10 Best Video Game User Interfaces

Over the last decade-or-so, diegetic UIs - that is, interfaces which exist within the game world itself - have become far more common, and one of the most evocative examples to date is in Campo Santo's brilliant 2016 adventure game Firewatch.

Players control Henry, a fire lookout at Shoshone National Forest who spends almost the entirety of the game in isolation as he performs various tasks around the forest.

And in order to enhance the eerie immersion of Henry's solitude, the game ditches a traditional HUD in favour of a largely in-game, diegetic interface.

The map, for instance, is an actual map which Henry will get out and read whenever you decide to view it.

Rather than constantly throwing on-screen waypoints at the player, everything you need to navigate through the game is presented within the world of the game itself - there are signposts guiding you along, and Henry will mark off useful information on the map as you go.

It isn't the first game to employ such a tactic - Far Cry 2 was widely lauded for doing so back in 2008 - but in terms of an interface which actually helps crystalise a game's core themes and mood, none feels quite as ingenious as Firewatch.