Psychological horror Short horror PS1 horror

Fears to Fathom - Ironbark Lookout

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A new fire lookout, a tower in the woods, and the feeling that something is off.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (92% of 6,471 reviews); 4.5 out of 5 on the PlayStation Store from about 4,400 ratings
Length: 1 to 2 hours
Players: 1
Made by: Rayll Studios
Released: 2023

Get it on Steam PlayStation Store itch.io

What frightens Jack, a 24-year-old fire lookout, takes a new post in a tower over Ironbark State Park. Alone in the woods he works through ordinary days and nights, watching the forest through binoculars, driving to town and taking texts, and cannot shake the feeling that something is off down in the park. The fear is quiet and builds slowly, in a grainy VHS look, told as the account of someone who survived.
Content: blood, violence, strong language, drug references.

Fears to Fathom - Ironbark Lookout is the fourth episode of Rayll's Fears to Fathom horror anthology. You play Jack, a young fire lookout posted to a remote tower in Ironbark State Park, living out his days and nights alone in the woods as something in the park starts to feel wrong. It is a short first-person story with a VHS look and slow, quiet dread.

About Fears to Fathom - Ironbark Lookout

Fears to Fathom is an episodic horror series by Rayll Studios, in which each episode tells a short story narrated by the person who survived it. Ironbark Lookout is the fourth, released on Steam in October 2023 and on PS5 in October 2024. Each episode stands on its own, so you can start here.

You are Jack Nelson, a 24-year-old fire lookout who has just been transferred to a new outpost. The game is a first-person narrative walking simulator: you settle into the tower, keep watch over the forest, drive the roads around the park, stop at a roadside diner, use the tower's old computer and answer texts from the people in your life. Your replies in conversations are chosen from short options.

What frightens is how ordinary it all is. The routine of a quiet job in the woods is shown in realistic detail through a grainy VHS filter, and the dread comes from small things you notice while you watch the park and meet the people around it, rather than from monsters or fights.

It is short, an evening's play of one to two hours. It suits players who liked the other Fears to Fathom episodes, or who want slow, grounded horror about being alone and watched rather than monsters and combat.

How to play Fears to Fathom - Ironbark Lookout

Buy and install the game from Steam (Windows) or the PlayStation Store (PS5).
Move with WASD and look with the mouse; on-screen prompts show the keys for actions such as crouching, using and throwing items.
Follow the tasks the game gives you each day: settle into the lookout tower, keep watch, and drive where you are sent.
Talk to the people you meet and pick your replies from the options shown; read and answer the texts on Jack's phone.
Use the binoculars and the tower's computer to watch the park, and pay attention to anything that seems out of place.

Screenshots

A fire lookout tower on tall stilts among pine trees at night, a single lamp shining from the deck

View from the cab of a truck driving down a foggy forest road at dusk, with power lines overhead

A waitress in a roadside diner with a checkered floor tells Jack to take a seat, with reply options below

A binocular view of a small cabin in the dark woods with a light inside

Tips

Play at night with headphones; much of the unease is in the sounds of the forest.
Take your time with the routine tasks. The story builds through them, and rushing flattens it.
Look closely through the binoculars when you are asked to keep watch; small details matter.
Think about your replies to strangers. The game is told by someone who survived because of the choices he made.
You do not need to have played the earlier episodes; each story stands alone.