Be Excellent To Each Other

As part of the oh-so-slow mission to pull Mrs Grim... deeper into video games, I suggested we do a playthrough of FireWatch (where I "drive" and she watches). We finished it last night, Mrs Grim... went to bed, and I turned on the audio commentary special feature and completed it all over again.

What an utter delight this little game is. It's beautiful, it's tense, it's lonely, it's wonderfully voice-acted (as it would have to be, considering the only real interactions you have are on a radio). Depending on your choices, the start of the game ranges from "sad" to "heart-breaking".

I would certainly put it in the "interactive story" category, but it's way more "game" than something like Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. The story itself is also wonderful (apart from one bit which I'll go into in the next post as a spoiler).

It's also the first game I've ever 100%ed. Check me out.

But yeah, FireWatch is cheap and short* and wonderful, and I can't recommend it enough.

* This is a good thing in the book of Grim.... It lasted about five hours (plus four more to do it a second time. The audio commentary was really interesting, too!).

What I didn't like about the story:


Ending spoilers:

Cool - I've become a bit bored with walking simulators, but if I do feel like one again I'll strongly consider it.

Oh, and Mrs Grim...'s opinion?

"Pretty good".

Progress!

I agree with the second d spoiler. I thought it was neatly tied up with no mcguffin in sight.

Now get yourself to the finish 52 thread.

I have been slack with that this year. I know I've completed some other games, but I can't remember what.

Maybe looking at my trophies will help.

Technohat should let you own that thread

Well, quite. I'd probably only include Batman, though.

Only £8.19 on GOG.

https://www.gog.com/game/firewatch

£7.99 on the PlayStation store.

Played it straight through in one session. It's incredibly compelling. An absolutely fantastic little game.

Question about your first spoiler, Grim...

No. There's all sorts of things you can do in the first bit. The audio commentary is well worth a listen, and goes into detail about all the branching, etc.

I've bought it from GOG. Expect my review in 3-5 years.

You can get through it in an evening, easy.

It took my a month to play though Rapture. I like to see *everything*

I played through it in four hours. Which was slightly annoying as I started it at 10pm. Reading up, I missed very little.

This was lovely, but I have questions.
I get the feeling I need to play it again with the audio commentary, and see if I still have questions.

You should, it's great

I finished this last night. It took me 7 hours. I don't know what I was doing to make it last twice as long as grim and cras. Sightseeing and getting stuck on rocks I can't actually climb, I suspect.

Really enjoyed it, great mixture of serenity and dread. Acting was great, though the chap did sound like he was meant to be narrating a This American Life podcast.

I need to finish this. I bought it by accident, I was actually after The Long Dark but got all mixed up.

After finishing this i decided the long dark would be my next game. Enjoyed my time rambling around the woods alone.

Yeah, it's thirty quid on PS4 which seems a bit steep but I'll definitely grab it when it comes on sale.

that does sound chunky. Think I got it on PC for cheap some time ago. Feels like a title ripe for PS+ at some point.

This is £6.40 on the Xbox One this week. I think I'm going to buy it. Grim...'s fault.

You should, it's a delight.

I finished it in one sitting and loved every moment.

When I finished it I turned the commentary on and then finished again in one sitting. It's that good.

To sound like the complete n00b I am, how would you go about buying this to play?

Turn on the PS4
Go to PlayStation Store
Search 'Firewatch'
Press the Buy button
Wait for it to download and install
Enjoy!

Thank you Do you buy PS4 things by just entering a credit card or do you have to buy set amounts of credit first?

Considering how many times PS has been hacked you could take a view that their servers are probably some of the most secure out there nowadays, or you could buy some credit from amazon, enter the code they immediately email you and do that.

Urh, I forgot about that. What I meant was to ask if it was possible to buy straight from credit card without having to pre-load credit and the like, but your point is absolutely a fair one.

I’m mostly asking because I bought a PS4 for Russell two years ago and I think he’s switched it on three, maybe four times. If he won’t use it then maybe I will, but whoever does it’s handy to know how to buy smaller games like this.

I linked my PayPal account to my PS Store, Mimi. Just takes out the actual cost of the games etc you're buying.

While you technically do buy credit to get games, it happens in one transaction - just follow Myp's instructions.

Thanks folks. It seems like there are a few options and none are *too* convoluted at least.

4 and a bit years!

It's good!

Most importantly, did you get the pet tortoise and what did you call it?

I need to finish this. I love the atmosphere.

Turt.