Firewatch — Achievement Walkthrough
10 achievement guides · Full game page → · 🗺️ Full 100% walkthrough ↓
Firewatch has 10 achievements: five for finishing story days (1, 2, 76, 77 and 79) and five for small things you can easily walk past - a turtle, a raccoon, a bee sting, a full disposable camera and a hidden cassette tape. One story playthrough gets everything if you know where to look. Free Roam mode (on the main menu once you finish the story) is the fallback for most of the extras, but players report the bee and the camera do not reliably work there, so get those two in the story.
1. Prologue and Day 1 · 3 achievements
The text prologue, then your first day: fetch the rope from Cache 306, run off the teenagers at Jonesy Lake, and head back to the tower by way of Cave 452.
- The turtle is a random spawn, so start looking from Day 1. Reported spots: near Two Forks Lookout, near Cache 306, the creek at the north end of Jonesy Lake (north-west of Cache 305), the rock beside Cache 302 (you pass it on Day 2), and a rock by the blocked passage on Thorofare Trail. Pick it up and hold the interact button to KEEP it. One player reports that only placing it in the box at the tower did not unlock anything. If you can't find it, or the achievement doesn't pop, Free Roam is a reliable fallback: several players got it there in minutes.
- Raccoon: a raccoon hides in the stove in the dark basement of a burned, warped old house, on a patch of ground that sticks out to the east along the route between Cave 452 and Beartooth Point. Open the stove and it jumps you. Sources disagree on which days it is there. One player says Day 1 on the way back, before you go into the cave. Another missed it on Day 1, got it on Day 76, and says it does not appear on Day 2. A third suggests going any time after Day 3. Try it whenever you pass. If it never shows up or doesn't unlock, players report it works in Free Roam if you go straight there carrying no equipment.
- Finish the day: collect the flashlight from Cache 303 near Cave 452, go through the cave and climb back to the tower. The achievement unlocks when Day 1 ends.
2. Day 2 · 2 achievements
Investigate the cut phone line, recover Brian Goodwin's backpack and the teenagers' abandoned camp.
- ⚠️ Missable — After you check the cut cable, the way back is blocked. Follow the trail of beer cans west, then go south at the fork to find a backpack hanging in a tree. Knock it down to get the hiking rope and a DISPOSABLE CAMERA. Shutter Bug unlocks when the camera's whole roll is used up. Take photos with the camera button as you play (hold the shutter and keep pressing until the counter reaches zero if you just want the achievement). The camera is a story item, and players report you can't get it in Free Roam, so finish the roll before the end of Day 79. The safe habit is to empty it on Day 2.
- Go on to the girls' camp near the waterfall in the south-west, read the note in the tent and report it. The day ends after the report.
3. Days 3 to 64
Short days with story choices. There are no achievements here.
- Patch the broken window, take your days off, collect the supply drop and talk to Delilah. If you still have the turtle to find or the raccoon to try, you can still roam the areas you have unlocked before you report in for each new job. Neither achievement is lost if you skip this, because Free Roam is available afterwards.
4. Day 76 · 1 achievement
The note at the lake, the fenced-off Wapiti Station, and the axe at the firefighters' camp.
- Pick up the noticeboard at the lake and the red walkie-talkie, find Wapiti Station locked, then cross the river (past Cache 307) to the camp. Take the AXE stuck in the tree. You need it for Ol' Shoshone later. Cut the tree to leave the camp and head back. The achievement unlocks when Day 76 ends.
5. Day 77 · 2 achievements
Swap walkie-talkies at Cottonwood Creek, break into Wapiti Station, then the fire.
- ⚠️ Missable — MISSABLE. SAVE BEFORE THE GATE. Get the new walkie-talkie from Cache 308 at Cottonwood Creek (code 5-6-7-8), then pry open the Wapiti Station gate with the axe. Right in front of you there is a mailbox-style box on a pole marked Wapiti. Open its lid, a bee flies out and stings you, and Bee Plot unlocks. Two Steam players report it would NOT unlock in Free Roam, so treat it as a story-only achievement. One commenter says it took several stings and reloads before it registered, so make a manual save before you open the box and reload if nothing pops.
- Take the wave receiver from the hard case in the tent, go through the desk, then head home. That night, follow the receiver's beeping south and west toward the Medicine Wheel area, push through the bushes, and set off the backpack alarm to find the key. Listen to the tape on your door and the day ends. Some players say this achievement failed to unlock for them, and there is no confirmed fix. Keep a save from Day 77 until you see it pop, because the only reported cure without a save is replaying from the start.
6. Day 78 · 1 achievement
Cave 452 with the key, Brian's hideout, and the best time to pick up the Ol' Shoshone tape.
- Go through Cave 452 using the key and the axe and come out to the hideout. Before going back for the pitons, detour north toward the phone lines. The wave receiver picks up a signal that leads to a dead elk wearing a tracking collar. Near the elk, a trail is blocked by bushes and roots. Clear it with the axe. Behind it are two stumps, a chair, a note and a cassette tape. Pick up the tape and hold interact to keep it (the achievement is for listening to it). Players report the tape sometimes is NOT there, and that grabbing it sometimes does nothing. Reported fix: in Free Roam, take only the axe from the tower (not the cassette player), restart the game, go straight to the spot, save before grabbing the tape, and reload if needed. Day 78 is the day most guides cite. You can try from Day 76 once you have the axe, and Free Roam works too.
7. Day 79 · 1 achievement
The final day: the hideout to the west, then the evacuation.
- Check now that the camera roll is finished and that you have Bee Plot. Then follow the receiver west past the lake to the hidden hatch, go to the evacuation point in the north, take the cart to Delilah's tower and board the helicopter. The achievement unlocks when the game ends. (If you don't board the helicopter you get an alternate ending, which isn't needed for anything.)
🧹 Cleanup & anything you missed
- Missing Love Turts, The Life and Times of Raccoon Carter or Ol' Shoshone? Start Free Roam from the main menu (available once you have finished the story). Go straight to the turtle spot (the rock at the top of Jonesy Lake is reported to be reliable) or the burned house, carrying nothing for the raccoon and only the axe for the tape. If an achievement still doesn't pop, close the game, reopen it and try again from a save made just before the interaction.
- Missing Bee Plot or Shutter Bug? Load a story save from Day 77 (bee) or from any point before the end (camera) if you have one. One player got Shutter Bug by loading a save near the end of the game. Otherwise you will have to replay the story to those points.
How we checked this · 13 sources · 6 points not fully confirmed
Where our sources disagreed or we couldn't confirm a detail:
- Raccoon days: sources give Day 1 (before Cave 452), Day 76 (not Day 2), and 'after Day 3'. The burned house with the stove in its basement, between Cave 452 and Beartooth Point, comes from a single detailed guide (Bilibili) plus one Steam comment about a burned house and an oven.
- Ol' Shoshone location: Gamepressure and Steam players place the dead elk and tape north of Brian's hideout (Day 78), while a Giant Bomb summary describes a path toward Beartooth Point (Day 77). The spot near the elk is the one with the most agreement.
- Whether you need the portable cassette player for Ol' Shoshone: one guide says it plays the tape automatically, while Steam players unlocked it carrying only the axe.
- Whether Bee Plot works in Free Roam: two Steam players say it doesn't, and a Bilibili guide says all the animal achievements do.
- Whether the disposable camera can be found in Free Roam: one Steam player says it can't, and another got Shutter Bug in Free Roam.
- The number of exposures on the disposable camera was not confirmed, so the guide only says to shoot until the counter reaches zero.
Cross-checked against:
- Steam Community - Firewatch global achievements (schema)
- Gamepressure - Firewatch walkthrough (Day 1)
- Gamepressure - Firewatch walkthrough (Day 2)
- Gamepressure - Firewatch walkthrough (Day 77)
- Gamepressure - Firewatch walkthrough (Day 78)
- GamingBolt - Firewatch Mega Guide
- Bilibili - Firewatch full achievement guide (Chinese)
- Steam discussion - raccoon / Ol' Shoshone / bee locations
- Steam discussion - Free Roaming and the new achievements
- Steam discussion - Ol' Shoshone / raccoon fix in Free Roam
- Steam discussion - solution to raccoon and Ol' Shoshone achievements
- Steam discussion - Day 77 achievement not unlocking
- TrueTrophies - Love Turts
Finish the day: collect the flashlight from Cache 303 near Cave 452, go through the cave and climb back to the tower. The achievement unlocks when Day 1 ends.
Part of the full walkthrough above, in the "Prologue and Day 1" section.
Go on to the girls' camp near the waterfall in the south-west, read the note in the tent and report it. The day ends after the report.
Part of the full walkthrough above, in the "Day 2" section.
Pick up the noticeboard at the lake and the red walkie-talkie, find Wapiti Station locked, then cross the river (past Cache 307) to the camp. Take the AXE stuck in the tree. You need it for Ol' Shoshone later. Cut the tree to leave the camp and head back. The achievement unlocks when Day 76 ends.
Part of the full walkthrough above, in the "Day 76" section.
Take the wave receiver from the hard case in the tent, go through the desk, then head home. That night, follow the receiver's beeping south and west toward the Medicine Wheel area, push through the bushes, and set off the backpack alarm to find the key. Listen to the tape on your door and the day ends. Some players say this achievement failed to unlock for them, and there is no confirmed fix. Keep a save from Day 77 until you see it pop, because the only reported cure without a save is replaying from the start.
Part of the full walkthrough above, in the "Day 77" section.
Check now that the camera roll is finished and that you have Bee Plot. Then follow the receiver west past the lake to the hidden hatch, go to the evacuation point in the north, take the cart to Delilah's tower and board the helicopter. The achievement unlocks when the game ends. (If you don't board the helicopter you get an alternate ending, which isn't needed for anything.)
Part of the full walkthrough above, in the "Day 79" section.
MISSABLE. SAVE BEFORE THE GATE. Get the new walkie-talkie from Cache 308 at Cottonwood Creek (code 5-6-7-8), then pry open the Wapiti Station gate with the axe. Right in front of you there is a mailbox-style box on a pole marked Wapiti. Open its lid, a bee flies out and stings you, and Bee Plot unlocks. Two Steam players report it would NOT unlock in Free Roam, so treat it as a story-only achievement. One commenter says it took several stings and reloads before it registered, so make a manual save before you open the box and reload if nothing pops.
Part of the full walkthrough above, in the "Day 77" section.
The turtle is a random spawn, so start looking from Day 1. Reported spots: near Two Forks Lookout, near Cache 306, the creek at the north end of Jonesy Lake (north-west of Cache 305), the rock beside Cache 302 (you pass it on Day 2), and a rock by the blocked passage on Thorofare Trail. Pick it up and hold the interact button to KEEP it. One player reports that only placing it in the box at the tower did not unlock anything. If you can't find it, or the achievement doesn't pop, Free Roam is a reliable fallback: several players got it there in minutes.
Part of the full walkthrough above, in the "Prologue and Day 1" section.
After you check the cut cable, the way back is blocked. Follow the trail of beer cans west, then go south at the fork to find a backpack hanging in a tree. Knock it down to get the hiking rope and a DISPOSABLE CAMERA. Shutter Bug unlocks when the camera's whole roll is used up. Take photos with the camera button as you play (hold the shutter and keep pressing until the counter reaches zero if you just want the achievement). The camera is a story item, and players report you can't get it in Free Roam, so finish the roll before the end of Day 79. The safe habit is to empty it on Day 2.
Part of the full walkthrough above, in the "Day 2" section.
Raccoon: a raccoon hides in the stove in the dark basement of a burned, warped old house, on a patch of ground that sticks out to the east along the route between Cave 452 and Beartooth Point. Open the stove and it jumps you. Sources disagree on which days it is there. One player says Day 1 on the way back, before you go into the cave. Another missed it on Day 1, got it on Day 76, and says it does not appear on Day 2. A third suggests going any time after Day 3. Try it whenever you pass. If it never shows up or doesn't unlock, players report it works in Free Roam if you go straight there carrying no equipment.
Part of the full walkthrough above, in the "Prologue and Day 1" section.
Go through Cave 452 using the key and the axe and come out to the hideout. Before going back for the pitons, detour north toward the phone lines. The wave receiver picks up a signal that leads to a dead elk wearing a tracking collar. Near the elk, a trail is blocked by bushes and roots. Clear it with the axe. Behind it are two stumps, a chair, a note and a cassette tape. Pick up the tape and hold interact to keep it (the achievement is for listening to it). Players report the tape sometimes is NOT there, and that grabbing it sometimes does nothing. Reported fix: in Free Roam, take only the axe from the tower (not the cassette player), restart the game, go straight to the spot, save before grabbing the tape, and reload if needed. Day 78 is the day most guides cite. You can try from Day 76 once you have the axe, and Free Roam works too.
Part of the full walkthrough above, in the "Day 78" section.
