‘Firewatch’ drops gamer into Wyoming wilderness with a radio and many questions

TORONTO – In a video game world full of shooters and sequels, “Firewatch” offers a refreshing change of pace.

“Firewatch,” available for PC and PlayStation 4 for $19.99, drops the gamer into the Wyoming wilderness in 1989. You play Henry, a man who has retreated from his complicated life for a stint as a fire lookout. Your only connection to the outside world is the voice of your supervisor, Delilah, over a handheld radio.

Any hopes for a simple summer soon disappear, however. You have to sort out the past and the present.

The game’s visuals are beautiful and the story-telling is smart right from the get-go, with an introduction that is compelling and quite poignant. Game play is simple but satisfying.

Equally impressive is the fact that “Firewatch” is the debut title from Campo Santo, a small studio co-founded by Jake Rodkin and Sean Vanaman, who worked on Telltale Games’ acclaimed “The Walking Dead” episodic game.

“Firewatch,” two years in the making, was produced with the help of Panic, a Portland-based Mac/iOS developer.

While Campo Santo has seven staffers in San Francisco, it draws on employees in other countries. Nels Anderson, a Canadian-U.S. dual citizen, is based in Vancouver while acclaimed artist Olly Moss and animator/designer James Benson live in England.

It works thanks to a video conferencing.

“When our day starts we just jump on that video conference and then we’re just kind of there as a big disembodied head floating in the back of the office,” Anderson said of the foreign contingent.

Anderson was born and raised in Jackson, Wyoming. Vanaman moved to Cody, Wyoming, as a child. Shoshone National Forest was essentially slap in the middle between two.

“This is probably the most Wyoming-est game that has ever been produced,” joked Anderson.

He came to Vancouver for grad school and never left, marrying a Canadian along the way. He worked for Vancouver game developer Klei (pronounced Clay) Entertainment before joining Campo Santo.

“We set out to make games about interesting people in fascinating places,”says the company website.

Soon the small band was producing a game and building a company at the same time.

“I think it helped that even though we had never worked together before, this was not anyone’s first rodeo,” said Anderson.

Still they were plenty of challenges.

“Games hate to be made,” Anderson said with a laugh. “Any chance they have to not do what they’re supposed to, they will take.”

The goal was to focus the game on narrative and exploration. Having players test it out, helped expand the world of possibilities.

The lush look of the game comes in larger part from Moss, who is known for his poster and book art including “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter.”

—

Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter