Silver Pines review: "This horror Metroidvania take on Silent Hill and Resident Evil is a mystery that's hard to put down"

I haven't had this much fun waking up in a strange diner and fighting for my life since Fahrenheit. Silver Pines wears its influences on its traditional detective coat sleeve, and that's by no means a bad thing. It fuses together the elements it's taking from each masterfully, resulting in a survival horror Metroidvania that is powerfully gripping from start to finish as Detective Walker investigates a strange, forgotten, and abandoned town on the trail of a missing musician.

Beautiful painterly visuals contrast the grimness of the setting very nicely. As does the relaxing ambient music from jukeboxes or radios that breaks up some of the quietness of exploration. The dreamlike quality combined with nightmarish content invoke a very strong and moody atmosphere that perfectly accompanies its investigative storyline where reality itself comes into question.

Silver lining

Not only does Silver Pines look and sound good, it also feels good thanks to excellent pacing across both its narrative and with how you progress through its haunting, dense world.

Unlocking new items allows Walker to traverse new areas of the detailed map, making it exciting to revisit past areas to push further into the secret corners of Silver Pines. While inventory juggling and unlocking is vital in the likes of Resident Evil as well with its many, many keys, Silver Pines bridges that gap to feel more Metroidvania shaped in how the map unfurls and you keep feeling like you're pushing at the space's boundaries.

This system interplays spectacularly with the inventory management in how tools have multiple uses. The crowbar, which can pull down wooden panels, is a lot more versatile than the box cutter, but naturally takes up more space. It does at least double as a melee weapon though, so it doesn't feel like wasted item slots to be taking it everywhere with you. The manhole cover key, on the other hand, is a little more of a nuisance. Where key items in Resi frequently get used up, they stick around far more often in Silver Pines.

You can combine items, find upgrades for your guns so they take up less space, and often leave key components in the puzzle you know they're for so you're not left carting them around while you look for the rest. There are also plenty of storage boxes so you can swap out what you need or think you might need (i.e. more guns) so you're always prepared. But you really do have to move, transfer, combine and rotate things in your inventory on a regular basis to optimize what you're carrying. "I'll never run out of empty bottles," I said, and then did and wondered if I could pour my Molotov cocktail all over the floor so I could stuff some herbs into it instead.

Silver Pines' camera system is a wonderful way of making it easier to keep track of mysteries and areas, which builds on the now-beloved mechanic from Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Found a point of interest? Take a quick pic. Silver Pines encourages you to do so while examining objects or coming across key areas on the map, but you can and should use it a lot more of your own volition, as any good detective would.

I take snaps of signs with numbers I want to call. Signs that may hold some secret information on a second glance. The price of cigarettes? Yeah, that could be important. Snap it. You also don't want to find yourself thinking it will be easy to come back to an item when you have the space to pick it up and then wandering the town in a daze searching for it later. Don't be like me. Use your camera plenty.

Little touches like the item vending machine and using the pay phones for both saving and story purposes add an extra layer of shine to an already polished game. Yes, you do have to pay to use the phone, so it's always worth giving the coin slot a good rummage.

Checking in with your client, Mr Jackman, by saving also helps remind you what you're up to when you pick up a save and lets you know when you're on the right track. Even when I'm sure of my path ahead, I'm always curious to hear what Walker's updated report will be. The game is kind enough to sometimes have Jackman call you after particularly big story moments (usually capped off with a boss fight) so there are a few free save opportunities if you're totally short on coins too.

Come Pine with me

Silver Pines is a game that sticks with you. I rolled from one ending right into the next and into the next, trying to scrape together whatever clues I could while finishing off what I needed for them and turning everything over in my mind even while I wasn't playing.

I scoured the map for vents I hadn't opened, ledges I hadn't yet thrown myself off to see what was down there and I usually found something to make it worth my while. I ended up going back and wiping out any last straggler enemies just so the whole town was safe for me to bring up my inventory and pore over my notes at any given time. And because no one wants a Silent Hill-esque monstrosity lurching after them while they're desperately looking for a vending machine.

Really the only problem I have is that Silver Pines can get in its own way with its storytelling. Even with a strong idea of where the story was heading, I was gripped to learn and discover everything I could. It does such a strong job of worldbuilding and creating intrigue into the town as a whole, not just Walker's own objective, that three endings later I still have questions and wild theories that I want more information on.

I'm left here going full Jonathan Frakes in Beyond Belief: What's the importance of the TV shows? Why let me call the Conmag number? What does it all mean?! Everything is so well-choreographed that it feels off for there to be loose ends.

While it's true that great horror keeps mysteries spinning long after you've finished with them, it feels like all the Silver Pines endings I've uncovered (which is all of them) stop just short of arriving in the sweet spot, feeling like I've missed something rather than being truly haunted by forbidden discovery.

As things are, it's a disservice to such an excellent game to be left unsatisfied. Maybe it's about the journey rather than the destination, but I don't feel like the journey is over and honestly I don't want it to be. I'll be messing with my pushpins and red string a while longer, hoping there is more to come, as it's a world I'm not ready to be done with. Perhaps this whole thing is an elaborate ploy to teach me that perfection is unattainable.

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