Firewatch could be the prettiest mystery you play this year

Firewatch is already raising the bar for 2016. Photo: Campo Santo

Firewatch is already raising the bar for 2016. Photo: Campo Santo

If you’ve forgotten why it’s great to be a gamer, you just have to take one look at Firewatch.

The first-person mystery set in the Wyoming wilderness is a visual masterpiece that’s being praised by just about everyone — and you can get it today on Mac, PC, Linux, and PlayStation 4.

Firewatch takes you back to 1989, and you play Henry, a guy who said goodbye to his messy life and went to live in a rickety old tower to be a fire lookout. It’s an especially dry summer, so you just know there’s going to be a blazing inferno at any minute.

But fire won’t be the only thing you’ll encounter, and your only company throughout it all is Delilah, your supervisor, who’s there for you at all times… via a handheld radio.

Created by Campo Santo and Panic — the team behind popular Mac and iOS apps like Coda, Transmit, and Status Board — Firewatch looks as enthralling as it is beautiful, and it has been greeted by glowing reviews.

IGN, which rates it 9.3 out of 10, says it is “among the very best of the first-person narrative genre, and it reminds us what video game storytelling is capable of in the right hands.”

Kotaku, which also praises the game’s stunning visuals, calls it “a very cool video game, which if nothing else shows the power and potential in making a game that dedicates itself so wholly to the first-person perspective.”

Firewatch is available now on Steam for Mac, PC, and Linux, priced at $17.99 for a limited time (down from $19.99). You can also get it on the PlayStation Store for PS4.

I’ve already installed it, and I can’t wait to get stuck in!