In a recent interview, voice actress Cissy Jones revealed that Firewatch was originally meant to have a much darker ending without her character Delilah.
Back in 2016, Campo Santo’s Firewatch was highly regarded as one of the year’s best indies and walking simulators, taking players into the beautiful landscapes of Shoshone National Forest. Though the story was noted as being a gripping mystery, many felt that the ending fell somewhat flat. It was divisive amongst all players and reviewers, some of which felt that the ending was anticlimactic to the story Firewatch had culminated. But according to Cissy Jones, Delilah’s voice actress, the ending was initially very different.
According to Jones in a recent episode of Script Lock, a podcast full of video game interviews, Firewatch’s ending could have been even less fulfilling. While in the game, though Henry and Delilah leave off on a friendly note, the two never meet face-t0-face, the original script had Delilah going completely radio silent on her coworker. Instead of the two having a strong relationship, Firewatch initially planned to have the two cut their ties in a heated argument in which Delilah calls Henry crazy, permanently leaving the story.
But Henry and Delilah’s relationship is a big draw for player enjoyment of the game. So despite director Sean Vanaman initially running with this ending and recording approximately two-thirds of the script, he eventually decided against this ending and ran with the bittersweet one Firewatch currently features.
Other than her role in Firewatch for which she won a BAFTA, Jones has also appeared in a slew of other video games such as The Walking Dead, Fallout 4, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and more recently, Half-Life: Alyx.
Firewatch is available on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Source: Script Lock
