History VideoGame / Firewatch

* {{Jerkass}}: Delilah could easily come across as this to the player due to her constant unprofessional and irresponsible behavior and casual disregard for the rules no matter how important. She immediately starts prying into Henry’s personal life when he arrives. After Henry discovers the teenagers' campsite completely destroyed her immediate reaction is to ignore it and when she later informs Henry that the teenagers have been reported missing, she chooses to lie about it to the police simply because she doesn't want to be bothered. We learn that she lied to her sister when she and a boyfriend broke up after his brother’s death and she decided to says that he cheated on her.

* {{Jerkass}}: Delilah definitely applies due to her constant unprofessional and irresponsible behavior. Some noteworthy examples are:
** When Henry first arrives at his tower, Delilah (while drunk) immediately starts prying into his personal life despite his clear discomfort and annoyance.
** While hiking to the communication lines, Henry's line ends up picking up on another call due to Delilah accidentally leaving it open. When Henry asks about it, she immediately gets defensive and briefly stops speaking with Henry.
** After Henry discovers the teenagers' campsite completely destroyed, Delilah's immediate reaction is to ignore it.
** When Delilah informs Henry that the teenagers have been reported missing, she chooses to lie about it to the police because she doesn't want to be bothered (despite Henry’s discovery of the wrecked camp suggesting the serious possibility that the girls could have been killed or abducted), which later puts Henry at risk of being prosecuted because of her decision to withhold information.
** We learn that when her ex-boyfriend lost his brother and she didn't go home to support him, he shortly afterwards broke up with her and she lied to her sister and said that he cheated on her.
** When Henry discovers the reports on him and Delilah at the research site, her first reaction is to lose her cool and tell Henry to start a fire that would destroy the site (with Henry being the one to have to tell her how dangerous that would be).
** We learn that she lied about Brian Goodwin being out in the forest with his father Ned despite it being against the rules, [[spoiler: which is shown to have led to his death once Henry finds his body in a cave]].
** The Teenagers at the lake also count for their blatant disregard of the rules by building campfires and illegally using fireworks in the park, as well as their drunken antagonizing and insults towards Henry when he confronts them.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:No matter what you do, Ned gets away and the Thorofare Fire is set to burn a swathe of destruction across untold acres of the Shoshone. Anything you leave in Two Forks Lookout will be lost to the flames -- including your books, your pet turtle, your picture of Julia, and possibly your ''wedding ring'' if you do not collect them. You can't save the lookout, the books, the boombox, Forrest Byrnes, your pine cone collection, or most evidence from Ned's bunker, and there's nothing you can do to stop the oncoming firestorm. All you can do is flee to Thorofare lookout, meet with the evac chopper, and wish there was something you could say to make Delilah stay long enough to meet you in person.]]

** ''[[MagicAmpersand Wizards & Wyverns]]'' is obviously an in-universe version of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''

** When Henry discovers the reports on him and Delilah at the research site, her first reaction to lose her cool and tell Henry to start a fire that would destroy the site (with Henry being the one to have to tell her how dangerous that would be).

* SerialKiller: [[spoiler:Subverted. Turns out Ned didn't kill the girls, they just got arrested after stealing a tractor and didn't wanna contact their parents; the only person he ''may'' have killed was Brian, and Henry believes him when he states it was an accident.]]

** When Henry first arrives at his tower Delilah (while drunk) immediately starts prying into his personal life despite his clear discomfort and annoyance.
** When Henry asks Delilah about another call while hiking to the communication lines after she accidentally left his line open she immediately gets defensive and briefly stops speaking with Henry.
** After Henry discovers the teenager's campsite completely destroyed Delilah's immediate reaction is to ignore it.
** When Delilah informs Henry that the teenagers have been reported missing she chooses to lie about it to the police because she doesn't want to be bothered (despite Henry’s discovery of the wrecked camp suggesting the serious possibility that the girls could have been killed or abducted) which later puts Henry at risk of being prosecuted because of her decision to withhold information.

** When Henry discovers the reports on him and Delilah at the research site her first reaction to loose her cool and to tell Henry to start a fire that would destroy the site (its Henry who has to be the one to point out how dangerous that would be).
** We learn that she lied about Brian Goodwin being out in the forest with his father Ned despite it being against the rules [[spoiler: (which we learn lead to his death when his body is found in the cave by Henry)]].
** The Teenagers at the lake also count for their blatant disregard towards the of rules by building campfires and illegally using fireworks in the park and their drunken antagonizing and insults towards Henry when he confronts them.
* JockDadNerdSon: Brian loved comics, was a science geek and played "Wizards & Wyverns" growing up, while his father obviously wanted him to be more of an action man.

* MinimalistCast: Henry doesn't interact with many people during the course of the game, which makes sense as he's in the middle of nowhere. The few people he does interact with are either just a voice on the radio (Delilah), or obscure figures off in the distance (the two teens, and [[spoiler: the man in the canyon who is revealed to be a former firewatch Ned Goodwin]]). [[spoiler: In fact, in the entire game you only come face-to-face up close with one other human being, and that person had absolutely no role in the plot whatsoever (it's the rescue personnel who helps you get into the evac chopper at the end, and they're wearing a helmet that covers their face, so you couldn't even see it anyway).]]
* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: [[spoiler:Ned vandalizing the lookout, cutting the Thorofare wire - Vandalism and Destruction of Public Property, end up exposing much more serious crimes, Attempted {{Blackmail}}, Stalking, Arson, Assault and attempted Murder which reveals the entire plot in the first place, (possibly Accidental) Manslaughter and Obstruction of Justice.]]

* PantyThief: The two teenage girls accuse Henry of stealing their underwear from the tent [[spoiler:when, in fact, it was Ned]]... [[BearsAreBadNews or some bear]].

** [[spoiler:The possible government conspiracy turns out to be nothing more than a grieving or guilt-ridden former firewatch lookout suffering from PTSD who can't get over the death of his son. It's up to the player to decide if his son, Brian, was murdered by his father, Ned, or died by accident during a hiking trip.]]

** It's easy, going by some early conversations, to assume there's a twist coming regarding Delilah's true identity.

** [[spoiler:The conspiracy is a phony plot created by Ned.]]

* {{Nerd}}: Brian was a typical example. He loved comics, was a science geek and played "Wizards & Wyverns", while his father obviously wanted him to be more of an action man.

* UncannyValley: Forrest Byrnes, a park ranger mascot, is considered unnaturally creepy in-universe. Henry says that he was always creeped out by him as a kid.

* AdultFear: Most notably, toward the end of the game Henry is audibly falling apart as he considers the possibility that he has early onset dementia like his wife and that his conversations with Delilah may be in his head.

** The Teenagers at the lake also count for their blatant disregard towards of rules by building campfires and illegally using fireworks in the park and their drunken antagonizing and insults towards Henry when he confronts them.

* ImAManICantHelpIt: Averted as Henry seems to be more uncomfortable than aroused but Delilah still teases him when he has to go and confront the two nude girls in the lake that are responsible blasting fireworks in the woods.

* {{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.

* 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.

* DidTheyOrDidntThey: Delilah and Henry have the option of having implied phone sex on day 64. Whether they actually do meet to do the things they talk about is up to your imagination.

** Henry never finds out anything about the old burnt down cabin near to the communication lines (even if he asks Delilah ''who never responds''). [[spoiler: It's downplayed if you trigger an easter egg involving a racoon, as Delilah tells Henry a ghost story explaining why it was abandoned, but not how it caught fire.]]

** Henry never finds out anything about the old burnt down cabin near to the communication lines (even if he asks Delilah ''who never responds'').

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Henry and Delilah speak about wiretapping their communication devices. But as they are using simple radios, no tapping is necessary. Anyone knowing adequate frequency can easily tune in and listen to conversation in a certain radius. It is even perfectly possible to find the frequency by chance. Of course, radio communication can be encrypted, but this requires special devices forest rangers are not equipped with.

** When Henry first discovers Brian's abandoned backpack, he accidently blinds himself with the disposable camera. [[spoiler: The end credits show all the pictures the player took with the camera... ending Henry's accidental selfie.]]

* CowboyCop: For the senior ranger in the area, Delilah plays pretty loose with the park service's rules and regulations. Whenever people cross her and Henry, she's the first to suggest getting even in ways that could be considered petty and definitely aren't strictly legal.

* AloneWithThePsycho: Or rather, alone with the {{Troll}}-ish boss with the sometimes abrassive sense of humor and a somewhat unprofessional attitude, [[spoiler: who also might be cooperating with Ned in order to find herself some entertainment, by encouraging Henry to think of a conspiracy theory that endangers him.]]

* HollywoodDarkness: Even though you have a flashlight, you never really need to use it. There's plenty of blacklight, even inside the cave and at night.

** When Delilah informs henry that the teenagers have been reported missing she chooses to lie about it to the police because she doesn't want to be bothered (despite Henry’s discovery of the wrecked camp suggesting the serious possibility that the girls could have been killed or abducted) which later puts Henry at risk of being prosecuted because of her decision to withhold information.

* StuffedInTheFridge: Parodied with the "Black Band" comic Brian left in his hideout, about a superhero whose powers come from the fact that everyone he loves keeps getting killed.
-->Go ahead, kill my family! It'll only make me stronger!

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler:Inside Ned's hideout, you manage to find his previous attempts at trying to forge the supposed government observation sheets on Henry and Delilah. Given that he tried to imitate a telex print using only his typewriter, it took him ''many'' attempts to do so without typos, crooked spacing or the odd FreudianSlip]].

* The Teenagers at the lake also count for their blatant disregard towards of rules by building campfires and illegally using fireworks in the park and their drunken antagonizing and insults towards Henry when he confronts them.