Essay

By Joshua Hawkins Introduction This essay offers a critical deconstruction of Firewatch (Campo Santo, 2016) A first-person narrative adventure game published in partnership with Panic and released in 2016. Firewatch explores themes of isolation, human connection, and the fragility of perception through limited player interaction, environmental storytelling, and minimalist design. Players are immersed in indexical cues, choice, emotion, and observation without the use of tradi