with me how it wasn't in fact a conspiracy against them.
They're not actually describing Henry and Delilah. They're describing a pair of Elk, if I remember correctly. It's just written in a way that Henry assumes its about him and Delilah. There's a missable bit towards the end of the game where this is confirmed.
The research camp was an actual government/college site. Ned just found a way in (theres a note saying how he snuck into it) and stole a lot if their equipment (note also has notes for him to return the stuff he 'borrowed'). The alarm is just Ned trying to scare off Henry I guess.
There are also drafts of the research Henry funds at the site. So Ned wrote all the reports on Henry and D and placed them there to spook him. In the same note where he says he needs to return the borrowed equipment, he also states that he needs to “remove all H. And D. evidence from the site”.
To me it felt like the ending very much depended on how much you used this as a form of escapism. Cause It just didn’t really hit me, however I can see how it might hit hard for some
first playthrough - I was left all sad and confused.. disappointed by the fact that this amazing story that I've plunged myself into has come to an end that was not only abrupt and disappointing, but more importantly - realistic..
second/third playthrough - after paying more attention to details, small talk and minor events, therefore finding out that Delilah wasn't as innocent as she appeared to be and finally understanding the actual plot, and (imo) the message that was brought forth by the devs..
I was left in this kinda daze for a couple minutes, before finally realising - this is one of the best games I've ever played. Valuable lessons and a fascinating in an ordinary, down to earth way, story.
OST playlist saved, just hits the feels :)
Love how Henry is in a forest to escape the problems of his reality and is disappointed when it ends so abruptly, then I as a player too am bummed to go and face the problems of my reality at the abrupt end...
This appeared in my recommendations 2 years later
Same
TheGamerkidMC 3 years
The ending is perfect
It's brutally honest and painfully accurate
At least I got a turtle
This video was honestly amazing. Good job to you sir. May your youtube channel grow exponentially in popularity.
Thanks dude. Glad you enjoyed it.
Actually I was angry at the developers for not getting bothered to go through the troubles of making a proper npc
Fantastic analysis! I absolutely love this game and was so engrossed the whole way through. Even outside of the story, the aesthetic and music are just phenomenal.
Great video, really speaks to why I love this game so much.
Throughout the game I just knew we wouldn't get to see Delilah, it didn't seem like that kind of game. After all, what had we done to deserve some happy ending? Life, and the lives of the characters in the game, is too messy and complicated for that. Even if they met, Henry is still married to Julia and Delilah has her own life and problems.
But regardless, walking into the lookout tower to find her gone was.. gut wrenching. I felt silly for begging her to stay. It felt very personal, even though Henry is a middle aged man and I'm a 20 year old girl.
The ending was 'disappointing'. And to me, that's what made it so much more than just some adventure game.
Exactly... i had the same feeling in the end, after finding out she left, everything shattered. Reality kicked in. Life isn’t rainbows and sunshine and i think that is what the game is trying to show us.
I had no idea the general perception of Firewatch's ending was negative until I saw this video. I'm kinda glad I pick my scenes carefully
This game just hits all kinds of different 💔 this was a great video
To sum this up: The game perfectly captured the emotion of making you feel completely disappointed.
_wow, what a feat. Good show._
You could probably mention a few other games that did that also. Wasn’t their intention however.
I remember running the whole way until I reached Deliah's tower at the end because I wanted to see how she look like but it was not possible.
I even started looking around her cabin for a photo of her because Henry had one with Julia on his desk but the game was cleverly scripted until the end.
Jesus dude, this blew my mind. I remember during the beginning of the game loving the relaxing feeling of walking and talking with D, then everything about the game changed, my emotions and feelings when the conspiracy started to take hold. I feel like i had tinfoil on my head. All and all i never realized how linked i was to Henry, and how alike our feelings were. Awesome work dude!
Played jt when it first came out and it was good its been years and thought id give it a go and smashed it out in one night and all i can say is im glad i replayed it at a later date so i undwrstood a lot more of how deep it got this game is phenomenal
Thanks for making this video, I needed it after finishing firewatch
The problem I made was not realizing that Ned and Brian were going to be important and never intending to hit on Delilah and forget Julia
This game is a masterpiece so is this video explanation of it, such a great video man loved it
I literally showed this video to 4 people by now who played the game.
This video should be at the end of the game explaining stuff, as an extra menu option.
Great vid mate!
I loved the ending to this game. The release of personal attachment and the theme of unimportance was a breath of fresh air. There was no supernatural elements, no government conspiracy just themes of isolation and loss executed really well.
I appreciated the ending for truly sticking to it's theme in a way that is memorable.
The game is just so good! I can't figure out if I'll be excited or worried. I feel guilty ending the game the way I played it for the first time. It seems the game could have been much more interesting but the thought of playing the game again scares me. What if it doesn't feel the same way?
You convinced me - good video!
Thank you!
Hei you! Thank you for creating this video. So many people dont understand the game and i'm very happy, someone see's it like i did. Your video brought back memories and this heavy feeling i got after playing.
I got this game for €5.00, played it in one sitting today and absolutely loved it. It’s hard nowadays for me to find a game that can take my attention so much, but this one did it. I loved everything: the two main characters and how charismatic they were, the amazing ambient and relaxing sounds -with nice music playing, though rarely, always at the right time. I even liked the ending. It’s relatable, and not for one second during the game I ever thought I was going to meet D, so I didn’t find myself disappointed in that regard like many others. It was a relatable story, extremely well paced with just the right amount of interaction with the level to keep the player engaged.
I used to love huge open world adventures lasting hundreds of hours when I was younger, but I’m not afraid to admit that nowadays, I might just rely on short, sweet games for me to enjoy. It was amazing to sit and complete a game in a few hours -and feeling satisfied at that too. I hadn’t done that in a long, long time.
I just really wish we could get more of Henry and Delilah, they had really good chemistry and I like listening to them having conversations.
You are amazing, my friend!
Thank you SO MUCH for this vídeo, i just finish the game and i was like: "WTF?!?!".
So many things that i didn't got it, or that i thought that it was left without answer, but after watching your vídeo everything make sense!!
Ok, there is still the strange phone call that we can hear between Delilah and some other guy... I don't know if you remember this part, but if you do, what do you think it was? I think she was saying something like: "He doesn't know anything." or something like that...
And another thing, that camp inside the wire with all those high tech equips, what those people were doing?
Hope you can answer me, and sorry for the big comment.
And again, thank you so much!
Really glad you enjoyed the video! It's been a while since I completed the game but I can at least answer question 2. The camp you discover with the tracking and tech equipment was being used by the parks department to conduct a study, like routine nature monitoring business, it appears Ned did use some of their gear in his efforts to cover his tracks, but when Henry discovers the tech site, his paranoia leads him to believe that he is in an "Area 51" sort of grand conspiracy, when in fact he is in a normal research station, and his emotions are getting the best of him. I hope that sort of helps!
Oooh, got it! :o Thank you so much man :D Have a nice week!
to answer question 1: that's D talking to Ned :O because this whole time they've been communicating, covering each other's tracks. ever since the beginning.
I saw this pop up in my recommended a few months ago and I clicked it and you told me to close the video and go play the game so I did. I closed the game, bought it, and played it. One of the most amazing games I’ve ever played, but I forgot to come back to this video until just now so yeah I’ll press play now
Bro that outro- smooth. Also really in depth take on the story
Great interpretation of the ending! That's exactly how i felt! Anger that i never got to see Delilah or that she didn't want to meet me, that rejection we've all probably felt at one time or another is what Henry feels at that very moment in her tower.Very frustrating ending, but very brave of the developers to go with it, if that was their intention for you to feel that way.
We feel what Henry feels. I guess you get really attached to Delilah, especially because your own wife does not even recognize you anymore. You and Delilah are having fun, comfort eachother and flirt (depending on your choices though). She opens up to you, you open up to her, ánd you are both in a horrible situation where you are scared (if something causes attachment it is living through stressful situations together). In the end you finally are going to meet her, and she is gone. You feel sad and/or betrayed. Couldnt she wait this like one minute? It feels like an immense loss and you get thrown back to the reality; you have to go back, either to Julia or to your own home where you ran away from and deal with what happend now too. In my story Delilah said she had to go to Casper, but could visit you on her way to other places (although, will she? I had the feeling she would not eventually). You have lost the person you felt so close to. I felt she was more important to me than I was to her in the end. Even though it all did hurt so much, Im happy about this ending. It would not have made such an impact if Delilah was there for us to meet. Also, I really hope they make another game this amazing.
Sidenote: Since there is a long briefing afterwards, I guess Henry and Delilah meet anyway at the briefing? We just dont get to see it.
Every version shows Delilah is an unreliable liar and has no loyalty. So you were blind and deluded. She was preparing to set up Henry at a moment's notice and didn't give a shit about him. She was writing him off long before the end.
THIS VIDEO IS SO WELL DONE AND AWESOME
Great video, thank you! The game was very bittersweet to me and your explanation has helped urustle my jimmies.