Top Lists

The 10 Best Games Like Firewatch

Published

10 months ago

June 30, 2023

Shawna Schofield

What are the best games like Firewatch?

Firewatch is a fantastic game, and its method of storytelling has made it incredibly popular with fans.

However, when you finish the game, chances are you’ll be eager to play something else just as impressive.

Fortunately, we’ve found a few games that are perfect for those itching for an experience similar to Firewatch.

The 10 Best Games Like Firewatch

To create this list, we looked at a variety of games like Firewatch and selected the best based on a few criteria.

Specifically, we considered the gameplay, popularity, and reviews from players and critics to find the ones most worth playing.

So, if you’re ready to find your next favorite game, here’s our list of the 10 best games like Firewatch:

10. The Witness

Kicking off our list, we have one of the best games like Empires and Puzzles, The Witness, which is a first-person exploration game.

In this game, players wake up alone on a strange island, not knowing anything about who they are or how they got there.

The only thing you can do is press on and explore the island, which kicks off this delightful puzzle game.

This game forces players to solve puzzles in order to discover clues that can help them uncover who their character is.

There are dozens of unique locations to explore and over 500 puzzles to solve, all of which are designed to offer a different challenge.

What we really love about this game is that it doesn’t hold your hand or treat players like they’re dumb and need help.

No, it lays everything out in front of you and then gives you the freedom to approach things however you want!

The Witness is all about ideas, and it really makes you think creatively when it comes to puzzle-solving, which is something we wish more games did!

9. Kentucky Route Zero

Kentucky Route Zero is currently one of the best PS4 games like Firewatch, and it is both gorgeous and unsettling.

Taking place over the course of five acts, this point-and-click adventure game is very dialogue driven, and instead of puzzle solving, it focuses on story-telling.

Players primarily control Conway, a truck driver who is working for an antique shop and gets lost on his way to Dogwood Drive.

However, this leads him to the mysterious Route Zero, which kickstarts a main story that is filled with fascinating characters.

This game plays like an artistic movie filled with incredible artwork and a narrative that explores the human drive to find and build community.

The game is separated into many different locations, ranging from strange homes to deep mines, and everywhere you go, there is something new to experience.

While the first act came out in 2013, all five acts have since been consolidated to play on a number of consoles, including the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

It is even available for Netflix Subscribers as a mobile game, so you can play it on the go whenever you want!

8. Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture

This game is all about nonlinear story-telling, and it’s a bit similar to the best games like The Last of Us, only without infected everywhere.

Set in a small English village, players wake up 37 minutes after the end of the world to find that everyone else has disappeared.

Everything has been left as if everyone’s going to return, and only quarantine posters and orbs of light float through the streets.

As the players explore the five areas of the game, they can interact with the orbs of light to learn more about what’s going on.

There are also telephones, radios, and broadcasts that can provide pieces of the puzzle so that players can learn more about the “rapture.”

While this isn’t a game for people who want action, it is an interactive story that urges players to explore every area thoroughly.

The sheer attention to detail in this game is astonishing, and you really shouldn’t leave any stone unturned if you want to understand the full picture.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture does a great job of making this seemingly empty world feel extremely alive, and we certainly can’t get enough.

7. Tacoma

Like Firewatch, Tacoma is an exploration game, and it’s set on a seemingly empty space station where players have to unravel the story.

Players control a character called Amy, who has an augmented reality device that allows her to review activities and conversations that happened in the past.

Using this, players can see what has happened aboard the station, and it is necessary for learning things, such as passcodes, to progress the game.

Tacoma is highly interactive, and the full story can take up to 5 hours to complete, depending on how thorough you are with your investigations.

We would strongly urge you to take your time, as there is a ton of details it is easy to overlook if you’re just rushing through.

Additionally, if you’re someone who’s very into how games are made, there is a commentary mode with two hours of audio from the writers, designers, and programmers.

Once you play through the game, it’s fascinating to go back to this mode and learn more about its developmental process and how it was brought to life.

If you’re someone who wants a great interactive story game that will keep you as engaged as Firewatch, Tacoma is worth checking out!

6. The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter

This game could fit in well with the best games like Until Dawn, and it certainly nails being both mysterious and a bit creepy.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a first-person exploration game that gives players control of occult-detective Paul Prospero.

After receiving a disturbing letter from Ethan Carter, he finds the boy missing in the aftermath of a brutal murder which may not be the only one in the neighborhood.

In this game, players can conduct their own investigations however they want to try and get to the bottom of what’s going on.

What we love about this game is that it doesn’t shoehorn you into a linear plot but instead allows you to go at your own pace.

Although it is a bit like a horror game, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter relies more on unease than in-your-face terror.

As Paul, players can communicate with the dead to learn their secrets and interact with the world of Red Creek Valley to gather clues about Ethan and his family.

Making things even better are the stunning visuals, which are all photorealistic and created using the Unreal Engine 4.

This game is absolutely magnificent, and even the smallest details haven’t been overlooked, so it’s worth exploring everything!

5. Oxenfree

Oxenfree is all about a group of friends who unknowingly open a supernatural rift while camping overnight on an island.

Like the best games like Detroit: Become Human, the choices you make while playing will have a big impact on how the story unfolds.

While exploring and discovering the secret past of Edwards Island, players get to determine the path that the storyline will take.

What you choose to do or say will also impact the relationships between characters, so you’ll have to keep that in mind.

There are a ton of mysteries to unravel, including some that span decades and reach back to World War II.

Everything is set in an open-world environment with a unique art style that uses painted backgrounds to convey a dark sense of foreboding.

You can also unlock various endings that depend on what you decide to do during key moments during the story.

Another ending is unlocked when you start a New Game Plus playthrough, which completely changes the outcome of things.

Now is a great time to play this game because its sequel, Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals, is slated for a July release in 2023.

4. What Remains Of Edith Finch

What Remains of Edith Finch is an atmospheric interactive story that revolves around exploring the Finch family house in Washington State.

In this game, players control Edith as she tries to learn why she is the last of her family left alive, which leads to the uncovering of many secrets.

Each story that you uncover in the house allows you to experience the life of a particular family member on the day that they died.

These stories range from being set in the distant past all the way up to the modern day, and they all vary in tone and style.

The style of each story is meant to cover more about the particular family member and help make them distinctive from everyone else.

What Remains of Edith Finch is very much like an interconnected anthology of smaller games all tied together as players try to form them into something larger.

Everything in this game comes at you from left field, and unraveling the mystery of the Finch family will keep you on the edge of your seat.

If you loved Firewatch, you will certainly love this game, especially the twist ending that you will never see coming.

3. The Long Dark

One of the best games like Dark Souls, The Long Dark, is all about exploration and survival in the wake of a geomagnetic disaster.

However, unlike other games set in a post-apocalyptic world, in this game, there are no mutants or zombies, just the cold, unforgiving wilderness.

The Long Dark is a brutal game that challenges players to monitor their hunger, thirst, temperature, and fatigue.

Everything you do burns calories, and while you need to scavenge for supplies, if you don’t stay fed and rested, you will die.

There are over 50 square kilometers of the vast Canadian wilderness to explore, ranging from coastal towns to deep mines and towering mountains.

However, while humanity may be a scattered memory, nature has set about reclaiming what it rightfully owns, and hostile wildlife is everywhere.

In this game, there are four experience modes you can choose from, including Pilgrim Mode, which is meant to be a quiet and pensive survival experience.

Voyager Mode is the most balanced in terms of difficulty, while Stalker Mode ups the ante as the second most difficult.

And then there is Interloper Mode, where only the most battle-hard survivors stand a chance of lasting longer than a day.

2. Dear Esther

Dear Esther drops players on a remote island in the Hebrides, and as the game begins, a voice starts reading out fragments of a letter.

Everything about this game revolves around its story, and it does an incredible job in terms of environmental storytelling.

As you explore the beautiful environment, you will unravel a tale filled with love, loss, overwhelming guilt, and, ultimately, redemption.

Dear Esther basically threw out everything to do with traditional game mechanics in favor of something that resembles an interactive poem.

Created by the developers of Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, this game is very minimalist, but it prioritizes quality over quantity.

As players explore the island, new fragments of the letter will be read, painting the image of a new narrative each time.

The ending will also keep you guessing as it very much leaves you to draw your own conclusions about the events that played out.

It is kind of similar to the best games like Skyrim in that it has a beautifully rich world peppered with stories that take on a life of their own.

1. Gone Home

Taking our number one spot is Gone Home, a first-person adventure game that revolves around exploration.

Events kick off as the player character arrives at their family home after a year spent abroad only to find it completely empty.

It is up to players to explore every inch of the house for clues to learn what has happened and where everyone has gone.

Every drawer can be opened, and every item can be interacted with to give you the full picture of a family grappling with change, uncertainty, and heartbreak.

There is no combat in Gone Home, and there are no puzzles to solve, only a story to gradually piece together as you explore.

While it is a bit of a walking simulator, it is also one of the saddest video games of all time, so you’ll want to prepare yourself for the dark secrets this house holds.