Firewatch: hope and heartbreak in the American wilderness

How a small team set out to tell an intimate personal drama within the vastness of the Yellowstone National Park

The outdoors in Firewatch isn't like the outdoors in most games. It feels somehow bigger. This is a game set in Wyoming's Yellowstone national park, a vast wilderness of lakes, mountains and hiking trails. When the sun began to set on my first day in the park - as the lead protagonist Henry, the volunteer fire lookout - it reminded me of rushing home at dusk while playing out as a kid, of escaping the dark as a small person in a big world.

This is all very deliberate. Firewatch is a relatively small and simple game, designed to engage players emotionally with a handful of basic, believable parts. It comes from a new studio, Campo Santo, though its dozen members have worked on lots of other games at various other studios. The lead artist, Jane Ng, worked on The Cave at Double Fine, while the writer/director pair, Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin, led the team behind the hugely acclaimed first season of The Walking Dead at Telltale Games.