Games Like Firewatch

What Remains of Edith Finch is a collection of strange tales about a family in Washington state. As Edith, you’ll explore the colossal Finch house, searching for stories as she explores her family history and tries to figure out why she's the last one in her family left alive.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 29%, Story Rich 18.1%, Mystery 11.3%, Atmospheric 11.3%, Great Soundtrack 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: It pairs first-person exploration with an emotionally powerful, tightly authored mystery about memory, family, and place.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a first-person story-driven mystery. Purchase this game to get both the original and the Unreal Engine 4 remaster called The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 29.7%, Mystery 16.6%, Atmospheric 11.5%, Story Rich 7.4%, First-Person 7.3%

Why You'll Like It: This is a haunting first-person wilderness mystery built around roaming beautiful landscapes and piecing together a tragic story.

June 7th, 1995. 1:15 AM. You arrive home after a year abroad. You expect your family to greet you, but the house is empty. Something's not right. Where is everyone? And what's happened here? Unravel the mystery for yourself in Gone Home, a story exploration game from The Fullbright Company.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 59.9%, Atmospheric 7.7%, Story Rich 7.4%, Exploration 6.7%, First-Person 6%

Why You'll Like It: Its intimate first-person investigation and subtle environmental storytelling create a similarly personal, reflective narrative experience.

Featuring a beautiful, detailed open-world and a haunting soundtrack, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is non-linear storytelling at its best.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 44.1%, Great Soundtrack 14.1%, Atmospheric 10%, Story Rich 7.5%, First-Person 4.7%

Why You'll Like It: It offers a quiet rural setting, melancholy atmosphere, and an unfolding mystery told through exploration rather than combat.

Oxenfree is a supernatural thriller about a group of friends who unwittingly open a ghostly rift. You are Alex, and you’ve just brought your new stepbrother Jonas to an overnight island party gone horribly wrong.

Why similar: Story Rich 21.4%, Mystery 16.6%, Great Soundtrack 13.8%, Atmospheric 13.8%, Walking Simulator 12.7%

Why You'll Like It: Its exceptional naturalistic conversations, relationship tension, and supernatural mystery evoke Firewatch's focus on dialogue and uneasy discovery.

Killer Frequency is a first-person horror puzzle game set in 1987, that puts you in the role of a late-night radio talk show host in small town America whose callers are being stalked by a mysterious killer.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 30.4%, Story Rich 12.2%, Atmospheric 11.1%, First-Person 10.4%, Exploration 8.4%

Why You'll Like It: Its central radio conversations and escalating mystery make it an especially good fit for players who loved Firewatch's communication-driven tension.

Northern Canada, 1970. A strange blizzard ravages Atamipek Lake. Step into the shoes of a detective to explore the eerie village, investigate surreal events, and battle the elements to survive. Kona is a chilly interactive tale you won't soon forget.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 22.1%, Atmospheric 11.5%, Open World 11.5%, Story Rich 9.9%, First-Person 9.8%

Why You'll Like It: A solitary investigator explores a snowbound wilderness, searching for answers amid a slow, atmospheric supernatural mystery.

Rethink human’s dominion in The Invincible: a story-driven adventure set in a hard sci-fi world by Stanisław Lem. Discover planet Regis III as scientist Yasna, use atompunk tools looking for a missing crew and face unforeseen threats. Make choices in a philosophical story that’s driven by science.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 39.2%, Mystery 15.2%, Story Rich 12%, Adventure 8.7%, First-Person 8.4%

Why You'll Like It: You explore an isolated, gorgeous hostile world while maintaining radio contact with others and confronting a thoughtful sci-fi mystery.

Named Game of the Year 2019 by Giant Bomb, Polygon, Eurogamer, and The Guardian, Outer Wilds is a critically-acclaimed and award-winning open world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop.

Why similar: Mystery 17.2%, Great Soundtrack 17.1%, Story Rich 13.3%, Exploration 11.8%, Atmospheric 10%

Why You'll Like It: It transforms exploration into a deeply rewarding mystery, using curiosity and environmental clues to reveal an emotional larger story.

It's 1986 - Meredith Weiss takes a break from her career in the big city to deliver mail in her hometown. How will she experience two weeks in beautiful Providence Oaks, with its iconic lake and quirky community? And what will she do next? It's up to you.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 37.6%, Story Rich 17.3%, Open World 14.3%, Atmospheric 12.1%, Adventure 6.5%

Why You'll Like It: Its tranquil rural setting and character-focused conversations capture Firewatch's reflective escape-from-life quality, with far lower stakes.

Hitchhike your way to freedom in this crazy procedurally generated road trip. No one's road is the same!

Why similar: Story Rich 22.7%, First-Person 20.2%, Atmospheric 17.3%, Adventure 11.9%, Exploration 11.3%

Why You'll Like It: This road-trip adventure emphasizes dialogue, fleeting human connections, and personal choices while traveling through evocative isolated environments.

The Magnificent Trufflepigs is a first-person, metal-detecting narrative game. It combines laid-back detecting and exploration with a dramatic story, all set in a beautiful English countryside. It’s a game about trying to find something.

Why similar: Mystery 19.6%, Story Rich 18.2%, Walking Simulator 17.8%, Atmospheric 14.8%, First-Person 13.8%

Why You'll Like It: A short, pastoral narrative about searching the English countryside is carried by a warm, revealing remote conversation between two people.

Tacoma is a sci-fi narrative adventure from the creators of Gone Home. Set aboard a high-tech space station in the year 2088, explore every detail of how the station’s crew lived and worked, finding the clues that add up to a gripping story of trust, fear, and resolve in the face of disaster.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 38.2%, Story Rich 14.4%, Mystery 10.4%, First-Person 8.1%, Atmospheric 7.5%

Why You'll Like It: Exploring a deserted space station and reconstructing its inhabitants' relationships delivers a compact, human-centered narrative mystery.

Join Norah, a woman plagued by a mysterious illness, in her search for her missing husband in this adventure puzzle game set on a lush island paradise. Immerse yourself in stunning visuals and unlock forbidden secrets in a moving tale of mystery and love.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 21.7%, Story Rich 15.3%, Mystery 15%, First-Person 11.9%, Atmospheric 10.7%

Why You'll Like It: Its lush island exploration, intimate emotional premise, and gradually uncovered mystery suit players seeking a gentler first-person adventure.

Dear Esther immerses you in a stunningly realised world, a remote and desolate island somewhere in the outer Hebrides. As you step forwards, a voice begins to read fragments of a letter: 'Dear Esther...' - and so begins a journey through one of the most original first-person games of recent years.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 32.4%, Exploration 8.9%, Mystery 8.8%, First-Person 8.2%, Story Rich 7.7%

Why You'll Like It: This foundational atmospheric walking simulator emphasizes lonely landscapes, poetic narration, and the feeling of uncovering a fragmented past.

Coming back to the family hotel after years, a young woman finds herself trapped with the ghosts from her past and an old cellular telephone as the only way to unveil a terrible truth.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 24.7%, Mystery 13%, Story Rich 9.5%, Atmospheric 8.9%, Open World 7.5%

Why You'll Like It: A lonely mountain hotel, radio contact with a single companion, and a troubled mystery make this a particularly direct tonal match.

The Forgotten City is a narrative-driven time loop adventure in ancient Rome. Discover the ruins of an ancient underground city, travel 2000 years into the past, and unravel the mystery of who destroyed it by cleverly exploiting the power to wind back time. The fate of the city is in your hands.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 22.2%, Mystery 16%, Story Rich 11.1%, Great Soundtrack 11%, First-Person 8.3%

Why You'll Like It: This dialogue-heavy mystery rewards careful observation, moral choices, and revisiting a richly realized isolated community.

Investigate an infamous cold case in the eerie, abandoned town of Painscreek. Search for evidence, connect the dots and uncover who killed Vivian Roberts. Can you expose the truth behind this town’s dark secrets?

Why similar: Walking Simulator 22.9%, Mystery 17.8%, Story Rich 11.3%, Atmospheric 9.3%, Open World 8.5%

Why You'll Like It: It provides a patient, clue-driven first-person investigation through an abandoned town, ideal for players who want more demanding mystery solving.

Virginia is a single-player first-person thriller set in a small town with a secret. Experience a missing person investigation through the eyes of graduate FBI agent Anne Tarver.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 29.8%, Mystery 14.9%, Story Rich 10.4%, Atmospheric 9.6%, First-Person 8.1%

Why You'll Like It: A surreal, cinematic detective story with striking scenery and deliberate ambiguity offers a concise alternative for fans of Firewatch's uneasy mystery.

The Beginner's Guide is a narrative video game from Davey Wreden, the creator of The Stanley Parable. It lasts about an hour and a half and has no traditional mechanics, no goals or objectives. Instead, it tells the story of a person struggling to deal with something they do not understand.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 42.3%, Story Rich 17.8%, Atmospheric 11.7%, First-Person 9.3%, Great Soundtrack 9%

Why You'll Like It: Its first-person presentation and intimate narrator-player relationship offer a different but similarly introspective form of story-led exploration.

The Fidelio Incident is a single-player, first-person thriller set off the coast of Iceland. Inspired by Beethoven's only opera Fidelio. After a violent plane crash, Stanley must search a desolate frozen island in search of his wife Leonore while covering up any traces of their bloody Irish past.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 40%, Great Soundtrack 13.7%, Mystery 9.5%, Story Rich 7.9%, Adventure 7.5%

Why You'll Like It: A remote island, a personal mystery, and reflective first-person exploration make for a moody narrative adventure in a similar vein.

Tell Me Why is the multi-award winning episodic adventure game from Dontnod Entertainment in which twins use their supernatural bond to discover the truth of their troubled past.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 32%, Story Rich 23.8%, Mystery 13.2%, Atmospheric 10.7%, Adventure 8.8%

Why You'll Like It: Its character-driven mystery centers on complicated memories, sibling relationships, and player-shaped conversations in a remote Alaskan setting.

The Station is a first-person sci-fi mystery set on a space station sent to study a sentient alien civilization. Assuming the role of a recon specialist, players must unravel a mystery which will decide the fate of two civilizations.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 34.6%, Story Rich 17.6%, Atmospheric 13.4%, Adventure 11.6%, Mystery 9.2%

Why You'll Like It: Investigating an abandoned alien research station delivers a focused first-person mystery with strong environmental storytelling and sci-fi atmosphere.

Long-lost family secrets. Hints of a hidden fortune. And miles to go before they sleep. Tess Devine’s relationship with her mom has never been easy, but they’re about to set out together on a journey into the past that they’ll never forget.

Why similar: Story Rich 23.7%, Exploration 17.1%, First-Person 14.9%, Adventure 14.8%, Atmospheric 14.3%

Why You'll Like It: This grounded road-trip story focuses on family history, quiet exploration, and conversational emotional revelations.

1975. Disaster strikes the Beira D oil rig off the coast of Scotland. Navigate the collapsing rig to save your crew from an otherworldly horror on the edge of all logic and reality in this 3x BAFTA Games Award-winning narrative horror experience.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 32.4%, Story Rich 13.6%, Atmospheric 12%, First-Person 11.1%, Horror 8.2%

Why You'll Like It: It trades Wyoming for an oil rig but similarly uses isolation, environmental immersion, and personal drama to create intense first-person tension.

THE LONG DARK is a thoughtful, exploration-survival experience that challenges solo players to think for themselves as they explore an expansive frozen wilderness in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster. There are no zombies -- only you, the cold, and all the threats Mother Nature can muster.

Why similar: Open World 24.6%, Walking Simulator 17%, Atmospheric 16.8%, Exploration 13.8%, First-Person 13.3%

Why You'll Like It: Its harsh Canadian wilderness delivers the same sense of solitude and environmental immersion, though with substantially more survival mechanics.

NIGHT IN THE WOODS is an adventure game focused on exploration, story, and character, featuring dozens of characters to meet and lots to do across a lush, vibrant world.

Why similar: Story Rich 23.4%, Mystery 22.4%, Atmospheric 17.2%, Exploration 12.6%, Adventure 11.3%

Why You'll Like It: Although presented in 2D, its sharp dialogue, vulnerable characters, and slowly emerging small-town mystery deliver a comparably personal story.

From the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent comes SOMA, a sci-fi horror game set below the waves of the Atlantic ocean. Struggle to survive a hostile world that will make you question your very existence.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 27%, Story Rich 12.9%, Atmospheric 12%, Mystery 10.1%, First-Person 9.5%

Why You'll Like It: Its isolated first-person exploration and philosophical story are much darker, but it excels at building atmosphere through abandoned spaces and human connection.

Leave home for the first time to collect memories before a mysterious cataclysm washes everything away. Ride, record, meet people, and unravel the strange world around you in this third-person meditative exploration game.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 21.4%, Mystery 17.2%, Story Rich 14.6%, Open World 14.3%, Atmospheric 12.5%

Why You'll Like It: This contemplative journey through a fading world emphasizes observation, recording people’s stories, and savoring atmospheric outdoor spaces.

Stan, a professional diver in the North Sea, is struggling to overcome a life-changing loss during an extended mission underwater. Stuck in his self-imposed solitude, he starts to experience strange events and will have to make the most significant choice of his life...

Why similar: Story Rich 22.2%, Atmospheric 20%, Adventure 18%, Exploration 17.5%, Walking Simulator 9.7%

Why You'll Like It: A solitary worker in a beautiful natural environment confronts grief and isolation in a slow, emotionally focused narrative adventure.

Explore the ancient, mysterious world of Journey as you soar above ruins and glide across sands to discover its secrets.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 25.5%, Great Soundtrack 19.7%, Atmospheric 17%, Exploration 10.4%, Adventure 9.6%

INFRA puts you into the boots of a structural analyst on a routine mission. Quickly though, your task turns into a fight for survival, all caused by deep-rooted schemes of the past. Your tools are simple: your camera and the wits to navigate a labyrinth of debris.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 26.1%, Mystery 11.7%, Atmospheric 11.4%, Exploration 9.2%, Great Soundtrack 9.2%

You wake up, alone, on a strange island full of puzzles that will challenge and surprise you.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 23.3%, Open World 14.6%, First-Person 13.4%, Exploration 12.9%, Atmospheric 10%

A beautiful, 3rd-person exploration game centered around two parallel stories: a fox trying to find her missing family, and a son reconnecting with his estranged father in Alaska. Uncover artifacts from the son's life as he becomes intertwined in the fox’s journey towards The First Tree.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 29.1%, Atmospheric 13.9%, Great Soundtrack 10.6%, Story Rich 9.4%, Open World 7.8%

Hike, climb, and soar through the peaceful mountainside landscapes of Hawk Peak Provincial Park as you make your way to the summit.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 20.3%, Great Soundtrack 20.2%, Exploration 18.8%, Open World 15.9%, Adventure 12.8%

Explore the vast and beautiful world of Valley using the power of the L.E.A.F. suit: a fierce exoskeleton that grants exceptional speed and agility along with the phenomenal ability to manipulate the life and death of all living things.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 17.4%, Great Soundtrack 14.8%, First-Person 13.5%, Open World 11.2%, Adventure 10.2%

Explore an abandoned building, encountering puzzles and clues to discover what happened, as you try to escape in both your nightmares and the waking world. Be immersed in the hauntingly beautiful 3D atmosphere in this puzzle exploration mystery game.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 25.4%, Atmospheric 14.4%, Mystery 12.6%, Great Soundtrack 12.6%, First-Person 9.2%

A land of discovery stretches out before you. Explore the beautiful, rugged world of RiME. Armed with your wits and a will to overcome—and the guidance of a helpful fox—you must explore the enigmatic island, reach the tower's peak, and unlock its closely guarded secrets.

Why similar: Great Soundtrack 24%, Atmospheric 17.2%, Exploration 14.1%, Adventure 12.2%, Walking Simulator 10.3%

The Stanley Parable is a first person exploration game. You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley. You will follow a story, you will not follow a story. You will have a choice, you will have no choice. The game will end, the game will never end.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 40%, First-Person 13.1%, Comedy 12.5%, Exploration 6.7%, Story Rich 6.6%

You are a traveling painter, exploring the island of Eastshade. Capture the world on canvas using your artist’s easel. Talk to the inhabitants to learn about their lives. Make friends and help those in need. Visit cities, scale summits, unearth mysteries, and discover forgotten places!

Why similar: Open World 14.6%, Story Rich 14.1%, Atmospheric 12.8%, Great Soundtrack 12.5%, First-Person 11.3%

From the art director of Journey®, ABZÛ is a beautiful underwater adventure that evokes the dream of diving. Immerse yourself in a vibrant hidden world bursting with color and life as you descend into the heart of the ocean. But beware as you swim deeper as dangers lurk in the depths.

Why similar: Great Soundtrack 25.5%, Atmospheric 21.5%, Exploration 13.5%, Walking Simulator 12.3%, Adventure 8.1%

Ether One is a first person adventure that deals with the fragility of the human mind. There are two paths in the world you can choose from. At its core is a story exploration path free from puzzles where you can unfold the story at your own pace.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 39%, First-Person 13.2%, Adventure 12.6%, Exploration 10.8%, Story Rich 9.8%

In Drizzlepath you are set on a journey to the top of the Mountain of Fire. It aims to be an atmospheric, relaxed and enigmatic experience. Downloadable soundtrack included.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 27.6%, Great Soundtrack 14.5%, Atmospheric 9.9%, First-Person 8.3%, Mystery 7.4%

Marie's Room is a short story exploration game about an unconventional friendship between two classmates. You play as Kelsey, remembering Marie's room as it was twenty years ago. But something’s off. What happened to Marie?

Why similar: Walking Simulator 28.6%, Story Rich 16.8%, Great Soundtrack 11.7%, Atmospheric 11.1%, Mystery 8.5%

It's Clara's last day on the island where she grew up. She needs to complete preparations, visit her favorite places, and say her goodbyes before leaving on a journey she may not return from.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 45.7%, Great Soundtrack 14.1%, Atmospheric 12.8%, Adventure 11.2%, First-Person 11%

Cradle is a sci-fi first-person-view quest designed for the player to explore the surrounding world. The story is built around the relations of the protagonist and a mechanical girl who by quirk of fate found themselves amidst the desert.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 20.9%, Atmospheric 14.3%, Adventure 13.2%, First-Person 12.2%, Story Rich 10.7%

Embark on an emotional first-person narrative adventure where you control the story—and affect its outcomes—with your real-life blinks. With this innovative technique you will fully immerse yourself in a world of memories, both joyous and heartbreaking, as your whole life flashes before your eyes.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 31.4%, Story Rich 26.9%, First-Person 13.9%, Mystery 11.7%, Adventure 6.7%

A Dark Presence stalks the small town of Bright Falls, pushing Alan Wake to the brink of sanity in his fight to unravel the mystery and save his love.

Why similar: Story Rich 20.2%, Atmospheric 15.4%, Great Soundtrack 13.7%, Thriller 12.2%, Horror 11.3%

Lost at sea 1803 ~ The good ship Obra Dinn.

Why similar: Mystery 29.9%, Story Rich 16.4%, Great Soundtrack 14.3%, Atmospheric 13.8%, Walking Simulator 8.1%

Caligo is the darkness everyone descends into one way or another, and to each of us it's something different. For some it's a short but exciting adventure, some will see it as a place to relax. Yet others will be reminded of their worst nightmare, while for a few, it might come as a revelation.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 36.4%, Great Soundtrack 14.9%, Atmospheric 10.4%, Adventure 10%, Story Rich 9.7%

KENTUCKY ROUTE ZERO is a magical realist adventure game about a secret highway running through the caves beneath Kentucky, and the mysterious folks who travel it.

Why similar: Atmospheric 25.6%, Story Rich 16.8%, Adventure 16.8%, Great Soundtrack 16.1%, Mystery 12%

my brother lives in a canyon is a short adventure game about two brothers reminiscing over short-wave radios.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 35.6%, Adventure 13%, Mystery 11.9%, First-Person 10.2%, Exploration 9.2%

Draugen is a single-player, first-person Fjord Noir mystery set in 1920s Norway. Explore a forgotten coastal village in your search for your missing sister, accompanied by your independent and enigmatic young ward. Norwegian Game of the Year 2019.

Why similar: Mystery 22.5%, Story Rich 18%, Atmospheric 15.5%, First-Person 13.4%, Adventure 8.1%

Empathy: Path of Whispers is an atmospheric and story-driven adventure game where you explore a seemingly abandoned world through the emotions and memories of the people who once inhabited it, trying to restore the world’s lost balance by journeying through its past.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 30.3%, Great Soundtrack 18%, Story Rich 15%, Adventure 13.2%, Atmospheric 12.1%

The Last Campfire is an adventure, a story of a lost ember trapped in a puzzling place, searching for meaning and a way home.

Why similar: Story Rich 32.9%, Atmospheric 31%, Adventure 21.5%, Singleplayer 8.2%, Indie 6.5%

Guide two brothers on an epic fairy tale journey from visionary Swedish film director, Josef Fares and top-tier developer Starbreeze Studios. Control both brothers at once as you experience co-op play in single player mode, like never before.

Why similar: Atmospheric 25.9%, Story Rich 25%, Adventure 20.7%, Great Soundtrack 13.6%, Walking Simulator 6%

The Old City: Leviathan is an experiment in first person exploration that focuses entirely on story. All that exists is you and the world. Set in a decaying city from a civilization long past, The Old City: Leviathan puts the player in the shoes of a sewer dwelling isolationist.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 41%, Atmospheric 13.8%, Exploration 10%, Adventure 8.5%, First-Person 8.4%

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is an expanded re-imagining of 2013's The Stanley Parable. You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley. You will make a choice, and you will become powerless. You are not here to win. The Stanley Parable is a game that plays you.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 36.7%, First-Person 10.6%, Story Rich 8.9%, Comedy 8.4%, Mystery 8.2%

Share thoughts and hot food with your last ever clients, as you wait for the world to end.

Why similar: Walking Simulator 33.9%, Mystery 14.8%, Story Rich 13.2%, First-Person 8.1%, Horror 7.3%