Delilah – Firewatch
Firewatch is heavy on narrative, so it’s fitting that it has one of the year’s best characters. Player’s take control of Henry, a man who has exchanged his complicated life for a lonely job as a fire lookout in the heart of a Wyoming forest. As interesting as he was, it’s not the protagonist who stole our hearts, but rather his supervisor, Delilah.
She will be your only companion while you traverse a beautifully animated forest, speaking to you entirely by way of walkie-talkie. Thankfully, she’ll have plenty to say as you try to solve the mysteries of Firewatch. Nearly everything you come across is a starting point for some entertaining and witty banter between Henry and Delilah, and it’s impossible not to call her up at every opportunity that presents itself.
Their relationship is the driving force behind the game, so much so that the story itself can take a back seat at times. What’s more, the way Delilah reacts to your dialogue choices in an emotionally appropriate way is so realistic, it’s easy to forget that she’s an actress reading lines in a sound booth.
The game is a mature experience that delves into depressing thematic territory. Issues of love, loss, death and abandonment are thoroughly explored over the course of its runtime. That can be a little heavy for a video game, but the expertly voice acted Delilah will help make navigating Henry’s emotions a little more comfortable.
And who says a life of solitude has to be lonely?
