From the first time I saw a trailer for Silver Pines, I knew it was something I wanted to play. As such, I avoided the demo and additional material before launch so that I could go in as blind as possible. Sometimes that approach doesn’t pay off, but then others, like in the case here with Silver Pines, I got to experience one of the best Indie games of the year completely fresh.
Silver Pines starts with our protagonist waking up in an abandoned diner confused, but aware that the mission at hand is to find musician Eddie Velvet. You’re a private investigator, so the assignment may seem pretty straight forward, but the setting is anything but. I don’t want to go into any real detail about the narrative as it risks giving away things that are honestly better experiencing fresh. However, I will say that the story unravels well, with a mixture of environmental storytelling and a smattering of NPC’s managing to give you enough breadcrumbs throughout to keep you on the edge of your seat.
The atmosphere and density of the 2D world really stood out as a highlight. Almost immediately I was getting a mix of Alan Wake and Silent Hill vibes, with an obvious Twin Peaks inspiration. There was barely a scene in the entire map without purpose. A clue, a story critical item, a scarce ammo drop. You are forced to properly search the world, and rewarded for doing so. The map opens up to a surprising size, but each area felt distinct and it allows you to almost build a mental map in your head.
Gameplay reminded me a lot of Resident Evil. It clearly borrows from it heavily in terms of the grid style inventory where items require a certain number of squares. Item management is a key component of the game, but there is a generously sized storage box that you can horde items that aren’t essential to your current objective, with access to the omnipresent box dotted around the map.
Combat is perhaps the games weakest element, but that’s not to say it isn’t enjoyable. Melee weapons in particular feel powerful and are a viable option, but they do degrade over time, so you need to keep repair items on hand to patch them back up. Firearms also pack a punch, but with ammo limited I was always very cautious about how often I went down that route. The game features a handful of boss encounters, so I tried to stockpile ammo as much as possible for these. It made them relatively painless, but I was left feeling like these sections were a little unnecessary.
I can’t count the amount of times where I was just at the point of getting stuck, only to reach a euphoric moment of finding an item that I knew would open up a new room or area further back. This is done in multiple different ways. There are keys to unlock doors, items to unlock areas and also melee weapons that can double as route unblockers. The first of these you’ll encounter is a box cutter knife that allows you to cut your way through plastic sheeting that’s blocking some entrances. Deeper into the game though you’ll find boarded up doors, weak walls and more that require heavier duty equipment to destroy.
It’s the standard metroidvania formula, but the pacing and drip feeding of items and information is done with superb precision. Puzzles are also well designed. Going in I had concerns: I generally suck at figuring out solutions in games like this, and with no guide to consult I worried I’d hit a wall long before the credits. But despite having to consult my much smarter better half twice, I was never stuck for long. Solutions feel logical and are never far from the puzzle you are facing. It was a breath of fresh air given some of the nonsense you tend to see in other titles.
There is a currency system in the game that allows you to buy items and also save your game. You pick up money throughout the map, and can spend it at one of the many vending machines to purchase ammo, first aid supplies, repair kits for your weapons and batteries for your flashlight. Saving is done at at any of the phone boxes you come across. Simply enter $1 and dial the save number to save in any of the 4 manual slots you desire.
My playthrough was done on the default difficulty and while at first I was very careful with my money and strategic on when I wanted to spend a dollar to save, I started to realise that cash was in decent enough supply to loosen the purse strings a little. Plus at one stage I did wander into a boss fight ill-equipped, died and realised I’d been playing for around two hours without saving. No autosave meant my entire time in the game for that day had been wiped. I imagine if you ramp the difficulty up the economy will likely play much more of a factor, but the lesson here is that if you are going in on normal – live a little!
The intentionally bleak colour palette works perfectly in the game. It sets the tone of the world and the bleakness of everything that is going on while still managing to look gorgeous on the screen. The audio does a great job of maximising the atmosphere too. Enemy groans, the world creaking under the weight of what’s going on and ominous music that bleeds in without drawing your attention away from the task at hand.
I expected to enjoy Silver Pines, but I came away loving it. This was one of those rare games that when I wasn’t playing it, I was thinking about playing it. As of this writing my game clock says 17 hours, because I have been scouring the map for the last few fragments needed to pop the last trophy and the platinum. I can’t for the life of me figure out where they could be, so it’s with a slightly defeated sigh that I wait for a guide to close this chapter. But I know this won’t be the end for me. It’s one of those games that feels perfect for this time of year and I’m already looking forward to another playthrough next October.
-Craig
