Walking simulators, just like every other genre, have a vast difference between good / great ones and mediocre / bad ones. Also just like every other genre, the ones that get the most attention probably aren't actually the best ones. Non-fans and people looking in from the outside don't know any of this, though, because they all look the same and seem boring and pointless and whatever other excuses dumb people make for not playing them. Today's game is one of the good ones - in fact, a top 3 in the whole genre - Firewatch. Read more and watch gameplay here.
I started this blog all hot fire, but I don't really want to actually talk about the ins and outs of walking simulators. Just know this - Firewatch and What Remains of Edith Finch are the absolute must-plays at the top, and garbage like Gone Home, Everyone's Gone to the Rapture, Dear Esther, Tacoma (all of the biggest names, really) are terrible and you can skip them. Boom.
Playing Firewatch reminds me of my days as a kid running around outdoors. I spent a LOT of time outside as a kid. Fishing with my Dad every weekend the weather was nice. Gathering landscaping rocks out in the middle of nowhere. Collecting mushrooms in the mountains. My parents also took care of two different local recreational areas (the kind of parks out in the boonies you go camping and fishing at) for several years, so their job in the Summer was to go and mow the lawns, pick up the garbage, clean the bathrooms, etc. so 3-4 days a week we would go out to these parks. My sister and I were too young to really do much "work", so we just played and explored and had fun.
Looking back, because of all of this I'd say I had a great childhood. I loved being outdoors almost every day. My sister, on the other hand, probably says the opposite. Because she's a weirdo. Despite being together and doing the same stuff probably 90% of the time, we had wildly different childhoods if you ask her.
Firewatch is great. Play Firewatch. They never fixed the performance problems on Xbox One, unfortunately, but still play it anyway.
