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Firewatch To Last 5/6 Hours On Average; No VR Support Planned

Nels Anderson, who worked as a designer and programmer on Firewatch, told wccftech.com that "one playthrough should take you around five or six hours. Also, there seem to be no current plans to support VR devices like Oculus Rift, HTC Vive or PlayStation VR."
firewatch-3.jpg

wccftech: How many hours of gameplay do you reckon players will get out of the game, on average?
Nels Anderson: It’s pretty hard to say since there’s actually quite a lot of “off the beaten path” areas in the game that players won’t have to visit. On average, I’d say maybe 5-6 hours … ? When I play it, it feels comparable to the length of a trilogy of movies or a TV mini-series.

wccftech: Firewatch seems like a nice fit for VR. Are you considering support for devices like Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR?
Nels Anderson: We certainly think VR is cool, but given our very small team size, we don’t have anything specific planned for VR right now. Getting a game that wasn’t built specifically for VR game to really feel good is actually quite challenging, so if we wanted to do something there, we’ll definitely need to roll up our sleeves and dig in.

Firewatch will release on February 9th on PS4 and PC (Windows, Mac & Linux).

Source: http://wccftech.com/firewatch-to-last-56-hours-on-average-no-vr-support-planned/
 

TVexperto

Member
Sounds good, I rather have 5-6 hours a great time instead of 20 hours a boring time. Does anyone know how much the game will cost?
 
Sounds good, I rather have 5-6 hours a great time instead of 20 hours a boring time. Does anyone know how much the game will cost?

In this special case, 5-6 hours seems to be okay. I have no intention of running around in a forest with no idea what to do, expect for running from one point to the other. Hope those 6 hours have a cool pace.
 

Nzyme32

Member
Thread title of 5-6 hours had me worried, but thankfully his response suggests people like me will get a ton more than that:

It’s pretty hard to say since there’s actually quite a lot of “off the beaten path” areas in the game that players won’t have to visit.
 

Raxus

Member
If it is only 20 bucks than 4-6 hours is perfect since, like Portal, it gets its ideas out there and doesn't overstay its welcome.
 

Pif

Banned
Considering I've spent now 200h in the witcher 3 and I'm at half, I'm not worried. I spend a lot of time just looking around and appreciating the craftsmanship that goes into good looking games. I'll play this for at least 20 hours.
 

LordofPwn

Member
Yeah VR would be pretty cool for the game but they have like 10 staff, and does unity 4.5 even support VR?

Very excited for the game and 6 hours seems like a nice duration for the game.
 

NoKisum

Member
No VR Support? Ugh, lazy devs.

Doesn't bother me in the slightest, and the length of the game sounds perfect. Will probably get it sometime in its launch week.
 
That's great and all but how many Idle Thumbs references will be hidden in the game?

If I don't see a wizard's face carved in to one tree off the beaten path I'll be expecting a full refund with compensation on top.
 

IvanJ

Banned
The length is about what I expected, similar to Rapture and Ethan Carter. I always expected it to cost $20 as well, if that turns out true, day one for me.
 
About what I expected and seems to be the right length for what the game is. Too long and it could overstay its welcome.
 

RexNovis

Banned
Surprised it's not going to be VR compatible but that's understandable given their explanation.

I have absolutely no problem with the length. It's actually about what I was expecting. I wonder what sort of replay value it'll offer.
 
i'll be happy with the the time, but i'd have liked it to have a few more hours and it may well have, going off what the guy says about him not going off the beaten path.
 

YuShtink

Member
Probably a good decision on their part. As tempting as it might be it's really not a good idea to add VR to games that weren't designed with it in mind from the beginning. Maybe they'll consider it for the sequel if all goes well with this one.
 

QaaQer

Member
5-6 hours is the sweet spot for an indie game that needs a high metacritic to drive sales. I'm guessing it is plot driven as the marketing hides the actual game mechanics, and 5-6 hours isn't long enough for a systems/skill based game to work. If they have decent writing and gameplay that isn't Telltale-tier garbage, they should do OK.

For me , I have trouble spending more than $5 on these indie darling games where writing is the draw. I just don't get the love for games Gone Home, Walking Dead S1, etc. I mean the writimg is OK, but the actual gameplay is kinda bad. I'm more of a Transistor guy, a game with good writing and great gameplay.
 
Right in that story-based sweet-spot for me. Have no doubt that I'll probably spend a decent chunk longer just exploring that beautiful Olly Moss world.
 
That's great and all but how many Idle Thumbs references will be hidden in the game?

If I don't see a wizard's face carved in to one tree off the beaten path I'll be expecting a full refund with compensation on top.

I already noticed a few in his watchtower from the IGN footage. :)
 
Suppose length is easier to measure than quality, but it always strikes me as mildly absurd when developers get asked questions like this. Should instead ask if they feel the game is as long as it needs to be and if it's all meaningful gameplay, rather than the soul-crushing filler and grinding Bioware crammed into Dragon Age Inquisition to pad it out.

For all the strengths of that game, I kind of hate it.
 

QaaQer

Member
Suppose length is easier to measure than quality, but it always strikes me as mildly absurd when developers get asked questions like this. Should instead ask if they feel the game is as long as it needs to be and if it's all meaningful gameplay, rather than the soul-crushing filler and grinding Bioware crammed into Dragon Age Inquisition to pad it out.

For all the strengths of that game, I kind of hate it.

It's a fair metric to ask about. It is just one factor to consider, not the only factor.
 

Vertti

Member
5-6h sounds good.

When I look some of the best games I played last year many of them were under 10 hours.

Freedom Planet
Ori and the Blind Forest
Shovel Knight - Plague of Shadows
Undertale's 1st playthrough
Kirby Superstar Saga
Portal
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
I'm thinking $20 or $25 at the most. $30 would generally be considered "too expensive for an indie game".
 
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