YMMV / Firewatch

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Delilah. Is she really a helpful person who befriends Henry throughout his entire stay in the woods, or is she a manipulative liar who's been secretly working with Ned all along, haunting Henry for entertainment out of sheer boredom? This video provides some insight. (Word of God has said that theory is nonsense, however, chiefly because it means Delilah would have been sociopathic about the death of a young man who she liked.)
  • Either you believe Ned's claim that his son's death was an accident because Brian didn't sink his anchor deep enough, or you believe that he killed his son, which is what Delilah believes. It's implied it was an accident, however.
• Awesome Music:
  • "Something's Wrong", while Paranoia Fuel by itself, is done well at setting an intense atmosphere.
  • "Exfiltration".
• Broken Base: The ending is divisive, to say the least. Some praise it for being mundane and that it makes sense within the context of the game, while others call it a waste of time for that same reason.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • You're given the opportunity to name a forest fire during the course of the game, and one of the options is to jokingly suggest "Delilah" (she will name it the "June Fire", after her middle name, instead). When this fire and the fire Ned started at Wapiti Meadow merge near the end, Delilah bitterly reveals the Forest Service is renaming it after her lookout.
  • At one point, Delilah will make light of Brian's lack of physical prowess. Come The Reveal that he died in what seems like a climbing accident, her assessment seems a lot less funny.
  • The game encourages you to take lots of pictures, which are then shown during the credits as pleasant music rolls. This has the potential to backfire if you snapped photos of Brian's skeleton. Of course, depending on how dark your sense of humor is, this might actually be legitimately funny.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: The developers claimed that the game would have a playtime of around 6 hours. Many players have reported completing the game in 2-3 hours, even if they take the time to explore. This has led to some disappointment.
• Jerkass Woobie: Ned Goodwin. He physically attacks Henry, then sets up a fake conspiracy to drive him and Delilah into paranoia just so he can keep avoiding the consequences of his son's death. He commits theft, arson, blackmail, stalking, harassment, trespass, and destruction of government property and doesn't seem to show any guilt. Even in the most charitable interpretation of events, he forced his son Brian into rock climbing even though Brian clearly didn't want to, which led to the boy's death. His "confession" has elements of Never My Fault as he blames his son for not anchoring his rope properly instead of admitting it was his responsibility as a father to keep Brian safe. On the other hand, he's a army vet who suffers from PTSD, his mother died while he was on deployment and lacked any other close family, and so was left to raise his son Brian on his own. His own lousy attempt at bonding with his son ended up with him watching Brian die. As much of a messed-up jerk as Ned was, Brian's death hit him so hard that he basically exiled himself from the world and lived in a cave in a national park for three years, which is bound to elicit at least some sympathy for the man.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "What is Firewatch?"; started by a longwinded and hilarious panel conversation by the staff of Giantbomb and eventually mutated into a tired trolly thing to say on the game's subreddit.
  • Forrest Byrnes. Helped by Markiplier, who had a lot of fun with it in his playthrough.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Henry being followed by Ned. This is intentional on Ned's part.
  • When Delilah gets an audible confirmation that there's someone listening in on her conversations with Henry. The most sensible thing she tells Henry is go back to his tower and not to leave or call her. She knows that something is wrong and she wants to keep him safe.
  • After getting a new radio, Henry hears something strange and reports it to Delilah, who tells him it could be an elk... or someone, presumably Ned, trying to find his position by screaming so he could report it to her through the radio.
  • And then we have this conversation.
    Delilah: Oh, well, you're back in your tower. Maybe you need a drink, too.
    Henry: I'm not in my tower.
    Delilah: I'm looking at a man standing at your lookout. And it's not you?
    Henry: It's not me.
    Delilah: Oh my god... Go!
  • Finding Brian Goodwin's skeleton in the cave. This is especially scary, considering you typically don't see any other humans in the entire game^note Far off shots of the two girls, Ned hidden by the glare of his flashlight, and the ranger in the helicopter at the end of the game, and then you see that.
• Paranoia Fuel: Without meeting another person face to face, and having lots of alone time to think over the meaning of what people say, you quickly learn to distrust everyone and everything. This is probably what Ned was trying to do with the Wapiti site. There were observation reports, which went in great detail about Henry and Delilah's characters and their personal lives. For a while, he did succeed in scaring them.
• Squick: In one of the dialogue options shortly after obtaining the abandoned backpack, there is a misunderstanding and Delilah makes a joke about having had a romantic relationship with a minor (Brian Goodwin), Henry has this reaction.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The opening narration, which tells of how Henry met Julia, their marriage, and how she slowly succumbed to her illness.
  • Finding Brian's remains in the cave, and Delilah's reaction after being informed of the discovery.
  • After getting the new radio from Delilah, if you choose the dialogue option "is this all in my head?" Henry will begin to panic and question if Delilah is real and if he's "losing his mind" like Julia, and he will sound like he's on the verge of tears the whole time until Delilah talks him down from that line of thinking.
  • One of the branching pieces of dialogue between Henry and Delilah near the end. Their time in the park has come to an end and they have to move forward with their lives, including Henry having to go back to Julia. Henry can express concern or fear of what may happen when he goes back to her, but Delilah insists that it’s the best thing to do.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Delilah’s behaviour can potentially make her come across as this to the player, her frequent lack of professional conduct or concern with following rules can make her seem very irresponsible and selfish, especially when her decisions endanger Henry.
• The Woobie: Henry. Once it's discovered that his wife, Julia, has developed early onsetting Dementia in her early forties, he's left in a distressed state. His in-laws even take her out of his care (or more specifically, out of his reach) and back to Australia (her birthplace).^note Even if the player chooses to put her in a home instead of taking care of her himself, which avoids that part of the opening narration, Henry still tells Delilah that Julia was taken to Australia by her parents. He tries to take his mind off things by taking up a job as a firewatcher. Unfortunately for him, he gets stalked by someone who's practically driving him crazy.