8 Secret Video Game Endings You Didn’t Know Exist
6. Condemned To A Flaming Demise - Firewatch
Campo Santo's indie hit Firewatch is a game you can play at your own pace. Exploring the Shoshone National Forest is liberating - it’s possible to get lost there for hours without ever being sidetracked by the overarching plot.
The story ends with protagonist Henry deciding to end his woodland exile and return to his sick wife, and that's just as well since the forest catches fire in the final scene.
In the regular ending, Henry makes like Arnie in Predator and gets to the chopper, leaving the burning national park behind. But if you loiter for around three minutes before boarding the rescue helicopter, it abruptly takes off without the protagonist on board, condemning you to a very different endgame.
Having the lead character's exile end in ash and flames makes Firewatch a very different story, a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. It's probably better to just board that chopper, because poor Henry has been through enough by this point.