By Rob Dolen
staff writer

An emotional rollercoaster, “Firewatch” is an engrossing personal story of love, regret and loneliness within an adventure-inducing world.

“Firewatch” is a first-person exploration game set in a fictional Wyoming National Park in the aftermath of the 1988 Yellowstone fires. The player assumes the role of Henry, a lonely man who has recently cut ties with his wife who has been afflicted with a degenerative disease. Henry has chosen to become a fire lookout for the summer in the Wyoming wilderness in order to cope with the detachment and loneliness of his wife’s illness.

Henry quickly befriends Delilah, his boss and a fellow fire lookout who has an eccentric personality and a grand arsenal of dad jokes that are hilariously cringe-worthy.

Henry never meets Delilah in person (each lookout’s constrained to their respective sector); Delilah is but an enigmatic supervisor and companion. She almost feels surreal, a figment of Henry’s imagination, only realized behind Henry’s small handheld radio.

Despite the physical disconnect, a strong bond is forged between the two in a short period of time. Every time Delilah and Henry engage in conversation, the player is given the choice of which direction the conversation should go. Depending on what choices are made, the relationship between Henry and Delilah is developed according to the dialogue options the player chooses.

As events unfold throughout “Firewatch,” the player reports certain events, items and other evidence to Delilah so she can contact the proper authorities. This begins quickly, as “Firewatch” works hard to capture your interest right away. It slowly but surely guides that interest forward as events in Two Forks, Wyoming unfold.

As a fire lookout, Henry’s responsibility is to patrol their designated area of wilderness in order to maintain safety and the conservation of the land.

The player uses Delilah’s orders as a waypoint, but the open world encourages exploration and rewards uncovering secrets while learning new things about Henry’s surroundings.

The open world is full of beautiful vistas, meadows and natural rock formations that are pleasing to the eye. The art style exhibited in “Firewatch” doesn’t strive for photo-realism but the imagery achieves a dream-like representation of a national park in Wyoming.

Also dotted throughout the world are ranger caches filled with equipment and lore-related items. Though interesting, most of these caches are extraneous and serve no purpose in the main story.

“Firewatch” is an enthralling tale filled with all different types of exploration. Players have the opportunity to explore a large open world of beautiful nature, while simultaneously exploring the emotions and motives of Henry and Delilah as their relationship blossoms.