Level Story | Issue 2 | Firewatch by Level Story Magazine

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SUPPORT

Cover artwork by: Nikias Herzhauser https://www.instagram.com/schneckenhausmann/

FEATURES Intentional Anticlimax pg. 24

Firewatch intentionally subverts our expectations through using anticlimax. Here is why this is important.

Walking Simulators: Your Genre Is In Another Castle pg. 30

Gaming descriptors are based on very limited vocabulary. The term “walking simulator” has overstayed its welcome. 10 // Story Overview How does Firewatch hold up? 16 // To Have A Prologue Or Not Have A Prologue - That Is The Question Is the prologue necessary? 18 // The Significance Of Fire How fire is used to construct theme. 20 // Firewatch Works Best As A Game Firewatch strives in the game medium.

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34 // Hey There Delilah Why Delilah is a great character. 38 // Less Is More How Firewatch uses less to do more.

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MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

p.24

40 // The Sound Of Silence Why silence matters in Firewatch.

12 // Summer Games Done Quick 2019 Runs We Are Looking Forward To 14 // Female Gaming Content Creators 43 // Donut County Review

p. 30

LEVEL STORY MAGAZINE MISSION STATEMENT Storytelling in video games is getting better and better with age. What began as simple forms of combat, exploration, and journey missions, has evolved into something much more sophisticated than once allowed. No longer are we content to only be concerned with gameplay mechanics. Although gameplay is really important, the gaming community also cares about other attributes such as style, design, musical score, and of course story. As time has passed, video games have steadily begun to provide well crafted stories to accompany their gameplay. But unlike mediums such as the novel or film, video games are not well respected and therefore are not considered to be an art form. They began as a series of objectives for the player to immerse themselves in. It was only as the technology developed that creators began to challenge the mediums original intent. Video games are still tainted with the taboo of mediocrity that many find to be silly and for the immature. This is an outdated notion. Video games, new and old, are important. Stories are important. All stories regardless of the medium are worthy of study. My goal is to examine the stories that exist in classic and modern day video games. Through careful exploration I will analyze these stories just as one would analyze a novel. Is the story well crafted? What themes are at play? How do our characters grow? And ultimately, what attributes of the video game directly contribute to the game’s core narrative? This is Level Story Magazine.

CREDITS Writer & Designer | Danielle Carpenter Graphic Designer | Kaitlin Hartung Guest Writer | Samuel Gronseth II ARTISTS 2DSpaceMan Evgeny “TakeOFFFLy” Bubley Weni Cui Balthazar Damassky Tim D’hoore FangedMink5 Nikias Herzhauser Allon Kremer Helen Norcott Anastasiia Plakhotnyk PATREON PRODUCERS Tyler SPECIAL THANKS Andrew Heller The ideas presented by the writers in this magazine belong to them individually and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of everyone who contributed. © Level Story Magazine, 2019

WORKS CITED 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

“Stadia GDC 2019 Gaming Announcement.” YouTube video, 17:26. “Google,” April 30, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUih5C5rOrA. Brown, Jaz. “Where to Buy Cuphead for Nintendo Switch.” IMore. April 02, 2019. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://www.imore.com/where-buy-cuphead-nintendo-switch. Ramsey, Robert. “Shooting for The Last of Us: Part 2 Is All Wrapped Up.” Push Square. April 19, 2019. Accessed April 30, 2019. http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2019/04/shooting_for_the_last_of_us_ part_2_is_all_wrapped_up. “Final Fantasy VII Remake - Teaser Trailer | PS4.” YouTube video. “PlayStation,” May 9, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df0YG3qfZ8E. Colby, Clifford. “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Turns Pokemon Go into a Mobile Mystery, but Release Date Is Unclear.” CNET. May 02, 2019. Accessed May 07, 2019. https://www.cnet.com/news/harry-potter-wizards-unite-turns-pokemon-go-into-a-mobile-mystery-but-release-date-is-unclear/. “THE MINECRAFT MOVIE IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER.” Minecraft.net. April 16, 2019. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/article/the-minecraft-movie-is-just-around-the-corner. Grayson, Nathan. “Sonic The Hedgehog Movie Design To Be Changed Following Criticism.” Kotaku. May 02, 2019. Accessed May 07, 2019. https://kotaku.com/sonic-the-hedgehog-movie-design-to-bechanged-following-1834488203. Makuch, Eddie. “Uncharted Movie Being Rewritten Yet Again.” GameSpot. January 15, 2019. Accessed May 07, 2019. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/uncharted-movie-being-rewritten-yet-again/1100-6464397/. Dockterman, Eliana. “Why the Uncharted Movie Is Being Turned Into a Prequel.” Time. May 22, 2017. Accessed May 07, 2019. http://time.com/4788898/uncharted-movie-prequel-tom-holland/. Thorsen, Tor. “Mark Wahlberg Playing Nathan Drake.” GameSpot. November 30, 2010. Accessed May 07, 2019. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mark-wahlberg-playing-nathandrake/1100-6284526/. Sullivan, Lucas. “Ryan Reynolds Was in the Running to Play Nathan Drake in the R-rated Uncharted Movie.” Gamesradar. March 12, 2019. Accessed May 07, 2019. https://www.gamesradar.com/ryanreynolds-was-in-the-running-to-play-nathan-drake-in-the-r-rated-uncharted-movie/. Kroll, Justin. “’10 Cloverfield Lane’ Director Boards ‘Uncharted’ Movie (EXCLUSIVE).” Variety. January 14, 2019. Accessed May 07, 2019. https://variety.com/2019/film/news/10-cloverfield-lane-uncharted-sony-1203104743/. Goodman, JJ. “EXCLUSIVE: ‘Uncharted” Short-List for “Sully” Casting.” That Hashtag Show. March 30, 2019. Accessed May 07, 2019. http://thathashtagshow.com/2019/03/29/exclusive-uncharted-short-list-for-sully-casting/. McGloin, Matt. “Uncharted Movie Script Complete Starring Tom Holland.” Cosmic Book News. August 14, 2018. Accessed May 07, 2019. https://cosmicbook.news/uncharted-movie-script-tom-holland. “Prince Harry Wants To Ban Fortnite.” YouTube video, 0:35. “ET Canada,” April 30, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwaFgyjgeKY. Watts, Steve. “PS4 Games Will Play On PlayStation 5, Sony Says.” GameSpot. April 23, 2019. Accessed May 07, 2019. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4-games-will-play-on-playstation-5-sonysays/1100-6466282/. Pope, Nick. “Everything We Know About The ‘Peaky Blinders’ Video Game So Far.” Esquire. April 29, 2019. Accessed May 07, 2019. https://www.esquire.com/uk/latest-news/a26906772/peaky-blindersvideo-game-gameplay-price-trailer-release-date/. Byford, Sam. “Smaller, Cheaper Nintendo Switch Coming This Fall before More Powerful Version: Nikkei.” The Verge. April 17, 2019. Accessed May 07, 2019. https://www.theverge.com/platform/ amp/2019/4/17/18450548/new-nintendo-switch-model-release-date-report-nikkei. Swain, Eric. “In Defense of Ludonarrative Dissonance.” The Game Critique. August 25, 2010. Accessed April 30, 2019. http://www.thegamecritique.com/recent-posts/in-defense-of-ludonarrative-dissonance/2283/. “Fire.” University of Michigan Fantasy and Science Fiction Website. Accessed April 30, 2019. http://umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/F/fire.html. Chick, Tom. “Tom Chick Patreon Overview.” Patreon. Accessed May 07, 2019. https://www.patreon.com/tomchick. Chick, Tom. “Firewatch Would Be Great If It Weren’t a Videogame.” Quarter to Three. February 8, 2016. Accessed May 07, 2019. https://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2016/02/08/firewatch-would-begreat-if-it-wasnt-a-videogame/. “FIREWATCH Full Gameplay — PewDiePie Deleted Video.” YouTube video, 2:34. “PewDiePie Clips,” December 21, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXWjs9REarU. “Procedural Generation - How Games Create Infinite Worlds - Extra Credits.” YouTube video, 0:23. “Extra Credits,” May 08, 2019. https://youtu.be/TgbuWfGeG2o. White, Olivia. “Firewatch Took Away Our Ability to Be Good People, and That’s Where It Shines.” Polygon. February 12, 2016. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://www.polygon.com/2016/2/12/10966494/ firewatch-agency-campo-santo. “Firewatch Is Mine (No Spoilers).” YouTube video, 2:58. “Satchell Drakes,” April 06, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z74nUBkMdSg. Hoberman, J. “It’s Mumblecore!” Village Voice. August 14, 2007. Accessed March 25, 2019. https://www.villagevoice.com/2007/08/14/its-mumblecore/. Lim, Dennis. “A Generation Finds Its Mumble.” The New York Times. August 19, 2007. Accessed March 25, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/movies/19lim.html?8dpc. Kagen, Melissa. “Walking, Talking and Playing with Masculinities in Firewatch.” Game Studies 18, no. 2 (September 2018). Accessed March 25, 2019. http://gamestudies.org/1802/articles/kagen. Sims, David. “Firewatch and the Addictiveness of Lonely Video Games.” The Atlantic. February 11, 2016. Accessed March 25, 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/02/firewatch-and-the-rise-of-the-walking-simulator/462324/.

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Creator Letter

Firewatch Works on a Higher Level

et’s not beat around the bush. Video games are loud. It comes with the territory. Being someone who graduated with a degree in English Literature and reads books constantly, my comfort space is one without noise. So when I heard about this video game called Firewatch where most of what the player did was explore nature, I was instantly invested. But it wasn’t only the explorative and quiet tone of this game that appealed to me at first glance. There was a deep sense that a complexity awaited me that would rival those of greats books and films I adored. I went into this being very aware that this experience might move me in a profound way...in a way that video games rarely did. This is not to say that I had never encountered a game that hadn’t surprised me or made me think more deeply about the world. But Firewatch seemed to be working on a higher level compared to anything else I had seen before in this medium.

What first struck me was just how beautiful this game looked. Everything from the grand vistas you could overlook on mountainsides, to the field below Henry’s fire lookout tower was astoundingly pretty to look at. There was a strange sense of isolation and intimacy that I felt as I played through the game, allowing the sounds of the wind, chirping birds, and my walkie talkie to envelope me in a comfortable gaming blanket. This game made me feel a strange sense of peace. Most people who played Firewatch seem to come to the general consensus that the game only takes three to five hours to complete. These numbers always surprise me because it took me much longer to beat the game the first time, rounding out to somewhere about six to eight hours in total over a span of multiple weeks. Playing Firewatch a second and third time brought similar results. Whether it is because of my poor sense of direction or my desire to immerse myself in the environments as much as possible, I just can’t speed through this game. I love Firewatch, a sentiment which I am sure will become very apparent as you read through this magazine. It approaches storytelling in this medium in a completely different context compared to most games. Many have called it blasphemy in the name of what games should look like, a mindset which I cannot get behind. If we take anything from Firewatch, it is that games have the potential to be more than hubs for simulated violence. If this is what game developers have in store for us, then I think gaming has a very bright future.

Danielle Carpenter Creator & Publisher

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

The Hot & the Cold

News

Nintendo Online & Amazon Prime There has never been a better time for a gamer to be an Amazon Prime subscriber. Not only do they offer Twitch Prime but are offering a full year of Nintendo Switch Online for Switch users.

FFVII Remake Still Exists Square Enix dropped a promising trailer in May for the Final Fantasy VII remake. Hi-def characters, environments, and voice acting got fans hyped. Though the game is aesthetically pleasing, will it live up to the original? 4

Harry Potter Meets Pokémon Go Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is a brand new mobile game that uses your GPS to create a unique magical experience in the world around you. Finally, some good Harry Potter News! 5

Minecraft the Movie The Minecraft Movie has been given a release date of March 4th, 2022. Don’t get me wrong, Minecraft is great, but seeing as its popularity has tanked considerably, it is prudent to wonder who will actually want to see this film.6

Sonic Movie to be “Fixed” After the Sonic The Hedgehog movie unveiled the titular character to abismal reactions, it has been confirmed that the design will be changed. While this is good news, let’s say a prayer for the visual development team who have to start all over again. 7

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

Google Unveils New Gaming Service “This new generation of gaming is not a box.” - Phil Harrison It was only a matter of time before Google entered the realm of video games. The tech overlords have revealed their new platform to compete with Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft - Google Stadia. Reaveled at the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, Stadia is a streaming platform. Some are calling it the Netflix of video games. Phil Harrison, former Sony and XBox executive and now on team Google, said, “This new generation of gaming is not a box.” The platform is said to stream games at 60 frames per second and 4k resolution, though it is valid to be concerned about individual user internet speeds. Stadia will launch later in 2019 in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Europe. 1

Cuphead Comes to the Switch

The Last of Us II Wraps Filming

Gamers rejoiced at the announcement of a Switch port of the popular indie title, Cuphead. Celebrated for the stellar animation and rigourous gameplay, the game became an instant classic. Previously only available on the XBox One and PC, it released digitally for the Nintendo console in April. A physical copy will go on sale later in 2019. 2

The Last of Us II’s writer and director, Neil Druckmann, sent out a tweet in April confirming that the game has wrapped shooting. The tweet included a photo of the lead actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson in a sweet embrace, still in their motion capture gear. Now this begs the question...could this mean the game will be getting a 2019 release date? 3

Tom Holland (pictured) will play Nathan Drake in the Uncharted film.

News

Sony says the Playstation 5 will have backwards compatibility with PS4 games. 16

What We Know About the Uncharted Movie Talks for an Uncharted film have remained few and far between. Since Sony announced this news back in 2009, the project has undergone several different changes and rewrites which has left fans unsure that they will ever see Nathan Drake on the big screen. 8 Still, it seems that the project is in the works...just at a slower pace than we would have hoped. Here is all of the information we know so far. First, the film is set to be a prequel to the games and will follow the flashback sequences from Uncharted 3. 9 The role of Nathan Drake will be played by none other than Tom Holland (pictured above) (Spiderman: Homecoming). Initially it was announced that Mark Wahlberg would play Drake and even Ryan Reynolds was in talks. 10 11 Holland seems a perfect fit for the role and can bring a fresh take on the character. The studio described him as “edgy, intellectual, focused as hell, but also complete[ly] isolated...[which will make him] the perfect protégé for Sully.” The film has also found a director in Dan Trachtenberg who has directed 10 Cloverfield Lane and an episode of Black Mirror titled “Playtest.” 12 Trachtenberg’s resume seems to be a unique fit for this franchise. At this point, not much is set in stone beyond that. The film’s script is said to be complete and they have begun casting for the role of Sully. 13 14 Some names that have been thrown out there are Woody Harrelson, Chris Pine, Matthew McConaughey, and Chris Hemsworth. Hopefully there will be some noticeable progress soon.

Curve Digital are developing a Peaky Blinders virtual reality game, based on the popular crime drama. 17

Prince Harry and Fortnite The Prince has recently said that he wants to ban the battle royale game from the U.K. We thought you were cool Harry! There is more to this conversation than simply dismissing a game played by millions. Harry went to visit a YMCA in London to talk about social media and mental health, especially when it comes to young people. He went on to say that there “is no benefit to having [Fortnite] in the household,” and that it exists to make kids addicted to their television screens. 15 It can’t be denied that the Prince has a point but he takes it a bit too far when he says that the game should be banned altogether. While it is important for kids to be physically active and not spend so much time looking at screens, it should also be noted that there are kids who benefit greatly from the game and that there is a more complex response to this issue.

The Nintendo Switch is getting a smaller, cheaper version in the fall, as well as a more powerful version likely this year. 18

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Photo credit: Weni Cui @whyweni instagram.com/whyweni

Firewatch follows the story of Henry when he becomes a fire lookout at the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming in 1989. The story begins with a prologue, documenting part of Henry’s life prior to taking the job, that part being life with his wife Julia. Henry and Julia live a happy life together with their dog. When Julia begins to struggle at work and is then released on permanent medical leave, it is discovered that she has early onset alzheimer’s. Unable to deal with her diagnosis, Henry leaves his wife in the care of her family and takes a summer job as a fire lookout. Upon arriving at his tower after hiking all day, Henry is introduced to his snarky, no nonsense boss Delilah via walkie talkie. She resides in another tower visible from Henry’s west facing window. When Henry wakes the next day, he is immediately given the task to figure out who is setting off fireworks near Jonesy Lake. When he arrives he finds clothes and beer cans strewn about around a smoking fire. At the lake he sees it is two teenage girls and tells them to cool it with the fireworks. The girls become aggravated by Henry and run off. Now that the fireworks have stopped, Henry hikes back to his tower. It grows dark and as Henry climbs he sees a man in shadow up above him. When reporting the man to Delilah, she snarkily points out that Henry is outside and it is normal for him to see people roaming the forest. Henry returns to his tower, only to find that his typewriter is on the ground by the stairs. He finds that his tower has been vandalized and broken into. Unsure of who could have possible done this, be it the girls or the mysterious figure Henry saw, Delilah tells Henry that she will report the incident.

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

The next morning, Delilah tells Henry that she has no service to report his vandalized tower and is requiring all fire lookouts to check their designated wires. While walking, Henry overhears Delilah on the radio having a conversation with someone else. The whole thing seems shady. He continues hiking to his wire and finds a bunch of beer cans leading up to it, as well as the wire being completely and deliberately cut. Believing it to be the girls seeking revenge on him, Henry goes out in search of them. Along the way he discovers an old backpack full of ropes and a disposable camera. The bag belongs to Brian Goodwin, a name that stands out to Delilah who says she knew the 12 year old as he came to the Shoshone a few years ago with his father, Ned, against forest rules. Henry soon sees a plumb of smoke and follows it to the girls’ campsite. Their possessions are trashed and they are nowhere to be found. On their tent is a note which is clearly intended for Henry. The girls believe he is the one who trashed their campsite and they vow to report him to the police. Henry insists to Delilah he didn’t do it. She believes him. Henry spends the next morning boarding up his smashed windows. Things seem to have settled down and Delilah tells Henry that his job is to sit around. A few days pass and it is soon discovered that two girls have been reported missing in the area. It would make sense that they are the same girls who were setting off fireworks a little over a week ago. Delilah and Henry become a bit concerned but try not to worry about it too much since they did nothing wrong. Later, Henry wakes up in the middle of the night to Julia calling him on the radio. Their conversation is brief and Henry

is glad to hear his wife’s voice again. How Julia found out where he was is unclear, though later evidence suggests Henry was half asleep. Many days pass and the story finds Henry a little over a month into his time as a fire lookout. Delilah calls him up and tells him he has to hike to the supply drop to retrieve the supplies for his tower. While walking, Henry and Delilah talk about Henry’s life in Colorado. When Henry arrives at the supply drop, he grabs his box and hikes back to his tower. Another month passes by. Delilah calls Henry at night to see the controlled burn. It glows red in the darkness as the two watch from their towers. Henry names the fire and the two share an intimate moment together. Delilah tells Henry that she doesn’t talk to the other lookouts like she talks to him. They have grown close during their time together talking via walkie talkie. After a week and a half goes by, Henry decides to go out fishing at Jonesy Lake while also looking for bear tracks per Delilah’s orders. When he arrives he finds a clipboard with transcriptions of conversations between he and Delilah along with something about a Wapiti Station. Freaked out, Henry radios Delilah before hearing a noise nearby. He goes to find out what the noise is and sees another radio on the ground. As he goes to pick it up, someone smacks him on the back of the head and Henry blacks out. When he comes to, the clipboard is gone and there is no sign that someone was there only moments ago. Henry gets up and tells Delilah what happened. She does not know Wapiti Station but knows Wapiti Meadow and suggests Henry go there. He makes his way over and finds a fenced in area that is locked. Delilah tells him to head over to Ruby River near the controlled burn and that the firefighters should have equipment Henry can use to break in. Delilah brings up the Goodwins again and wonders if this sort of thing happened to them. Henry eventually finds the camp where the firefighters would be but no one is there. There is a piece of paper that mentions a Wapiti research station that Henry picks up, along with the axe the firefighters left behind. While walking, there is a cough on the radio and it is neither Henry nor Delilah. Fearful, Delilah tells Henry to hurry to his tower and stay there. He is not to call her but she will call him. The next day finds Henry impatient as he awaits Delilah’s call. He decides to call her but is getting no response. Finally, Delilah comes on the radio but she sounds oddly chipper. She tells Henry to look at his Flora of the Shoshone chart for a specific tree and walk to it. The tree she is referring to is Cottonwood. Henry walks there and retrieves a new radio which Delilah dropped off earlier in hopes that whoever is spying on their conversations will no longer be able to intercept their frequencies. She went through a lot to get the radio to him at personal cost to herself. If she asks any of the men she works if the same thing is happening to them, they will assume that as a woman she can’t handle the job and that she needs to be relieved. After mentioning something to the state coordinator, he asks if she is just having lady troubles. With determination, she tells Henry that they must discover what is at that research site. Henry heads over. Delilah reveals that she filed a report that neither of them spoke to the girls. As if Henry doesn’t have enough to deal with at the moment, he breaks into the research site and tries to find out what is going on. The research site is well hidden, and has a lot of fancy equipment. There is a tent and inside are beds along with rations, notes, and more equipment including a wave receiver. There are more transcripts of their conversations along with little details that Henry had not revealed to Delilah such as things about Julia. Panicking, Delilah suggests they set the place on fire. They both come to agree that this is a bad idea but as Henry leaves they discover that someone did it for them as the research site is in flames. Late that night, the wave receiver starts beeping. Henry mentions this to Delilah who is no help due to her getting drunk to drown out the stress they have endured the last day and a half. Henry decides

to go off alone and figure out what the wave receiver is tracking. He finds a bag, followed by a loud alarm going off. After smashing the alarm, he searches the bag and finds the key to a gate within one of the caves. Henry tells Delilah and she replies that it is good he is safe in his tower. This comes as a bit of a shock and Henry tells her he is not in his tower. He hurries back to find it empty and a cassette tape taped to the door that plays Delilah saying that she wants to “burn the place down,” place in reference to Wapiti Meadow. In the morning, Delilah says that someone impersonated Henry and called saying they know who caused the Wapiti Meadow fire. Scared and desperate, Henry decides to go to the cave and see if there is anything there that can help them figure out who is doing this and what is going on. Upon entering, someone locks him in and he has no signal to call for help. Instead he must make his way through and hopefully find an exit. Henry climbs through the cave. The only sign of life he sees is a shoe below in a stream of light. When he calls out, there is no answer. Finally, he escapes and tells Delilah what happened. On the other side he finds a hideout that seems to have belonged to Brian Goodwin. It is littered with comic books and games and drawings. Delilah tells Henry how the Goodwins were almost busted when someone reported seeing a kid waving at the planes that dumped water on fires. Delilah lied and said it was just Ned. Luckily, Henry finds some anchors Brian hid so he didn’t have to go climbing with his dad (revealed in a note) that Henry can use to explore the cave more. Henry makes his way back into the cave. While walking, Delilah tells Henry that the teenage girls were found. They landed in jail for taking a tractor. Relieved on that count, Henry reenters the cave. Deeper in the cave, Henry finds a devastating site. The skeleton of Brian Goodwin lies beneath the same shaft of light that illuminated the shoe Henry saw earlier. It looks like he fell while climbing. Henry makes his way out of the cave and breaks the news to Delilah. Distraught, she blames herself. If she had reported Brian, he would still be alive. The controlled burn and the fire at Wapiti Station converge on each other and the fire lookouts are being evacuated. Smoke and debris engulfs the forest. The wave received starts beeping and Henry can’t help but follow it to see where it leads. There is another tape left by none other than Ned Goodwin. Ned explains his situation, how Brian didn’t sink his anchor right which resulted in his death, how Ned didn’t want to deal with the cops and figured staying in the forest would be easier than putting his son in the ground. Henry climbs a rope to find Ned’s hideout, along with all of his equipment he used to listen to their conversations. Turns out Ned was a hermit the whole time. Now it is time to leave and Henry has to make his way to Delilah’s tower. He hopes she will be there when he arrives but sadly she evacuated before he could get there. In one last attempt to connect with her, the two talk over the radio for a final time. They say their goodbyes, and Henry leaves on a helicopter. It is difficult to talk about the small details of Firewatch, being that so much of it depends on the players choices. The player can choose to tell Delilah a lot about Julia or nothing at all. The player can decide to confront Delilah after her shaddy radio call. The player doesn’t even have to board the helicopter. But the bones of Firewatch remain the same. The story remains very strong. At times it can be a bit disjointed, not knowing what genre to fall into. At the end of the day though, the game does a great job capturing human complexities and telling the story of a man running from his problems and learning that he needs to confront them head on instead of stooping himself in problems that don’t matter.

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Photo credit: Violet Moon Edgar

SUMMER GAMES

DONE QUICK

Summer Games Done Quick is just on the horizon. Beginning Sunday, June 23rd to Sunday, June 30th, the event promises some fantastic speedruns. The event will once again support Doctors Without Borders. Games Done Quick still remains the largest speedrunning event in the country. It will be held in Bloomington, MN. Here are some runs we are looking forward to!

KINGDOM HEARTS 3

UNCHARTED 1: DRAKE’S FORTUNE

BANJO-KAZOOIE

The newest installment in the Square meets Disney

The first adventure of Nathan Drake is sure to be an

The classic platformer from the 90s is always excit-

franchise promises to be an exciting relay race!

exciting example of boundary breaks.

ing to see mastered!

When: 6/27, 11:33 AM

When: 6/25, 1:01 AM

When: 6/27, 3:28 PM

Who: mistmaster 1, CrispyMe, ninten866

Who: osskari

Who: Hagginater, Duckhiskhan

DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 2

BREATH OF THE WILD

MONSTER BOY & THE CURSED KINGDOM

Considered by most to be the best in the Donkey

This game has so much to do and explore. It is

This game doesn’t get enough love. Many claim it

Kong Trilogy, this game is always fun to watch!

almost funny to see it beat so quickly.

is the best platformer of 2018!

When: 6/23, 4:00 PM

When: 6/28, 10:21 PM

When: 6/25, 2:43 AM

Who: MikeKanis

Who: Wolhaiksong

Who: tinahacks

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

Times based on EST Time Zone. See https://gamesdonequick.com/schedule for updated times; Photo credit from left to right, Top: Square Enix, Naughty Dog, Rare & Microsoft ; Bottom: Rare & Nintendo, Nintendo, Game Atelier & FDG Entertainment

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FEMALE GAMING CONTENT CREATORS Gaming media is primarily infiltrated with a lot of male voices, but women gamers and gaming commentators do in fact exist. Here is a look at the diverse group of female gaming creators around the interwebs! Yes, they exist!

AmaLee

What’s Good Games

Black Girl Gamers

Artist / Music Amanda Lee, AmaLee for short, covers songs from anime and video games, and has a great voice to boot! https://www.youtube.com/user/LeeandLie

Podcast Every week join Andrea, Brittney, and “Steimer” as they review games, discuss industry news, and more! https://whatsgoodgames.com/

Community This online community gives black women a safe space to play and talk about games and seeks to promote diversity. http://theblackgirlgamers.com/

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

SPEEDRUNNERS SayviTV Dark Souls https://www.twitch.tv/sayvitv

EmeraldAly inFAMOUS, Prince of Persia https://www.twitch.tv/emeraldaly

LizStar Photo credit: Gameumentary

Mega Man https://www.twitch.tv/lizstar

Shirley Curry

Tinahacks Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom https://www.twitch.tv/tinahacks

Claris Sonic Mania, Matroid Prime https://www.twitch.tv/claris

Headstrong1290 Superman 64, Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee! https://www.twitch.tv/headstrong1290

Girls on Fire Speedrunning Community https://www.twitch.tv/team/girlsonfire

YouTuber https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzkY7wa8Ksxv4M5NyUYgTmA Known as “the Gaming Grandma”, this 82 year old woman shows us that you can be any age and love video games! Gameumentary recently made a documentary about her channel and her love of gaming. She creates some of the purest content on the platform, playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim most of the time! She has become so popular that the next Elder Scrolls game will feature her as a character! Shirley proves that the internet can be an absolute wonderful space to connect with other people. Her videos are very relaxed and stand out from the usual loud, shouting videos that usually come with playthroughs. If you haven’t watched her content yet, now is the time to subscribe!

Level Story (that’s me!) Kingdom Hearts 1 Final Mix https://www.twitch.tv/levelstory

Super Butter Buns

Strawberry17

YouTuber https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKn72wsF89-DxlA1jlq_fUA

YouTuber https://www.youtube.com/user/Strawburry17

Feminist Frequency YouTuber https://www.youtube.com/user/feministfrequency

PushingUpRoses

PressHeartToContinue YouTuber https://www.youtube.com/user/PressHeartToContinue

ValkyrieAurora

YouTuber https://www.youtube.com/user/pushinguproses

YouTuber https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDjB4FTYBq2KCh67pGx1D1Q

Geek Remix

StacyPlays

YouTuber https://www.youtube.com/user/GeekRemix

YouTuber https://www.youtube.com/user/stacyplays

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Photo credit: 2DSpaceMan https://www.deviantart.com/2dspaceman https://twitter.com/PaulBilick

PROLOGUE OR NO PROLOGUE?

THAT IS THE QUESTION Written by Danielle Carpenter

Prologues tend to feel like out of place plot dumps that couldn’t fit anywhere else in their narrative. While Firewatch’s prologue deftly sets up the arc of our main character, it can feel lost in translation by the end. Yet at the same time this is a deliberate choice. Just as Henry gets caught up in the “conspiracy” and forgets about what really matters, so does the player. Is there a concise answer to this debate? To have a prologue or to not have a prologue...that is the question.

AGAINST THE PROLOGUE Reason 1 The information revealed to the player in the prologue should be revealed throughout the game. Henry’s story in the prologue can feel very distant from the plot due to the conspiracy element introduced. If the information about why Henry came to be a fire lookout was revealed to us alongside the conspiracy plot, things would feel much more connected. The ending would feel much more like a neat bow as the revelation of Henry’s bad choices come to a head at the same time Henry must leave the Shoshone.

Reason 2 The typewriter could be used as a tool for Henry to journal and vent his thoughts. Henry’s profession is never revealed but perhaps this could be another plot element. He is a struggling writer who has barely written anything in recent years and this frustration is partially a subconscious motivator for Henry’s poor decisions. Now he is alone with a typewriter. He could write

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about Julia and the things that happened in the prologue and the player could read these and slowly get to know Henry over time, helping to slowly reveal his backstory and creating that as another plotpoint alongside his time as a fire lookout. The more the player learns about Henry through these journals, the more Henry can reveal to Delilah within their conversations.

Reason 3 The big question is - if the journals aren’t read in an unskippable cut scene, what if the player doesn’t read Henry’s journals? What if Henry doesn’t tell anything to Delilah? Ambiguity as a plot point is a much stronger tool than a plot dump at the beginning of the story. It forces the player to decide what happened and come up with their own interpretation of events. A successful example of this is in the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald where it is randomly implies that Nick had a gay lover at one point during the narrative. It is never made clear and it doesn’t need to be. Ambiguity allows each person to have their own interpretation of the narrative and allows for a much more creative and immersive experience with stories.

FOR THE PROLOGUE Reason 1 In the audio commentary version of the game, the developer’s explain that they created the prologue as a way to tell the player that they are not Henry but Henry is his own person. He has a life, he has made choices, and this is his story. This is due to the idea that video games are escapes into an alternate reality, and the playable character is an empty shell the player can inhabit. As discussed in the last issue about Banjo-Kazooie, neither Banjo or Kazooie have legitimate character arcs or complex thoughts. They are given one personality trait and the rest is up to the player. The prologue makes Henry a dynamic protagonist with his own established story. Since the player is controlling Henry, it makes sense that they know his backstory prior to the game.

Reason 2

WHAT IS LUDONARRATIVE DISSONANCE? Ludonarrative dissonance is the conflict between a video game’s narrative told through the story and the narrative told through the gameplay. Ludonarrative, a compound of ludology and narrative, refers to the intersection in a video game of ludic elements (gameplay) and narrative elements. 19

Giving Henry a backstory is a perfect example of ludonarrative dissonance (see left). Not only does Henry forget about the events of the prologue (the problems he is running from) but so does the player. Yes the prologue is setting up Henry’s arc but the plot itself is meant to be an anticlimax. The player, and Henry, should not feel a sense of content for a story wrapped up in a perfect bow. Instead, the ending is meant to be a disappointment.

point. The player is limited by Henry’s personality and imperfections. The lack of choices points to Henry’s poor decision making and that he is probably not making a smart move becoming a fire lookout instead of staying with his wife.

CONCLUSIONS My final stance on the matter is that there should be a prologue. This was not an easy decision for me to make being that I strongly dislike the prologues ability to plot dump elements that simply don’t fit within the narrative. In some respects, Firewatch’s prologue does this with the information it provides the player with and in that the overall look of it is so separate from the game itself. That being said, my bias against prologues could be due to how they typically function in novels. Video games are different. The prologue in Firewatch is the tutorial and setting up key gameplay elements while also telling the player that Henry is not them but his own person. While the prologue in this game gets a pass from me, it does not change my overall opinion that the prologue is out of place exposition dumps and that stories would be better off without them.

Reason 3 The prologue provides limited choices for the player to make, allowing Henry’s personality and lack of healthy decision making to become evident to the player. Often times the player is given two different options and sometimes neither seems like a good choice to make...but that is the

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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF

FIRE Written by Danielle Carpenter

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

Photo credit: FangedMink5

It is no accident that in a game called Firewatch, fire is used as a way to symbolize the arc of the main character, Henry. Despite the lack of fire affecting Henry directly, the indirect effects are what mirror his mindset in the narrative and ultimately bring him to his conclusion to either return to his wife or hide in the wilderness for the rest of his life. In the alchemical tradition, the element of fire represents transformation. Fire touches something and leaves it completely changed or unrecognizable. Forest fires are often “from a scientific and ecological point of view... positive as...old growth that is burned away makes way for new growth to begin, and the entire ecosystem is rejuvenated.” 20 As a literary device, fire can symbolize rebirth or purification. Outside examples of fire being used as a symbol include The Lion King, when during the final battle fire sweeps the area surrounding Pride Rock and burning everything away so that the circle of life can start new again. In the A Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin, Daenerys Targaryen literally walks into the fire and returns with an entirely different appearance (her hair is burned away so that she is bald) and is now the Mother of Dragons. Another example is Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, who is literally a fire bender and spends the entire run of the show transforming into a new person. A literal example of the rebirth theme is with the Phoenix, a mythical creature who burns at old age and is literally reborn from its own ashes, only for the cycle to circle back once again. In Firewatch, the entirety of Henry’s

job is to watch for fires. This is his responsibility. However, it has already been proven in the prologue that Henry is avoiding responsibility and it makes sense that the game ends with a fire destroying the forest around him. He is not doing his job, whether it be his literal job or the job to care for his wife, and so the fire gets out of control. The fire is symbol for what happens when we ignore what is difficult. No matter how controlled the burn or how in control we feel, things will get out of hand if we don’t take care of it. Henry begins his time in the Shoshone wilderness in peace and nothing bothers him. But as the summer continues, things get out of hand. Smoke becomes more prominent every day, making it harder to see and navigate the space. Not only do Henry and Delilah make some poor choices as fire lookouts which brings about the forest fire, but Henry has made his own poor decisions resulting in his own life catching fire. At the end of the game, Henry tries to escape the Shoshone as the fire engulfs the trees and wildlife around him. This is a direct metaphor of Henry’s own personal state of mind. Not only is the world around him up in flames and smoke, but so is his own life, both based on the choices he has made or that Delilah and Ned have made. Henry can’t run away from what is hard because it will only grow and grow until everything is on burning and out of control. The fire surrounding Henry symbolizes rebirth and his ability to transform from this experience. He can change. His mistakes are burned away and he can start new. The story is building toward this moment of transformation and for Henry to take responsibility. Only when his world is burning around him can Henry truly change and rise from the ashes as a new man.

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Firewatch Works Best As A Game Written by Danielle Carpenter

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

Photo credit:Anastasiia Plakhotnyk https://www.instagram.com/anastasiiaplua/ https://www.behance.net/anastasiiaplua

The Potential of Video Games

Video games as a medium have grown exponentially throughout the years. While most mediums such as the novel, music, painting, or even film have had time to breathe and grow at their own pace, video games have grown and changed at such a fast pace that it is hard to keep up. Due to how games were originally perceived as nerdy and for a certain type of person, there is a lot of gatekeeping that occurs when the medium attempts to expand or try something new. Upon its release, Firewatch was met with a lot of praise and a lot of backlash. Much of the backlash was a direct result of gatekeeping from toxic gamer spaces. However, some healthy discourse existed where gamers spoke civily about how the game fell short. Whether the conversations were healthy or toxic, it became very clear that several people didn’t believe Firewatch was a video game at all.

#Firewatchisagame

“The only feature that objectively and absolutely defines video games is their dependency on the computer as a material support,” says Marie-Laure Ryan in her essay “Computer Games as a Narrative.” Whether people like it or not, Firewatch is a game. It intentionally invades the space of video games that all tend to feel the same, and challenges the norms in its style of gameplay and its choice to focus on narrative. Just because it isn’t the norm or what was expected doesn’t mean the medium can suddenly be put into question.

What do video games look like? • •

Typically, video games have male protagonists. This protagonist must overcome something through the use of violence. Most games have a supernatural element such as zom-

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bies, aliens, or demons. The game could take place in the far off apocalyptic future or a fantastical realm of unicorns and sparkles. • Games typically shade their characters and events in black and white. The bad guy is absolute bad and the good guy is absolute good. There is no in between. As the good guy, the player must destroy the bad guy and is rarely made to feel any sort of remorse. • The good guy rescues / gets the girl. Games can be very predictable. This doesn’t equal bad, but it severely limits the potential of the medium.

Firewatch challenges video game tropes

Firewatch having a male protagonist is about the only trope that exists within this game. • Firewatch’s male protagonist overcomes his problems by talking and exploring, not with violence. • There is no supernatural element to Firewatch. Instead, the game focuses on exploring the nature of humanity and overcoming real world problems. • The characters aren’t categorized in black and white terms. Instead, Firewatch chooses a nuanced approach to explore the gray area of characters’ personalities. Everything has good and bad aspects. • Henry doesn’t get the girl. Delilah leaves and there is nothing he can do about it. At the end of the game, Henry doesn’t get what he wants but what he needs. He learns and therefore grows as a person. The ending isn’t satisfying and doesn’t make the player feel good. Instead the ending is hard and thought provoking, similar to that of a work of literature.

If Firewatch has so many novel elements, why does it work best as a game? The fact of the matter is that there are a ton of stories about men escaping into the woods. Whether it be to avoid societal pressures or to escape their problems (i.e. Walden, Into the Wild), the genre is so overfilled that Firewatch would simply be lost. In terms of literature, while it is a well told story and very thoughtful, it isn’t doing anything especially new in the realm of the literary. Even if it had been a film, the story of Firewatch has been seen in one way or another before. As a video game, Firewatch presents something brand new that most gamers have never encountered. Firewatch’s strength is its ability to immerse the player in the environment, to walk through nature with the various sounds of twigs snapping, water running, and birds chirping. Players are often caught off guard by the beauty of their surroundings. This is not only due to the beautiful art style but the technology that allowed it to be possible on our modern consoles. Without these elements of immersion and exploration, we have a much different experience. Firewatch relies on these elements and they play to the advantage of the story being portrayed in a video game. The defiance of traditional video game norms is another reason why Firewatch works best as a game. It exists in opposition to usual tropes seen in games by defying them in almost every way. This is intentional and very significant. Firewatch’s defiance is what makes the game stand out, creating a much more sophisticated and thoughtful gaming experience. It cements the notion that video games can, and should be, viewed as high art.

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The video game medium requires interactivity and Firewatch relishes in this element to tell their story. By allowing the player to decide what Henry says to Delilah over the radio, it creates a much more intimate space that otherwise might not be allowed in other mediums. The player is allowed to directly contribute to the relationship between Delilah and Henry. They can choose to have Henry spill everything to Delilah, or they can choose to not speak at all. This gives the player a sense of agency and feels very rewarding throughout the game, and is completely unavailable in other mediums.

Deeper Critiques

Firewatch became commonly critiqued for petty reasons in which players would not take the time to truly think about their experience but form knee jerk opinions and rant on the internet. But Tom Chick took a different approach. Chick runs the website “Quarter to Three” which primarily focuses on video game reviews but also dabbles in other mediums. He started the site with Mark Asher and has now reviewed hundreds of games and movies, on and off the website. 21 In Chick’s piece titled “Firewatch would be great if it weren’t a video game,” he presents a perfect example of healthy critical discourse when it comes to this game. I would recommend reading his piece first as I will not be diving into his points in great detail. 22 His critiques include: • The game should have been shorter • The narrative skips days and therefore does not allow the player to experience loneliness • The space is not as alive as it should be Chick presents his argument in well measured language without the toxic bitterness that plagues most negative conversations about this game. All of his critiques are aimed at Firewatch existing as a game but they should be directed as critiques in design and production, not toward the merits of Firewatch existing as a game or not. For example, Chick specifically points to Firewatch’s cut scene system, where the game will sharply end a scene and move on to another day. The specific time jump Chick references is Day 14 cutting to Day 49. He cites this as the “narrative equivalent of getting beamed into a UFO and having [his] memory erased.” The reasoning behind this is that in movies, the audience is watching from the outside where in a video game the player is on the inside acting as the protagonist. Indeed I will agree that the cuts are a bit jarring but this does not speak to Firewatch needing to exist as anything other than a game. The game is challenging the medium in which it exists in a way that has rarely been attempted prior. While there may be some missteps, I don’t believe they contribute to the game being a failure but something that can be learned from and improved in the future. This problem does not point to Firewatch needing to switch mediums. While Chick’s points are valid, they conveniently skip around the positive effects that Firewatch has as a game. Had Firewatch been anything but a game as Chick desires, it would not nearly carry the same weight as it currently does. Yes, Firewatch could exist as a novella or a film for the central reason that it contains nuance where most video games do not. But this is the very reason that Firewatch works best as a game. It manages to do something new with the form and therefore at the same time elevating it as high art. What we are left with is something much more memorable, interesting, and different than any other medium would allow. It packs a much bigger punch.

WHAT ARE FANS CREATING? FIREWATCH - PROLOGUE ACOUSTIC COVER

FIREWATCH THEORY - ROMANCE, MURDER, AND JANE EYRE?

FIREWATCH THE RIDE - PLANET COASTER

by Kain White

by PushingUpRoses

by fishtankbro

Kain covers the Prologue track with beautiful

Roses take on video games is always some-

Did you ever expect to ride or see someone

acoustics and a special ambiance that brings

thing special to behold. In her video talking

create a roller coaster based on Firewatch?

his own take on the track. This is the perfect

about Firewatch, she digs deeper into the

Me neither. But this track looks pretty rad and

track to just sit down and listen to with your

game’s narrative while also picking up on lit-

does a great job at picking up the aesthetics of

eyes closed, letting the music carry you away

tle details that you may not have noticed the

the game! It takes you on so many crazy twists

to the forests of Wyoming.

first time around.

and turns, you’ll be wishing it were real!

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INTENTIONAL ANTICLIMAX Photo credit: Tim D'hoore https://www.deviantart.com/xxxscope001xxx https://www.artstation.com/tdhgraphics

Written by Danielle Carpenter

pon Firewatch's release, the game was met with high praise for its solid plot and incredible environments. But this was not the consensus among everyone. A large portion of people who played the game complained about the ending. Among the disappointed was YouTuber Felix Kjellberg, more commonly known as "PewDiePie", who finished the game and complained, "That was it? That was f***ing it? Are you f***ing kidding with me right now? No f***ing way I will accept that as a decent ending." 23 Many people shared Kjellberg's sentiments and were angered that the game seemed to just end with no interest in what had seemingly been built toward. What has become very apparent from reading the negative feedback toward this game is that gamer responses have been misdirected. Firewatch was met with reactionary criticisms, usually shallow and almost always aggressive. Rarely was there rational discussion on the game's faults. Rather, the game didn't end the way they expected or wanted, and therefore it was bad. Video games tend to all feel very similar. This does not equate to them being bad or less interesting, however it does speak to the idea that the gaming industry needs more diversity in the stories being told and the mechanics being presented. Gamers are familiar, and comfortable, with how games usually behave and what they look like. Firewatch defies our expectations in every way, most so with the ending. It is worth our time to to explore Firewatch's story and the developer's choice to end the game on an anticlimax versus what is traditionally expected, and why challenging our expectations is what makes the story succeed. First, it is important that we define what an anticlimax looks like. If a climax is an exciting event built up in a narrative, than the anticlimax does the opposite of this. It can be born from

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bad writing or can be intentional. Typically the anticlimax is used in comedy. An example of this comes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail when the Knights and the French are seemingly about to do battle when a policeman comes and arrests King Arthur. But there are other non-comedic examples of anticlimax. When our main characters Katniss and Peeta, in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, are the only two tributes remaining in a battle royale to fight to the death and are forced by the capitol to try and kill one another, the expectation is that they will indeed fight and one of them will win. The narrative has been building toward this. But instead of playing along with what the government wants, Katniss pulls out poisonous berries from earlier in the text and they prepare to eat them. Seeing this, the game runner quickly announces they stop, which results in both of them winning the Hunger Games. Another example comes from Charles Dickens. In his novel Great Expectations, the main character Pip believes that his benefactor is Miss Havisham until it is revealed at the end that it was actually the escaped prisoner he helped at the beginning of the book. This works as an anticlimax due to Miss Havisham having lots of wealth and making Pip a gentleman versus the prisoner who seemed to have nothing, was presumably quite nasty, and was a random stranger at the beginning of the book. One of the most polarizing anticlimaxes in film in recent years is 2003's Signs directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film follows an ex-minister named Graham Hess who left the church after the death of his wife. Strange things begin happening on his farm and it is soon revealed that an alien invasion is upon them. The film leads you to believe that there will be some big confrontation by the end. While it does somewhat amount to this (i.e. "Merrill, swing away"), the bigger revelation

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is that the aliens can be defeated by dousing them in water. Thus there was no big showdown. Several moviegoers were upset by this ending due to the alien's seeming fairly intelligent yet they decided to try and take over a planet that is largely covered in a substance that can kill them. However, the ending defies our expectations. Instead of the usual big battle in alien movies, we get a far more nuanced story of Graham's own personal growth of signs leading him to come to terms with his wife's death and return to his faith. There seems to be some confusion between anticlimax and general disappointing endings. Many people do not seem to understand what a good anticlimax truly is, opting to give examples of disappointing endings rather than truly identifying a direct reversal of expectations. While it is very obvious that some stories end in disappointment due to poor writing choices (i.e. the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn), anticlimax as an intentional choice has purpose. Although the very idea of an anticlimax means some people are going to be let down, it doesn’t inherently mean that the story is automatically a let down. It is the difference between bad writing and plotting versus conscious, intentional storytelling. Calling something disappointing simply due to it being anticlimactic often misses the point. Firewatch leads the player to believe the story is about a mystery affecting Henry and Delilah. We are led down several different paths throughout the narrative. One is Henry’s interaction with the girls at the lake. He can steal their stereo, throw it in the water, or simply set it back down in a different spot. Either response is hostile and leads us to believe that they are the ones who later trash Henry’s tower and cut his wire to interact with the outside world. When the girls later go missing, it is heavily implied that this is bad news for Henry and Delilah. This becomes especially frightening when Delilah reveals that she lied to the cops about what really happened. Right away we are set up with this side plot. Then there is also the strange man Henry sees on the first day on the way back from Jonesy Lake. While hiking to his tower, Henry sees a man above him in silhouette who shines a flashlight down at him. Soon after, he finds his tower trashed. We now have another mystery. Who was that strange man? Did he trash the tower or did the girls do it? But the big mystery is the clipboard Henry later finds that records conversations between him and Delilah. After this discovery, the game jumps into the realm of suspense. The player and Henry are led to believe that this mystery is what matters, that this mystery needs to be solved because that is what games do. You solve puzzles and mysteries. Henry is sent on a fetch quest by Delilah to grab a new walkie talkie so no one can spy on their conversations any longer. He finds a research site that Delilah has no knowledge about

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

Calling something disappointing simply due to it being anticlimactic often misses the point. with crazy equipment and clipboards with more of their conversations along with details about them that haven’t been brought up between the two. The game leads the player to feel scared, that some conspiracy is afoot that must be figured out. It is reasonable that Henry and the player may feel like this is what matters. After all, the player is used to games involving strange plots that must be uncovered. Perhaps aliens are involved or it is a strange government conspiracy. More importantly, this is what Henry is focused on and so therefore the story is too. But all of these “conspiracies” are soon debunked as the game comes to a close. The girls are found and Henry and Delilah face zero consequences for lying to the police. Then it is discovered that there is no conspiracy. Instead Henry finds the dead body of Brian Goodwin, a kid who came with his father to the Shoshone a few years ago despite the rule that no kids are allowed. Brian’s father Ned later leaves a tape for Henry, explaining himself. There was never a conspiracy, only a sad man living out in the woods. One of the biggest anticlimaxes in the game is the fact that Henry never meets Delilah. This may have been the biggest shock to players. Throughout the game, Henry interacts with Delilah via walkie talkie and forms a relationship with her. The player comes to believe that despite everything, Henry’s relationship with Delilah will follow through because that is what happens in games. But no matter what direction the player takes their dialogue tree, she will never be at her tower at the end of the game. This may be the biggest anticlimax due to the fact that the entire game revolves around the conversations between Henry and Delilah, building up their relationship over the course of the summer. It isn’t unreasonable to think that Henry and Delilah would finally meet and leave the Shoshone together to continue with their relationship. But that doesn’t happen. Instead, Delilah leaves before Henry gets to meet her. Their relationship amounts to nothing and Henry must return to Julia (or remain in the woods and become a hermit like Ned).

Why these anticlimaxes work Firewatch’s structure may feel familiar to people who enjoy reading novels. The game is very interested in challenging the player with

new and nuanced ideas. There is a complex story being told and it explores many different themes that are normally not addressed in video games. This is not how video games usually frame themselves. Henry is not an empty shell. While most games want the player to embody the character they play, this game wants to player to understand that Henry is his own person. He is not a ball of clay waiting to be molded. The player does not get to pour their identity into Henry because at the end of the day, the choices that are presented are glued to how Henry would respond to situations. There is not a plethora of options at the player’s disposal but legitimately difficult decisions, most notably in the prologue but also throughout Henry’s conversations with Delilah. Video games often give us the good guys saves the day ending. Players complete several levels in the game that become harder and harder as they continue. This leads to a final battle that exists to test the skills acquired along the way followed by defeating the bad guy. Everything is now good. The end. But Firewatch does not end that way. Often times in literature, a novel’s ending will not simply give us a happy ending but an ending that is challenging and sometimes anticlimactic, all in service of a greater theme at play. Firewatch’s ending is seen to many as a disappointment and the truth is that, well, it is disappointing. Henry wanted to remain distracted from his problems. He wanted to escape his responsibilities. He wanted to meet Delilah. But that didn’t happen. Life doesn’t work that way. Firewatch is much more rooted in Henry’s humanity than his happiness. The game is concerned with his personal growth. He doesn’t win a prize or overcome the conspiracy. Instead he must face his problems and this is inherently disappointing. That is the point. The girls are found. There is no big police confrontation or running from the cops. Brian is dead and Ned is a sad, pathetic man hiding in the woods. There is no conspiracy or real threat. The fire lookouts don’t team up to form an epic showdown. Henry and Delilah don’t end up together. All of their interaction was a means to comfort one another in their inability to face what is hard. Yes, Firewatch’s ending is intentionally disappointing.

Where Do These Anticlimaxes Lead? One of the central themes of Firewatch is the harm of avoiding your problems. You can’t run away from them. All of these anticlimaxes revolve around this theme. Another theme present is the theme of duality. All of the characters are presented as one thing when it turns out they are something else. The girls are missing when in actuality they stole a tractor and were in jail. Ned and Brian were a happy father and son. Instead, there was miscommunication in their relationship that ultimately led to Brian’s death and Ned going crazy. Henry and Delilah are compatible but in actuality they are two people avoiding responsibility for their poor decisions.

Yes, all of this is disappointing, just like an anticlimax tends to be.

Building Toward an Anticlimax Upon further inspection and additional playthroughs, it becomes increasingly clear that the game was never leading us to believe it would end happily but leading us to this disappointment. We just missed the initial signs. A good story can be encountered multiple times and with each experience you discover new things that exist. On first playthrough, Firewatch may indeed come off as unintentionally anticlimactic. But on a second or third go, there is strong evidence that reveals a greater intention. The game simply used red herrings to lure players into paying attention to the wrong things and distracting them. Firewatch knows exactly what it is building toward, even though the main character and therefore the player does not.

Story beats that build toward the ending of Henry returning to Julia A great example of a red herring comes from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling. The book wants us to believe that Sirius Black is a murder and that he wants to kill Harry. Throughout the text Harry sees the grim, a black dog which is a symbol of death. Harry’s friend tells him that when his Uncle saw the grim, he died shortly after. Sirius Black’s name is also very scary and points at him being a bad man. But all of this is a red herring as Sirius is actually good and not a murderer. All of the red herrings have an explanation that leads to a twist ending. The first instance of this can be found in the prologue. Though somewhat forgettable in the grand scheme of things, the prologue sets up Henry running away from his problems. Henry constantly avoids responsibility in the prologue, leaving players with his final act of running away when Julia is diagnosed with early onset alzheimer’s. Henry become a fire lookout. The prologue is telling us a few things. First, it is establishing Henry as a character who is not a blank slate for the player to slip into. More importantly, it is establishing what matters. The game literally starts off with the text, “You see Julia.” She is what is important. Much like Henry, we may forget what is important due to the conspiracy red herrings that come into play later in the game.

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All of the red herrings are people avoiding responsibility All of the red herrings in this game come down to another character failing to be responsible. Brian’s death is due to Ned being an irresponsible father, leading him to go crazy and run away from confronting what happened. His inability to address the situation is what leads to the “conspiracies” that haunt Henry and Delilah for much of the game. Henry’s interaction with the girls shows his inability to address conflict, followed by he and Delilah (mostly Delilah) unable to take responsibility for the events that went down at Jonesy Lake and later at their campsite. In fact, Delilah avoids responsibility constantly, even when Henry doesn’t want to. Throughout the game she is a direct example of someone avoiding responsibility in not reporting Brian with Ned a few years earlier, not wanting to call

Firewatch intentionally reverses our expectations, creating a much more meaningful gameplay and narrative experience.

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

the police when the girls go missing, and in her own relationships. At one point, depending on how the player performs their dialogue tree, Delilah says to Henry that “when you care about someone, you are supposed to figure out how to take care of them, even if it’s tough to do so.” This is a direct reference to Henry not dealing with Julia, whether Delilah recognizes it or not. Brian’s death as an example of Ned’s failed responsibility is a blatant echo to Henry’s dying marriage. Henry can either run away from it like Ned, or confront it. Henry began his journey running away from the tragedy of Julia’s diagnoses. It makes sense that it would build up to his return and learning that he can’t run from his problems.

Conclusions Through several red herrings and the plot yanking the players into the realm of the anticlimactic, Firewatch’s ending is intentionally disappointing and filled with nuance that is rarely seen in video game narratives. There are no bad guys, there are no weapons to fight back with, and Henry doesn’t rescue the princess from her lookout tower. Instead, Firewatch intentionally reverses our expectations, creating a much more meaningful gameplay and narrative experience. Perhaps there will always be people who get mad at this game. While their one star reviews arguably miss the point of their own anger, it just goes to show how pervasive a game can be to stir such a conversation. Getting mad at this game for it being disappointing misses the point.

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Photo credit: Allon Kremer 30 MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY https://www.artstation.com/sirallon

WALKING SIMULATORS Your Genre is in Another Castle Written by Samuel Gronseth II

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I think it’s time we acknowledge that the term “walking simulator” has outlived its usefulness. Or, even more to the point, it isn’t even a good descriptor of its genre, never has been, and we would do well to retire it entirely. This genre title has long been used to describe games with relatively simple interaction that mostly consists of exploring a space, with no complex gameplay systems or opportunity for failure. Firewatch, and many other games like it, have long been thrown into this category. But I think it’s long past time we look back and consider why this is, and whether it’s actually appropriate or helpful. The concept of a game with simple, exploratory interaction isn’t as new as we might think. It has its origins in the 1983 game, The Forest, by Graham Relf, and the spiritual successor from the same creator, Explorer. They were early experiments in procedural generation (see left), and the majority of the player’s time was simply spent navigating the environment. They were, and still are, generally considered to have more value as interesting and groundbreaking experiments than entertaining games in and of themselves. But this kind of game didn’t really become common enough to form its own genre for a long time, WHAT IS and the term “walking simulator” PROCEDURAL didn’t catch on until 2012: around GENERATION? the commercial release of Dear Esther. While not the first game of In video games, this is the process that is used to its kind, it was the one that gained automatically create large the most mainstream attention, amounts of content in a and with that awareness came game. 24 many attempts to understand, label, and discuss the game and its genre. As well as significantly more attempts to discredit and devalue it. Dear Esther was not popular with a lot of gamers, due to the common belief that the simple act of walking through an environment was not enough of a challenge to qualify as a “game.” And also, of course, due to the belief that its worth as an interactive experience was largely or wholly dependent on meeting those criteria. Conversations can be had about the game’s quality, of course, but the level of vitriol for this random little mod-turned-Steam-game was not the kind that comes from such simple disagreements. Dear Esther was not hated for how good or bad it was, but for the fact that it was generating discussion and critical acclaim despite being, in the eyes of many gamers, “not a real game.” And unfortunately, this was the conversation from which the critical language of the genre evolved.

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

We still seek to understand our games using a limited vocabulary based solely on mechanical actions, rather than broader experiences and more meaningful descriptors. Let’s not beat around the bush: “walking simulator” is an intentionally denigrating term. By defining the genre only by the act of walking, it strips down the game’s entire identity to a simple, boring act that presents no challenge and provokes no thought. There are other elements to these games, of course: uncovering a story, exploring an environment, even just calmly enjoying some scenery. And even critics of the genre generally understand that these are the primary purpose of such games. But the label “walking simulator” intentionally disregards these elements in favor of emphasizing the most simple, boring thing about the game. It’s clear, looking at the source of the term and the culture that birthed it, that this name came from a discourse that was largely critical and dismissive, and it was intended less as a legitimate descriptor than a sarcastic jab. I think it goes without saying that such a label does a disservice to the genre, since it fails to communicate what the experience actually has to offer and why anyone would consider playing it. But ultimately, this is not without precedent. In fact, the naming convention that led to “walking simulator” is established through nearly every other accepted video game genre we have. Video game genres are, with rare exception, named to describe the acts the player will most commonly be performing during play. This is how we get names like “shooter,” “hack-n-slash,” and “platformer.” Sometimes we add other descriptors to narrow them down, such as in first-person shooters vs. third-person shooters, and occasionally we have genre names that range from simply unhelpful (i.e. “adventure,” or “action,” very vague terms that fail to capture the dynamics of their genres in any distinct way) to what are essentially in-jokes (i.e. “Roguelike,” a term that references another specific game rather than do anything to actually describe its genre). Continuing in this tradition, then, it is perhaps unsurprising that

games like Firewatch would be described by the act the player most commonly performs; that is, walking. But I think, in doing so, we’ve come to the limits of this naming conventions usefulness. And perhaps even revealed the shortcomings it had all along. After all, if I was asked to describe my experience with Firewatch in a few simple words, “walking” would not even be one of them. “Mysterious,” perhaps. “Exploratory,” for sure. “Dramatic,” absolutely. But the simple act of walking is not what defines the experience of Firewatch. It’s neither what the game is about, nor how one perceives their interaction with the world. It’s a thing the player does, probably even the thing they do most, but far from the thing that defines the game. This is because the acts performed by the player are not, even in more traditionally-designed video games, the sole definition of what a game is. Technically speaking, the player is doing very similar things in Call of Duty, Borderlands, and Bioshock, but anyone who has played these three games would balk at any meaningful comparison between them. They are so distinct tonally, visually, and thematically (among other ways), and yet they are all “first-person shooters.” Clearly, it’s incredibly reductive to define games entirely, or even just primarily, by the things the player does in them. And yet, that’s what we most often do, and it’s in this tradition that the term “walking simulator” proudly stands. When taking all this into account, a bigger picture begins to form. Between the toxic attitudes held toward this genre and the precedent provided in game genre naming conventions, the popularization of the term “walking simulator” says a lot about how we talk about video games, and how the discourse surrounding them has often failed to adjust to a still-growing medium. When we look deeper at the way we categorize different kinds of video games, what we see is a nearly-exclusive focus on mechanical identity. What we do in a game, how we control a game, what we have to do in order to win a game. Admittedly, for an interactive medium, the idea of basing categories on the player’s actions isn’t entirely without merit. Especially early on, when games were simpler and there was less variety in playstyles and fewer aesthetic options. But relying completely on this method is proving to be insufficient, and the categories we create become increasingly reductive as this medium continues to grow, experiment, and test the limits of its own definitions (as any budding art form can and should do). And yet, we hold so stubbornly to this outdated routine that we not only continue to define games based on it, but even deride new genres and experiments by insisting that we must somehow fit them into these categories, even if doing so essentially erases the things that actually make a new game worth playing. We wield it as a weapon against change, to decry anything that dares to go against the grain and play with the expectations we’ve built for what games “should” look like. The good news is that this hatred has been slowly overtaken since the term “walking simulator” first debuted. The tired tirades, thinly veiled in questions about game design and what “counts” as a game, are a lot less common for Firewatch than they were for games like Dear Esther and Gone Home. It’s out there, and certain corners of the gaming community still complain to each other about it in their own bubbles and harass the creators of such games under the protective cloak of online anonymity, but the rhetoric that’s dedicated to dismantling and hiding the value of nontraditional video games holds less power over the industry than ever.

The bad news, however, is that we’ve yet to root it out of the way we talk about games. We still seek to understand our games using a limited vocabulary based solely on mechanical actions, rather than broader experiences and more meaningful descriptors. We still give credence to gatekeeping efforts that question the worth of games that don’t fit with our preconceived notions. And we still haven’t figured out what to call games like Firewatch if not “walking simulators.” The question that always follows this kind of claim is, “What do you suggest we call them, then?” But aside from being a long and difficult conversation to have, it’s also missing the forest for the trees. I am absolutely in favor of retiring the term “walking simulator,” and establishing something more helpful and less inherently devaluing But without reconsidering the critical language we’re developing around video games, and without taking power away from people who would use that language to discourage experimentation and devalue new, non-traditional experiences, retiring this one derogatory genre name won’t be enough. It’s time we look at exactly what the problem is and how it got here. Then, maybe, the next game to break convention won’t get saddled with such a patronizing label.

SAMUEL GRONSETH II

is the creator, writer, and host of the popular YouTube channel, “Games as Lit. 101.” https://www.youtube.com/user/gamesasliterature

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hey there delilah

Photo credit: Balthazar Damassky https://www.instagram.com/bal.dam/ https://www.artstation.com/baldam

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

Written by Danielle Carpenter

hen we talk about Firewatch, we could talk about the attention to realism, or the choice to include narrative depth, or even the way feminized gameplay (see below) can rile up a community more interested in gatekeeping then pushing the medium to new places. These topics only manage to breach some of the discussions that can come out of finishing Campo Santo’s Firewatch. However, I want to zoom in and pay close attention to Delilah, the protagonist who accompanies our lead Henry for most of the game.

WHAT IS FEMINIZED GAMEPLAY? Feminized gameplay is when a game performs in a way that is associated with female attributes. An example of this is how Henry talks to solve his problems rather than wielding a gun to shoot his antagonists. Feminized gameplay does not equal a woman being the main character. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) does not explore and escape enemies using cooking mechanics but shooting a gun.

Firewatch as a game is filled with femininity down to how it structures its narrative and even how it approaches gameplay. Henry may be a straight white male, but his story is far from what typically comes along with that label. The game’s main hook is exploration. There is no violence or exercise montages. Henry doesn’t fight a bear or shoot lurking enemies. Instead, he talks to Delilah and walks around the woods. He communicates to solve his problems, seen as a feminine action, as opposed to using violence, a male assigned action. As a medium, video games are often associated as belonging to men. This isn’t a wild concept to latch on to as most games feature male protagonists in which these manly men do manly things like shoot at people/creatures and flirt with female NPC’s. Even if a woman leads the game, she will be most likely holding a gun and reenacting the same basic video game tropes of fighting and being a tough gal who can hang with the guys. I’m not saying Lara Croft is a female protagonist we should ignore but it is worth pointing out how hyper sexualized she is in the space of video game discourse. Female characters can also simply be a replica of an already established male character (i.e. Ms. Pacman, Dixie Kong). Video games are marketed as an escape for men to play off their urges to shoot guns in a virtual space, to practice their masculinity even if they can’t perform it in their everyday lives. When this hypermasculine context is taken away, the community becomes toxic and angry. So fragile is this masculinity we have built that one crack in the structure and it all comes shattering down. It is fair to say that Firewatch has been a part of breaking that glass ceiling and while part of it can be attributed to the feminized gameplay (lack of guns, talking to solve problems, hero doesn’t get the girl), much of it is thanks to the character of Delilah. Besides sharing a name with the Plain White T’s song and having a healthy hint of manic pixie dream girl, Delilah takes center stage within Henry’s narrative. The entire plot of this game is structured around the conversations between the two of them. This isn’t the game where Henry vents about his problems and Delilah just

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listens. This isn’t the game where we focus entirely on the male lead. As Olivia White so beautifully puts it, Delilah is “an NPC with agency.” 25 She takes shape and has depth right from the start with habits and a backstory and problems, something rarely afforded to female characters in a video game.

The person experiencing the story has to use their imagination and can’t rely on the shallow form of an image to make up their mind for them. In this way, Delilah can be whatever the player wants her to be. And this is extremely empowering. Her appearance can’t be apart of her appeal.

Women in video games primarily exist to further the man’s story arc. Should they be the ones carrying the story, they are often presented as fragile, the perfect human being, or the female option (i.e. Mass Effect gives players a choice to play a man or a woman, but the game markets itself primarily using the man on box art and promo videos). While Delilah is furthering Henry’s arc, she does not exist on a flat plain. She is not perfect but extremely flawed, in the best way possible. The game never puts judgement on her but simply allows her to exist, just as her male counterparts. In other words, Delilah isn’t there as a male support system nor is she there so the game can be more politically correct. It should be of note that while Delilah takes center stage in this game, the player nor Henry ever sees her. She exists in her tower, merely a voice that Henry communicates with (and even sometimes questions as existing). This could raise questions about why Delilah never gets any screen time and what that says about the game developers. If Olivia White is correct, how could a woman with agency have no screen time? The first and most obvious answer to this point is that Campo Santo didn’t have the budget to create character models. The only person they modeled was Henry and the player never actually sees him in full (unless they play the Audio Tour version of the game). Henry is only visible in a few photographs and the players sees his arms, legs, and hands throughout the gameplay. Making another character model would not have realistically fit into the budget. But this feels like more of an excuse to not give Delilah screen time so let’s make the narrative argument. As mentioned earlier, video games fall victim to oversexualizing

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

their female characters. Women exist for the male gaze and rarely get to be actual people. By removing the visual component from the equation, we suddenly are left with an opportunity to present a female character and players can’t sexualize her or judge her based on her appearance. Delilah may not have literal screen time, but her prescience is heavily felt in this game. The player doesn’t see her but they interact with her constantly. Talking to Delilah is her screen time and she is given plenty of it which is more than most games. Firewatch takes heavy strides into the nature of ambiguity, leaving much up to the player’s imagination. This is a tool often associated with the novel. The person experiencing the story has to use their imagination and can’t rely on the shallow form of an image to make up their mind for them. In this way, Delilah can be whatever the player wants her to be. And this is extremely empowering. Her appearance can’t be apart of her appeal. Delilah is not the NPC that supplies Henry with exposition. Instead the narrative unfolds very carefully and organically around both characters. Although the player embodies Henry, both Henry and Delilah are running away from their problems. Their interactions with one another allow the story to grow through character development rather than contrived plot. One of my favorite moments of the game is when Henry and Delilah named the controlled burn. It is night time and darkness surrounds Henry’s tower so that all he can see are the stars and the pink and orange flames burning in the night. He and Delilah watch the fire and name it together, their voices thick with tiredness. Delilah confides that she doesn’t talk to the other lookouts the way she talks to Henry. The scene is very intimate and even as I write this I long to experience it again. It presents a much more vulnerable side to Delilah, who we have so far witnesses swearing nonstop and cracking bad puns. In this moment you feel as if she is solid and a real human being. That happens very little in video games, especially with female characters. She is afforded her own humanity. I could say that Delilah is spunky and kick ass and strong but the truth is, I am tired of using these words as an excuse that makes a female character worthy in the face of a male dominated medium. Delilah is a worthy character just because. Her character depth is beautiful and that all comes from the writing and Cissy Jone’s performance. She isn’t some one off gal for Henry to flirt with but a character who he gets to know and so do we the players. This defiance of tropes is welcomed. Here is hoping Delilah will encourage and empower not only more complex female characters in gaming but change how women are approached in the medium.

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Written by Danielle Carpenter

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

he art of creating can sometimes be bogged down by too many ideas. When someone tries to pack in idea after idea after idea into a creative project, they are often left with a muddy mess and it is hard to tell what they are trying to say with what they created. By trying to do everything, a product is often ruined by the desire for too much. On an episode of Bravo TV’s 15th season of the popular food competition show, Top Chef, contestants were told to choose from a set of ingredients. Each of them had their turn to pick. Once they had each chosen 4 ingredients, a twist was implemented when another chef returned to the show and was allowed to steal some ingredients from the chef’s. Contestant Joe Flamm stole pork from Carrie Baird, leaving her with only onions, lemons, and honey. This put her at a noticeable disadvantage as she was suddenly restricted from creating the dish she had at first envisioned. However, this restriction ended up working in Carrie’s favor as she ended up winning the challenge with her creative dish, and was thankful that the pork was taken away from her. This is an example of restrictions benefitting a final product. To many, restrictions can be bothersome obstacles to overcome. Restrictions often feel as if the creator is being held back. But restrictions can be a great practice in the art of restraint. Less is more. Firewatch was created with several restrictions, usually budgetary, that ultimately serve as an advantage to the plot and game as a whole. In addition, the game doesn’t try to overcompensate for this boundary but keeps a tight hold on the leash of their story, allowing the narrative to breathe. Restriction and restraint are the largest contributors to the success of Firewatch as they keep the story from going off the rails and allow the narrative to grow organically. While most games rely on spectacle and high action moments, Firewatch could not do this due to the team’s budget. The developers working on the game had to instead work through obstacles and figure out ways to keep the player active and engaged while still creating a solid product. This is a challenge that most big budget games don’t face, or at least not in the same way. Firewatch had limited resources and had to use what was at their disposal in the most meaningful way possible. One large example of budget restrictions is the lack of a proper human model in the game. The player gets to glimpse Henry in photographs as well as seeing his body during gameplay (players can see a full scale model of Henry in the Firewatch Audio Tour which can be played after completing the game at least once). We see the silhouetted Ned and teenage girls on the first day, and the masked man in the helicopter at the end of the game. Other characters may show up in photographs but this is limited to Henry, Brian, and Ned. Julia is partially in a photograph but her face is covered. The player never sees Delilah. Wildlife is also scarce apart from the racoon that attacks Henry, the elk during the prologue, the dead elk off to the side of a trail, and the turtle Henry can find. There are signs of life such as animal tracks and a clawed up tree but that is it. Even the very design of the game, from the musical score by Chris Remo to the environments by Jane Ng, are minimal in their approach. The developers don’t simply remove these elements typically expected from games and wipe their hands of it. Instead, they create meaningful reasons for the lack of character or wildlife interaction to

create a space of isolation and leave certain elements up to player interpretation (i.e. Delilah). The player is allowed to imagine Julia and Delilah however they want. Just as if this were a novel, the player does not have a clear image but has to make one up and this requires much more creativity on the part of the player. While budgetary restrictions paved the way for these choices, they are then reinterpretted into something far more meaningful than would have been allowed with a game that had access to all of the tools they desired. Removing the ability to meet or see Delilah in particular forces the developers to come up with a more interesting way to interact with her and create meaning. Since the game takes place in 1989 and there are no smart phones, or even cell phones for that matter, Henry and Delilah are extremely limited to how they can interact. They are forced to communicate via the walkie talkie. This allows the writer to come up with new ideas on how to have characters interact. They are removed from each other, creating a very specific and intimate form of communicating. By limiting communication, it opens up more creative avenues for how to tell the story. This singular form of communication also becomes a form of scaring the player when Henry and Delilah realize that their only form of communication is being tapped and recorded by a stranger. There is no escape. This restriction to only communicating via walkie talkie and being cut off from the world allows for more narrative focus. What matters are the conversations between Henry and Delilah. This is where the game’s narrative strives. We don’t meet Delilah because the developer’s, Campo Santo, didn’t have the budget to create another human model. That is the fact. But Campo Santo were able to use this to their advantage in the department of story, allowing the characters to grow as people and allowing them to feel disappointed. If Delilah had been at her tower, the ending of Firewatch would be far less unique and impactful. Campo Santo were able to paint over these restrictions and make them important elements of their game. Firewatch succeeds because it is focused in all aspects. The restrictions the developers faced allowed them to think outside the box and tackle situations in a more creative fashion. Their management of resources makes the game incredibly strong. Firewatch is all the more memorable because of its limitations. Instead of producing something that looks and behaves like every other game on the market, Campo Santo uses these limitations as advantages to serve the narrative in more stylized and nuanced ways.

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Written by Danielle Carpenter

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

Photo credit: Helen Norcott https://www.artstation.com/skraww

n the summer of 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into a cabin in the woods that he built at Walden Pond. His intent was to see if he could survive living a plain, simple life in radically reduced conditions. Thoreau was interested in truth and always questioned tradition. While conducting his experiment, he wrote Walden, one of the most celebrated pieces of naturalist literature to this day. Walden is a text which presents the notion that to live a simple life, one must live by simple means; that society creates its own problems due to wanting more than is necessary and creating foolish stress in the process. Since publication, not only has the book been highly regarded but has spawned completely new genres of fiction such as travel fiction and adventure fiction. These genres usually present a form of the getting away from society narrative which presents nature as a form of healthy isolation and solitude in order to find meaning. Authors such as Jack Kerouac and Jack London, and even non-fiction authors such as Neil Postman, all share ties to Thoreau’s work. Thoreau’s influence also carried over to Chris McCandless, a man who tried to live a life of simplicity without adhering to material goods or societal norms. Chris left his entire life behind him and carried Walden with him on his travels. Unfortunately, while living in an abandoned bus in Alaska, Chris died after eating poisonous berries. His travels were later documented by Jon Krakauer in the book, Into the Wild. It would be remiss to ignore Walden’s influence on a game like Firewatch which includes a character fleeing to the wilderness to escape the trials of his life and replacing said trials with a tower overlooking the mountains of Wyoming in complete isolation. Besides sharing a name with Thoreau (I seriously wonder if this is on purpose or not), our protagonist flees to a life of seeming simplicity. But that is where the similarities between Walden and Firewatch converge. Henry does not retreat to the wilderness is hopes of enlightenment or to live a life of simplicity. He is not in search of truth or interested in anything philosophical as far as the player can tell. Instead, he is escaping from his problems. While this intention is somewhat shared with Thoreau, Thoreau’s motivations stem from a blatant defiance of society and government. Henry is not making a stand against anything. Yes he is fleeing just the same but he is avoiding doing the right thing and instead taking the easy route. Both take root in naturalist storytelling techniques though come to different conclusions. What is so unique to naturalist narratives is the vibrant prescience

of silence. Away from the loudness of the city and technology, silence can be a form of healing. It allows one to contemplate their own thoughts and have a less demanding role in society. This philosophy is very present in the indie film subgenre, Mumblecore. Youtuber Satchell Drakes mentions in his video “Firewatch Belongs to Me” 26, the Mumblecore genre. He doesn’t particularly attach it to Firewatch but uses it to talk about defining and labeling a genre. But the game does share some traits with the subgenre. Characterized by naturalistic acting and dialogue, it often includes low-budget film production, an emphasis on dialogue over plot, and a focus on the personal relationships of people in their 20s and 30s. 27 28 Firewatch sits very comfortably in this bubble. The game is rooted in naturalism, not just in terms of the environment but in the dialogue. The way Henry and Delilah interact with one another is extremely natural to the point that during game development, actors Rich Sommer and Cissy Jones were kept from meeting each other for as long as possible, recording their dialogue in their own home recording studios via Skype. Firewatch is also low-budget and although it does not focus on characters within their 20s and 30s, it still has a focus on personal relationships. Like Thoreau and Mumblecore, Firewatch is far more interested in the idea of the quiet and being with nature. The game does not rush or demand anything of the player but to simply be of the space. Henry must experience isolation, something that at once can be both terrifying and calming, and must take some sort of responsibility caring for the woods in a way he can’t care for Julia (and spoilers, he doesn’t take good care of either). The same can be said of Ned who could not care for Brian. This subtle way of telling a story is more interested in a simpler approach, focusing on characters and their interactions in order to carry the narrative. Character interaction is the key to this game. The conversations between Henry and Delilah are the core of the gameplay and the narrative, focused on organic dialogue instead of a forced plot. As Ned’s story is slowly unfolded and the controlled burn slowly gets out of control, Henry is confronted by nature to do something. All of this occurs without a gun, or any sort of weapon, but conversation. Firewatch’s quiet and naturalistic approach to the story and gameplay are in direct opposition to video games as we know them. Video games typically involve violence, loud explosions, and high maintenance action scenes. Several games, even when story focused, are concerned with shallow showy mechanics. They’d rather grab

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the player’s attention instead of tackling what is hard. This is due to the idea that video games are escapism and can be nothing more. To be blunt, video games are loud. Our lives are loud. On a personal level, I find that in my life I can rarely find a place of peace and quiet... which is why I usually retreat to the library. Either someone is watching TV and the noise drifts upstairs or our phones are ringing or an ad is shouting at max volume on our computer speakers. Everything is fighting for our attention. It is rare that we get a game that exists quietly in a field dominated by noise. Melissa Kagen, in her essay “Walking, Talking and Playing with Masculinities in Firewatch”, talks about Firewatch directly avoiding what has been done before and thus recontextualizes it, often in ways that are much more subtle, quiet, and thought provoking. She writes, “Ned belongs in a conspiratorial spy-themed puzzle game, with all the traps and eavesdropping missions he manages. Alternately, Brian would fit into a platformer involving running, jumping, and finding caves (maybe as save points). His death [in] the cave is a chilling analogue of the million unimportant deaths that protagonists of these games experience, here made tragic by context.” 29 Stories in games carry a lot of potential to have meaningful dialogue about certain topics, and I do not mean dialogue between characters but rather dialogue that occurs because of the presentation of a video game. Art can be a form of coping and coming to terms with difficult situations. More often than not, games are prescribed as forms of escapism from real life...sound familiar? Players escape to games to avoid the stress of life itself. Firewatch does not pretend that it is also a form of escapism, prescribing on screen nature instead of actually going outside. Rather, it is multifaceted - escapism that pulls us deeper into understanding ourselves and the world around us. After all, that is what great stories do. Firewatch is an example of a quiet video game. It is a more “psychological product that taps into the atmosphere and wonder of loneliness rather than looking for simpler thrills the medium usually provides,” says David Sims. 30 Henry escapes into the woods for solitude. What we end up with is a game not just quiet in story but in its very atmosphere. The game desires to be challenging not just in gameplay but in our very understanding of what game narratives can look like. Henry doesn’t have to fear a bear mauling him to death or being crushed by a falling rock or falling off a cliff. The game is more concerned with Henry’s humanity. In the tradition of Thoreau, Firewatch deliberately immerses itself in the natural. In its environmental aesthetic and its focus on conversation to tell the story, it allows us to see video games in a brand new way than once allowed and challenges the medium to grow, just as Henry grows by the end of the narrative.

IF YOU LIKE FIREWATCH, THEN YOU WILL LIKE... YOUNG PILGRIM / CHARLIE SIMPSON Former member of the British pop trio “Busted”, Charlie Simpson’s debut solo album from 2011 brings raw acoustics, vocals, and lyrics to the table that are not only delightful to the ears but to the soul.

THE BODY / STEPHEN KING The story of four friends travelling along the railroad tracks in search of a dead body is all at once nostalgic, gut-wrenching, and hopeful. This novella is easily one of King’s best pieces of fiction, featuring beautiful prose and memorable characters.

WHY I WAKE EARLY / MARY OLIVER Mary Oliver has a strange ability to suck you in with her poetry. This collection reads like a prayer and makes one feel at peace with nature and mornings. Trust me, you will want to wake up early to read this collection while the sun rises.

MARTHA, MARCY, MAY, MARLENE A film that never quite gives the audience satisfactory answers, Martha is about a young woman returning to her family after previously being involved in a cult. The titular role is played by Avengers star, Elizabeth Olsen.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately. - Henry David Thoreau

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

DONUT COUNTY a review written by Danielle Carpenter

Donut County in three words is as follows - short and sweet. The indie title has received an abundance of praise and so I decided to buy it on Steam when it went on sale. After playing and completing the game in a little over two hours, I can safely say that it is a good time and I want to talk about why. Developed by Ben Esposito, Donut County resides among several other indie games that only last a few hours and include minimal gameplay. This is part of a growing trend that some gamers could do without, dubbing laziness on the part of the developers. I don’t think smaller games are an issue. Other mediums have their share of short media, i.e. novellas and short films. Shorter gamers are not a threat to the industry nor does their length equal poor quality. Developers should not be given scrutiny for producing a game that is short. In fact, long form developers could learn a thing or two from these short titles. The story follows BK and Mira who work at a donut shop in Donut County. When BK decides to deliver actual holes in the ground instead of donut holes, the town is soon swallowed below the earth. The concept is weak, quirky at best. The story doesn’t carry much weight but exists as a reason for what is happening in the gameplay. I found myself quickly clicking through dialogue boxes more often than not. It doesn’t harm anything but it isn’t something to praise when compared to the other elements of the game. The style of the game is very bright colors, geometric

shapes, and minimalistic character designs. What we are left with is a charming exercise is creative game design. Donut County looks like no other game I have played. I could see a possible influence being Animal Crossing though I have never played those games and can not know for sure. The music, composed by Ben Esposito as well as Daniel Koestner, is equally charming. If bands “the Lumineers” and “LANY” had a baby band, it would be this soundtrack. But what stands out the most in this game is, of course, the act of putting as many things as possible in a hole. It is a simple concept. Playing this game was a very cathartic experience. It plays off of this weird thing in the human brain (don’t ask me what it is called, I don’t know) where you aren’t supposed to do something but just want to keep doing it anyway. Like, I know I am not supposed to pick at this scab but my gosh I need to! That is what it feels like playing Donut County. And I promise I mean that as a compliment. This is the type of game that has replay value purely for the sense that it doesn’t demand anything of you but to be somewhat present and to collect things in a giant hole. It is strangely rewarding. I would highly recommend playing Donut County. It provides a unique gaming experience that you’ll want to return to in times of stress and when life feels so overwhelming that all you want to do is catch things in a hole in the ground.

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WHAT WE ARE ENJOYING

METAL TRIBUTE TO KH

SANCTUARY - EP

PEP TALKS

FLORENCE OST

Rocking out to Kingdom Hearts is pure joy.

Nostalgia never felt so good.

A fun and honest record that jams out hardcore.

The perfect record to end Spring on a high note.

TEAM WEST COVINA

STORYCAST

HOW STORY WORKS [Chipperish Media]

[Practical Folks]

This Crazy Ex-Girlfriend podcast breaks down the intricacies of the hit show.

Join Anya and Alan’s discussions about the stories that have impacted them.

Continue your studies about story with Lani Diane Rich.

Dungeons and Dragons and Dinner is funny and compelling.

[Garik Wheeler]

[Paisley Podcasts]

[Aly & AJ Music LLC]

[Hallowed Ground Media]

[Cletus the Van Records]

[Annapurna Interactive]

DNDND PODCAST

CROSSWORD Across 1. Conspiracy Site 2. Harry Crane 3. Communication 4. Delilah’s Tower 5. Dog Julia Wants 6. National Forest

Down 1. Hey There _______ 2. Henry’s Tower 3. Environment Artist 4. Henry’s Residence 5. Composer 6. Where Julia Hails 7. Ned and Brian

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

Answers: Across: 1. Wapati Station, 2. Rich Sommer, 3. Radio, 4. Thorofare, 5. Bucket, 6. Shoshone; Down: 1. Delilah, 2. Two Forks, 3. Jane Ng, 4. Colorado, 5. Chris Remo, 6. Australia, 7. Goodwin

INDIE GAME THE MOVIE [Blinkworks Production]

SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY ANALYSIS [Corvus Analyzes]

WHY ARE YOU SO ANGRY? [Innuendo Studious]

This documentary follows several different developers through the tension and drama of creating a video game.

This YouTube series anaylzes Super Mario Odyssey and digs into it, unafraid to criticize where necessary.

A six part series breaking down Gamer Gate and helping viewers understand how and why it came to be.

WHEN STYLE IS SUBSTANCE [let’s talk about stuff.]

WE THE REVOLUTION REVIEW [First Five]

KINGDOM HEARTS III PLAYTHROUGH [Hellfire Comms]

A great look at Into the Spiderverse and why its deviation from the comic books strenghtens it as a film, as well as how style is used to explore theme.

First Five Reviews reviews games after playing them for five hours or less. For busy people who are desperate for short games, you have to subscribe!

Hellfire Comms has returned to their roots with a playthrough of Kingdom Hearts 3. NTom64 and the Helldragon offer diverse commentary and provide lots of fun!

WILD CARDS I [Tor Science Fiction]

NO TIME TO SPARE [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]

AVANT-GARDE VIDEOGAMES [The MIT Press]

Written by a variety of different authors, this science fiction series follows super heroes in a shared universe.

Ursula K. Le Guin is a master at her craft. These essays contemplate everyday ideas in an easy to digest format.

Brian Schrank dives into how games can be avant-garde in challenging culture or changing our perception of the world.

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FA N S W R I T E Firewatch, to me, means home. The warm colouring, soft music that captures the moment and evokes emotion, perfect voice acting. It’s a game I find myself constantly coming back to, not because it’s dramatic or intense but because it makes me feel less alone, like Henry and Delilah are there with me. And I know some people think the ending is rushed - but I love it. It’s about unfulfilled expectations, that like in real life, things aren’t always going to be spectacular or end the way you think they would. Sometimes you don’t get the girl. Sometimes the grand conspiracy has a simple explanation. Sometimes you escape only to be brought back home. - Isabelle To me, Firewatch shows that it can be easy to get distracted by the end of something significant that tested you as a person, especially if it hasn’t fulfilled your hopes for a perfect conclusion or closure when often it’s the journey, the adventure that made it worthwhile and everything it is. It’s a hard lesson to learn and truth to accept, but one that’ll bring an amazing new perspective to your life. A lesson I am still trying to learn. - Lewis Hi my name is Luke and my favorite memory of Firewatch is when you break into Cotton Field Station (I think it was called) and then everything goes crazy and when you get back to your look out there is the tape where someone is watching you and the person can blackmail you at any given point. - Luke I watched gameplay and simply forgot about it and then one day when I was game-depressed (there were no nice games I’d like to play) I remembered about it. Installed, Fixed the graphics for nice fps, Started playing. Don’t even start me on the graphics, soundtrack and story I can talk about it for HOURS! I REALLY enjoyed the style and fitting soundtrack it was nice for my eyes and ears. It felt like I escaped reality, like I was Henry exploring and talking with Delilah. I joked, I flirted, I shared my fake and not so stories. Then we got into the deep part and I enjoyed it as well. I really immersed and it ended just right because I can keep my expectation for Delilah’s looks. 10/10 I can recommend. P.S. I played it at night because that’s when my family is asleep and with my isolating headphones it was so immersive that i almost screamed when Henry got knocked out. - Lukas Firewatch is a great game, though it is kinda short. It’s so immersive, not only its storyline, but the scenery too. I think what really got me to play this game was the view. And the fact that you get a camera in the game and get to use it is a cool feature. When i played it i was full of joy like when you were a kid and the summer break just started and you were so excited. For me that was the best feeling i’ve ever had and this game made me feel it again. That’s how great it is - Kebafai Firewatch is an absolutely delightful game, and I think touches with the troubles of everyday life. - AKAManaging on Reddit

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

To me it’s about accepting that challenges in life need to faced head on and sometimes no amount of distraction can simply make those challenges simply disappear. And from playing the game I was able to experience two excellently written characters who are barely portrayed visually but I have a greater sense who they are as people than almost any fictional character I’ve ever encountered. - MLKKK36 on Reddit Firewatch is an amazing game, artwork to wonderful soundtrack (don’t even get me started on the story). The game to me, is a love story, a heartbreaking showing of passions and superstition. I remember playing it in a dark hot room in the middle of a Texas metroplex. I wanted nothing more than to be in the Shoshone, doing little tasks and building a relationship that’s so, exciting. The game shows a simple yet intense story and one I will never forget. - Lampsandbroths on Reddit My life changed completely after I played this masterpiece of a game, more than playing the award winning Witcher 3. After Witcher 3 I attended the wolf school in my hometown for a few years until I became a honorable witcher. But I had also more goals in life than becoming just a witcher of the wolf school, I always wanted to be a firefighter and so I became one and this game helped me prepare for it. - B1ndi on Reddit Firewatch changed my life. It took my love for nature and dialed it to 11. Its inspired me in my writing and especially in my poetry. I even plan on working in a fire lookout tower at some point in my life. It really is extremely special to me. - Thomas First time I played it was mid-summer so it fit for me perfectly. I role-played partially as Henry partially as myself, at first I was shy and did not reveal too many details, but as time went I become more comfortable with Delilah I very liked her character, I joked with her, I flirted with her, I fell in love with her. As story went I got sucked into it, strange happenings, I was scared, I was intrigued, I wanted to find out what’s going on. There were also nice moments where I felt relaxed and very comfortable. In the end... it was kind like snap back to reality, I can’t have everything what I want, but I was left with amazing experience, amazing adventure and warm memories. Even year plus after when thinking about it I get that lump feeling in throat like I lost someone… This how much this game affected me. - Svetimsalis on Reddit

Photo credit: Evgeny “TakeOFFFLy” Bubley WWW.LEVELSTORY.NET 47 https://www.deviantart.com/takeofffly

MAY 2019 | LEVEL STORY

Level Story | Issue 2 | Firewatch

Articles inside

News

We What Are Enjoying

Donut County, a review

Female Gaming Content Creators

Runs We Are Looking Forward to at SGDQ 2019

Creator Letter: Firewatch Works on a Higher Level

The Sound of Silence

Less Is More

Hey There Delilah

Walking Simulators; Your Genre is in Another Castle by Samuel Gronseth

Intentional Anticlimax

Firewatch Works Best as a Game

The Significance of Fire

Prologue or No Prologue? That is the Question.

Story Overview