OLD FLAME

Come pine with me: going back to FIREWATCH

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Never underestimate the power of a glum intro. It's why everyone remembers the brutal opening of Pixar's Up, but not the stupid monster parrot. And it's the reason that Firewatch is so immediately effective. By the time the game actually begins, you've made a lifetime's worth of decisions, and you can feel time slipping through your fingers, like the ashes of a loved one spilling from a shattered urn.

It immediately puts me on the defensive. Protagonist Henry's responses to his new boss, Delilah, are uncharacteristically spiky for me, even though it's not actually my partner who's suffering from early onset dementia.

It's a testament to how good the setup is in