There are a lot of different kinds of video games. You can find horror survival, action adventure, RPG’s and more. Narrative games are slow paced and usually breathtaking. These kinds of games focus on captivating music and compelling storylines. If you want to step back from the first person shooting genre and the scary jumps found in your favorite horror games, you should check out a narrative game. Firewatch is one of the best story games we could find.
The Firewatch game was developed by Campo Santo, published by Panic and released in 2016. This story based game can be played on Windows, iOS, Linux, PlayStation, and Xbox. Firewatch can only be played alone in single player. This game features a mystery that happened a long time ago. You play as Henry, a Shoshone National Forest guard living in 1989. There are strange things happening to Henry and to his supervisor Delilah. In Firewatch, you must interact with Delilah using a walkie talkie as you try to uncover the mystery.
This game will have you exchanging information, putting pieces of the puzzle together, searching hidden locations, and travelling around a beautiful forest. The Firewatch landscape was modelled after a famous painting by Moss. The 3D visuals in this game are stunning and the character development, dialogue, and music will blow you away. Firewatch is a beautiful narrative game that everyone should try. This game can be completed in as little as 4 hours which means there’s no reason not to play Firewatch. If you love narrative games like Firewatch, you’ll love this list below. Put down your guns and your bombs and take a break from life as you travel to breathtaking worlds that usually involve a mystery that needs to be solved.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
One of the best video games like Firewatch on our list is The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a game published and developed by The Astronauts. This game can be played on Windows and PlayStation 4. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is one of the best storytelling games on our list. This game features another mystery. As you can guess, it’s about a teenager called Ethan Carter. In this game, you will become a paranormal investigator called Paul Prospero. Your job is to travel to Ethan’s hometown of Red Creek Valley. When you get there, you will discover that there has been an unsettling paranormal phenomenon of violent nature. You must talk to the townspeople and to Ethan’s family in order to uncover the dark secret of Red Creek Valley. Since its release, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter has sold more than 250,000 thousand copies. This game is intriguing, beautiful, challenging, and has a Lovecraftian vibe. Like Firewatch, this game will take you about 4 hours to complete.
Gone Home
If you’re on a time crunch but want to play one of our game recommendations for Firewatch, you’ll love Gone Home. This game only takes about 2 hours to complete. Gone Home was released in 2013 for Windows, iOS and Linux and in 2016 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This game developed and published by The Fullbright Company is an adventure exploration game that can only be played solo. Gone Home is played in first person. In this game, you must explore a home found in Portland Oregon. You need to examine household items, unlock journals, and figure out the recent events that took place at this location. In this game, you will play as Katie. Katie has returned home after an overseas adventure. When Katie arrives, she finds an empty home, her parents and sister are gone. Gone Home is about what happened during the time that Katie was gone from home.
Journey
If you love music, you’ll love this addition to our list of narrative games like Firewatch. Journey is a very peaceful game published by Sony and developed by thatgamecompany. This game was first released in 2012 for PlayStation 3 and later released in 2015 for PlayStation 4. Journey is an artistic game that can be played alone or with others online. This game is simple to understand. You control a robed figure. Your robed figure starts his journey in the middle of a vast desert. Your goal in this game is to float around and find musical notes. As you find new notes, the trail of your robe will grow. Finding numerous notes creates a long flowing ribbon that flows with you as you navigate the Journey world. If you’re playing Journey online, you can encounter other players. You cannot chat with these players or see their usernames, but you can continue your journey with them and communicate using musical chimes. Journey is one of the most peaceful games on our list. If you want to want to put your feet up and play something that doesn’t require any special skills, you should give this 2 -5 hour game a try. The beautiful landscapes and delicate musical notes found in Journey are just a bonus.
Dear Esther
Another narrative game found on our list of alternatives to Firewatch is Dear Esther. This game is one of the shortest on our list. Dear Esther will only take you about an hour to play, if you’re trying to get a 100% completion, expect to play about an hour and a half. Dear Esther is a game that was released in 2013 for Windows, iOS, Linux, PlayStation, and Xbox by TheChineseRoom. Dear Esther is a first person exploration game that can only be played solo. This game doesn’t have any special tasks or puzzles. Dear Esther has one mission, to explore the unnamed island that you’re on. In this game, you will need to listen to a troubled man as he reads you letters that he wrote to his deceased wife. This man’s wife died in a mysterious way. Your job in Dear Esther is to travel the island and uncover clues. Figure out what happened before the old man goes insane.
Life is Strange
This graphic adventure is divided into 5 episodes. Life is Strange was first released in January 2015 and its last episode came out in October 2015. This game published by Square Enix and developed by Dontnod Entertainment is played solo on Windows, Linux, iOS, PlayStation, and Xbox. The Life is Strange narrative game takes place in a small town, an approaching storm is about to hit and Max, the main character, must take it on herself to prevent this devastation. Max is an 18 year old photography student who has a special ability. This young woman can rewind time, but doing so can have terrible consequences. In Life is Strange, you will encounter numerous decisions that can change the way the game plays out. All your actions in this top addition to our list of interactive story games will reshape the future of your game. Choose wisely if you want to prevent the destruction of your town. It will take you about 20 hours to complete all 5 episodes of Life is Strange.
SOMA
SOMA was first released in 2015 for Windows, iOS, Linux, and PlayStation 4, an Xbox version is set to be released in 2017. This game created by Frictional Games is a survival horror that can only be played alone. There is no multiplayer gaming possibility for SOMA. This game places you in a strange new world. SOMA is played completely underwater. After a mysterious event, Simon Jarrett finds himself in an underwater research facility. Your job in this game is to uncover what happened while trying to make sense of the present. SOMA ha a ton of puzzles, dangerous threats, and a strong narrative that will compel you to continue. SOMA takes about 9 hours to complete the main storyline, if you want to be a completioinist, expect to play about 2 hours more. This first person game is a psychological horror game that will keep you on edge from start to finish. The fact that you’re underwater is just an added stress.
Machine for Pigs
The last addition to our list of Firewatch alternatives is Machine for Pigs. This video game storytelling of this game is of the horror genre, like SOMA. This game is created by TheChineseRoom just like Dear Esther. Machine for Pigs was released in 2013 for Windows, Linux, and Mac and later released for PlayStation 4 in 2016. This narrative survival horror game features interlocking storylines that take you from the past, to the present, to the future. Some of the storylines are real and some are imagined. Machine for Pigs is set in 1899 in London during New Year’s Eve. In this game, you play the protagonist called Oswald Mandus. Oswald is a wealthy industrialist and a butcher. When you start this game, you have just awoken from a nasty fever that has taken several years of your life. You start to see visions and hear voices. When a phone call reveals that your sons are trapped in a machine that you have built below your home, you set off to save them. This game has about 5 hours of horrifying gameplay, a ton of jump scares, and a strange but interesting storyline. If you like horror games, give this one a try.
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