Firewatch developers are unable to harness PS4 power

Firewatch is now finally out, and while it is a good game that lives up to its initial interesting billing, the PS4 version does suffer from some framerate drops, causing the game to frequently dip to sub-20FPS levels, and making it, in many cases, unplayable.

“[For what it’s worth], we’re currently talking to both Sony and Unity and we’re all working hard to optimize performance of Firewatch on PS4,” the developer said on NeoGAF.

“It’s tricky, because it really requires all three partners working together to improve — it’s not something we can tackle on our own, unlike a game bug — but we’ll definitely continue to patch all platforms with every content and performance fix we can over time!”

Until then, if you are playing on the PS4, you should be mindful that some problems do exist with the version- it’s nothing that should stop you from playing the game, although it is a shame that we have to wait till it will be fully playable again.

said @charizard1605 via GamingBolt

Why would a game running on Unity have problems like that? Why did they release the game on so many platforms simultaneously instead of focusing on less platforms but putting emphasis on those which will bring most likely the bulk of the revenue?

Maybe they should've also gone for 360, PS3, and WiiU while they were at it?

Yeah, it's bad. But I already finished it. Hope they patch it soon for those interested though.

Ran fine on my PC ;)

It's a 3 hour game, played 90 minutes and got a refund on Steam, it's not worth the money.

Great idea without enough content, they should have made it a full fledged game and not a teaser...

@nyadc: How do you know it's 3 hours then?

Unity is not the most efficient engine for an open world game and you have to actually try to optimize your games, even if they're not superb looking. It running on Unity doesn't automatically make it a smooth game, the developers still have to optimize it. Don't get me wrong, I love Unity, but it does have some faults, just like UE4.

Apparently you're not an active Steam discussions user.

@nyadc: Never claimed I was. Why did you buy it?

Because it looked interesting and the developers touted it as a 6 hour experience.

@nyadc: It took that long for some people.

There is 3 hours of gameplay there, people wandering around in the barren woodland aimlessly and for no reason doesn't add anything objective to the amount of content in the game.

oh lord, imagine if they'd try to put it on the X1 as well. Slideshow incoming

@Salt_The_Fries: It's because they are using the Unity engine. The Unity engine does not run well on the PS4 or XB1. There have been several IOS games that switched to Unity engine and it was a disaster. Games became unplayable. Unity is crap, so I'm not surprised. It seems to use up a lot of resources and memory.

@nyadc: There's a bit of exploration. I ran across something at the end of the game, but that's because I went the wrong way.

@lostrib: dynamic 768p resolution

Good thing I have the vastly superior PC version.

It's a linear and pathed game with the sandbox being an illusion for something bigger, exploring the outsets of the sandbox adds at most another 20-30 minutes to the game and there's nothing to find or see, no puzzles, no secrets, nothing.

For $20 they really shit the bed with what is offered, experienced and you can do.

@mems_1224: No you just have a PC that can brute force through the shitty programing. PC version has performance issues and crashes too. Btw don't ever claim to not like walking simulators or movie games. ;)

@nyadc: How do you know? Only played it for 90 minutes. I'm sure if you sprint through the game, you'll end up getting 3 hours out of it.

And length isn't the game's problem.

0 Performance issues or crashes for me. runs at a buttery smooth 60fps all the time. I never claimed to not like walking simulators or movie games..... ;)

This is good bait, but when a game like The Witness runs at a locked 60fps on PS4 while being larger and more complex in scope than Firewatch that tells me all I need to know about whose fault it is that this runs like crap on PS4.

I know every problem and thing there is to know about this game, I've been on the Steam forums talking about it with people since yesterday.

Length is one of the biggest issues with the game, apart from the cop out anti-climax.

@nyadc: So, if you didn't refund it, it would've taken you 3 hours?

Absolutely, there's nothing to do in the game but the simple narrative interaction and going from point A to B, the game world is dead and 'exploration' is basically a non-factor because there's nothing to explore or find.

This isn't Tomb Raider, there's not shit scattered all over the place.

The GDDR5 is real!

you don't do anything in the witness except draw lines.

@nyadc: Interesting.

If they can't get a walking simulator to run at a steady framerate then somethings clearing wrong with their programmers.

It was shorter than I expected. Finished it in 4-5 hours. The chugging and framerate issues were very annoying, but a $18.99 indie title is what it is. Hopefully they get the framerate patches out soon. I also saw a floating tree.

Not really, no.

Since this is a salt_the_fries thread, maybe we should be discussing the Xbox One version?

Strongest console ever my ass

How did Grow Home run on the PS4? The 3D platformer, not to be mistaken by Gone Home (also ran on Unity). That's the only PS4 game running on Unity that's comparable to Firewatch.

This issue better be resolved if there is some odd interactions that exist with the PS4 hardware and Unity, because so many games are using it due to how versatile and accessible it is.

Guess I'm not getting this game.

@illmatic87: Ran like shit. Really bad.

@mems_1224: I'm talking about the detail and size of the environments, not the gameplay.

So ... let me get this right.

You bought a $20 steam game on launch day. Played it for 90 minutes, stopped, ran off to the Steam forums to find everything about the game, then got a refund.

Does that story make sense, even to you?

Hopefully these issues are resolved soon and the game comes to XOne, I am interested in it.

More or less yes, I went to just read the forums and dozens and dozens of people were reporting a 3 hour completion time, so naturally I investigated much further and into other aspects of the game and then refunded it.

Love how some people are blaming the PS4 yet it's the devs not the PS4, fail

@freedomfreak: The story and the characters suck you in. I was completely hooked and I couldn't wait what would happen next. Unfortunately, the ending got me kind of depressed.

I always lol at anyone who pre order games, enjoy your frame rate drops and bugs.

No worries, Xbox does what PScan't. :P

Why even release it then?

Well I don't blame the developers when Sony's own games end up running at sub 20 FPS like Until Dawn and the 900p disaster of UC4.

Wouldn't the PS4 need power to harness in the first place?

Hmm, this worries me. My PC's processor isn't strong enough to keep games running at a high framerate for the whole time, so the fact that the PS4 version can't handle it is a little worrying.

Maybe they'll get it fixed before I buy a PS4.

depressed as in let down or depressed as in "whoa..that's so sad"?

Well it could have been worse, three hours of just watching a fire would have been pretty bad?