Game that is not a game

Hello!

When I talked about plot-oriented games, I thought that the example of plot rails nailed to the hero's head is Mass Effect. But no, the interactive films came to the shelf, and it came so that I just wanted to say about the new direction of games.
')
In short, you have a game. Only it can not win or lose. And nothing can be changed in it. And you do not affect anything. But at the same time it is interesting. Like a game, not like a movie. Called Firewatch.

Come on, show this oxymoron.

Mechanics and plot

So, you play for the voice in your head. The view from the first person, it seems, you are some kind of elderly man who got into full ass because of his wife who is ill with Alzheimer's, became disillusioned with life and went to local American Siberia to watch for fires in the forest. The game begins with such classic dialogue choices that are given by the good old eighties:



True, your choice does not affect anything. Because further possible branches:
“She is happy about your decision and has been working for several years until ...”
- It works contrary to your opinion, and now, in a few years ...

And right here, without departing from the cash register, the next choice emerges, which also has no effect on anything. Just like the Timeline, but you can even die there. But here, however, we do not yet know that we are on rails.

In general, after reading the introduction in the form of an interactive book with an imaginary choice, we unload into the forest:



In the forest is beautiful and pleasant. It is especially nice and pleasant that we have only a couple of modes of the interface, and everything that is from inventory is not executed in the form of something virtual, but in the form of specific pieces in the hands. The compass is not on the HUD, but in the hand. Map on the pointer. The hero knows how to draw it on his own. The ads on the posts should be read with a glance, not from the interface:



If you look at the map in the approximation and go - it swings around. As the story progresses, the map is updated with our pencil marks.

But back to the plot. You are a fireman.



You play a walker in the first person and - at the same time - in the dialogue on the radio. The only person with whom you are in the channel is Delilah, your boss and the inhabitant of the neighboring tower.

You have a tower house and a lot of patrol places. The plot, however, captures from the very first minutes when an unknown person breaks into your tower:



Then you solve various minor household problems of the forest, chase mushroom pickers, solve riddles left from local forest legends and generally study the world. People disappear on your site and mysticism is created. As you become an experienced survivalist, your relationship with Delila also changes.


^{This fire is the turning point of platonic love for the walkie-talkie.}

Your character is also gradually formed in the middle of the game. Delilah sometimes asks something about you, and you answer. For example, do you have a beard, where do you live, and so on.

Along the way, you enjoy the views of the local nature, fish and generally explore the world.



Actually, that's all. An interactive fairy tale where everything is beautiful, you are about to enter the plot of a classic melodramatic detective story in which you choose almost nothing ... And where it all ends is sad and ridiculous, as in life (the author of the story at Reddit said that he wanted ). Nothing that you could experience and so, but very nicely packed into a little game.

Now the world. We have, like, forest, mountains, right far cry ... But no, the world is linear here. Despite the seeming open spaces, these are rooms that are divided by transitions like in the good old corridor shooters. Then you do not have an ax to break through the thickets, then the wall of the forest will burn, then you need a rope, then a key - and so on. Therefore, no freedom, every time you have something to hurry to run where necessary, and you do not really look at the environment. Well, at least the developer tried to make such a plot.



It is clear that in such an architecture the game could well be a text quest, and everything was about the same.

The question is, why graphics and everything else. Voice and picture add atmosphere, but, like, no more. Actually, no, by itself the final beauty of this thing as a work of art consists of several aspects.

First, you can explore the world and read everything around. A lot of small Easter eggs and just nice, funny and ridiculous things. The plot does not lead you to them, no RPG diary is kept, so each such find is pleasant - it adds something to the story in which you live. The character and the game do not draw conclusions for you - this is probably the most pleasant thing.



In combination with a bunch of things in your cozy house - this is what makes the game alive, and integration with the character is very dense.

The second thing is the camera. You carry a camera with you from the left backpack (by the way, pay attention to the learning curve - you don’t get the subjects right away, but one at a time so that everything is simple and in place). It unites the game with the release, as the author wanted. I know a man who went on vacation in Fallout 4, I myself still can’t go to rest in XCOM2, but here you can also take a camera with me. Insight caught perfectly, and now wait for such cameras in many places.



Yes, so that the mechanics were complete, do not forget that all this is then shown in the credits and fumbled in the FB, if you want.



In my case, however, the trick did not work out - I shot various notes and material evidence in the investigation on camera, rightly believing that the hero could later prove something to the police.



But Delilah suggests a couple of times a place for shooting beautiful landscapes - most shoot them.



Like this. Welcome to the indie game, which is not a game, not a movie, but for sure - the entertainment of the future. I'm not sure that I like it, but she is, and she is beautiful in her own way. He played with the same pleasure with which another border art object was viewed - the Hardcore Henry film.

Well, and more. Such things are amazingly cool to use for training, since it is much easier to rivet them than the same This War of Mine , for example.