Image credit: Em Stonham for Kyusai/Wych Elm/Team17
Finding the right balance between building dread and startling the player is no easy feat for a horror game. Some games lean too heavily into slow-burning anxiety, making for what feels like a padded runtime, while others rely on noisy jumpscares and cheap fake-outs to get the job done.
Silver Pines toes the line between atmospheric horror and frightening survival horror perfectly, making for a deeply atmospheric and cinematic experience. Here’s Kyusai’s full, spoiler-free Silver Pines review, completed on PlayStation 5, courtesy of a code from the game team.
It used to be human
The thought of working on a full Silver Pines review has been on my mind since I worked on Kyusai’s preview of the game. It immediately stood out to me from the scores of indie horrors that flit across my desk every week, establishing itself as a decidedly dreamy, Lynchian title with a strong aesthetic.
The full version of Silver Pines exceeded my sky-high expectations. It’s a beautifully dark, all-engrossing experience, with some wickedly fun monsters, stunning set pieces, and call-backs to titans of the survival horror genre.
In Silver Pines, you play as an investigator named Red Walker, set on a path that leads you into the titular town. You’re on the hunt for a mysterious musician named Eddie Velvet, at the behest of a strange voice that contacts you on the town’s many payphones.
The investigation begins with Walker waking up in a diner, clearly feeling disoriented and confused. He’s led to the Crimson Bear Motel – discovering that the town is under evacuation order in the process – while the story begins to neatly unravel around him.
As you might expect from the survival horror genre, things aren’t quite right in this town. Walker is, mostly, alone. Aside from a pinch of somewhat friendly faces, the only other beings in the world are twisted, meat-soaked amalgamations of human parts, and they desperately want to chew on the investigator or drench him in acid.
I adored the monster design in Silver Pines. It’s a big part of survival horror for me – hell, it’s one of the main reasons why I love ROUTINE so much; the Type 5 design is awesome – and this homage to Silent Hill did not disappoint. The creatures are dark and disturbing, but there’s something bitterly sad there, too.
Silver Pines isn’t a purely survival horror experience, either. It’s also a 2.5D Metroidvania, meaning exploration and unlocking new sections of the town make up a core part of the main gameplay loop.
Exploring the town feels fantastic. I admittedly had a certified games journalist moment with the tutorial on vertical jumps and fumbled my way through the initial movement, but outside of my own clumsiness on controller, the movement in the game feels strong. Walker feels lost and confused, but he gets stronger and more focused as you progress.
Neon in the fog
The map stood out as a winning part of Silver Pines for me. As a big Resident Evil geek, I’m a sucker for a smartly-organized map that tells me when an area is blocked off or when there’s still something important for me to hunt down in the area. The Silver Pines map is stylized and aesthetically pleasing, and it’s intuitive to use.
The camera function strengthens the map’s quality, too. Walker has access to a camera in Silver Pines that can be used to snap pictures of codes, hints, or key locations, which can be tabbed through when looking at the map. It’s a clever feature that makes the player feel more immersed in the role of an investigator.
I was consistently impressed with how tactile everything felt in Silver Pines. Saving, for example, requires finding coins, which you need to place into a payphone, before dialling the number that allows you to save your progress. Walker will then have a few lines of dialogue to report his progress in turn.
Equally, purchasing new items requires finding vending machines, inserting coins, then tapping in the right code. If you want to open a door, you’ll need to find the right key, interact with the door, then interact with the lock itself to see the unlocking animation.
For me, this level of slow, deliberate interaction increased my immersion immensely. Everything felt purposefully designed with pacing and tension-building in mind; unlocking a door isn’t usually stressful, but having to place the key in the lock when there’s a flesh-monster on your tail is a decidedly intense experience.
I don’t see this being appealing to everyone, certainly. Folks who prefer a snappier style of play may find it frustrating to have to line up a key to open every car boot and locked gate. If you enjoy slower survival horror, though, it’ll scratch that itch in your brain.
Another category where Silver Pines excels is visual design. It’s a seriously beautiful game, and I found myself wandering around snapping screenshots for a good portion of my first playthrough.
The game starts off with a gnarly difficulty screen – the harder your difficulty, the bloodier Walker looks – and only shines from there, with swathes of swirling fog, pulsing neon signs, and once-charming posters peeling away from grime-soaked walls. It all feels like a wonderful homage to the games that’ve come before it.
Veterans of the survival horror genre will, undoubtedly, fall in love with Silver Pines. It’s a tantalizing blend of atmospheric horror, dread-inducing monster designs, and cinematic storytelling, and it felt like immense care had been put into every feature, from the inventory system to the combat style. I’d say it’s a strong contender for horror game of the year, so far.
FAQs
Silver Pines was developed by Wych Elm and published by Team17.
Silver Pines is a survival horror Metroidvania with a 2.5D art style.
When played on harder difficulty levels, Silver Pines can be challenging, both with its inventory management requirements and combat. Generally speaking, it’s not an intensely hard game, though, as it feels well-balanced.
Silver Pines is largely a tense and atmospheric game, but there are certainly some scary moments. It’s not as intense as a game like Alien: Isolation, but there are some segments that’ll likely have you hesitant to press on.
