A small town swallowed by fog. A detective hazy and sluggish. Strangers mysterious and intriguing. Silver Pines pulls together influences from the pantheon of neo-noir, survival horror, and surrealist movies to create a story that feels claustrophobic yet beautiful. You play as a detective who has been hired to track down a musician called Eddie Velvet, someone who may be responsible for a missing woman. From the moment you wake up in a diner, the 90’s-inspired setting feels like Twin Peaks meets Alan Wake, and it’s remarkable.
Exploring Silver Pines sees you walking into general stores, motels, and intricate sewers networks, trying to find any clues as to Velvet’s whereabouts. Everyone apart from a handful of people have left due to an incoming storm. It’s eerie and unsettling, yet you can’t help but love the aesthetic. Rotoscoped animations and a superb use of lighting gives the town a fascinating atmosphere. A limited use of colour also makes the town somehow more vibrant, akin to how Silent Hill: Townfall built such an impressive atmosphere in a similar way.
You have very little at your disposal, made even trickier by inventory management issues. A rusty knife will break quickly, or a pistol with limited ammo runs out at the worst time. At first, the threats aren’t clear, but you soon encounter shadowy creatures that lunge at you with such force it can be easier to simply dodge past them. One of the few issues with Silver Pines is the movement. Dodging has to be calculated perfectly or you’ll run into an enemy’s attack, with boss battles becoming even more frustrating as a result.
Silver Pines is also made up of puzzles; think Resident Evil at its most layered. Most times, clues are few and far between, requiring you to look everywhere for the answer. Again, the inventory management plays into where you keep your items of interest. It’s a challenge in itself, but fans of older survival horrors will understand the curse of limited space. Between some tough puzzles and hard combat, Silver Pines poses many difficult moments, but perseverance is rewarded by the intrigue and depth of the story.
For anyone who loves David Lynch – specifically Twin Peaks – the references are in plain sight. Wych Elm Games has taken the best of the weird and wonderful, with even games like Disco Elysium coming to mind while playing. It’s macabre arthouse cinema, with old school horror making up most of the gameplay. Trying to shoot while standing still at an approaching enemy is reminiscent of the tank controls of old. It may be frustrating for some, but it makes more sense when you’re not playing as someone who has tons of combat training.
Silver Pines is a fascinating exploration of small town America and neo-noir detective drama. It can be frequently challenging and occasionally frustrating given the awkward dodging, but finding that all-important clue and progressing the story is more than enough of a reason to keep playing. You’ll return to old areas with ways to open locked doors a la Metroidvania titles, all while being taken in by the stunning art style that never gets dull. Being a detective isn’t easy, and in Silver Pines you’re pushed to the limit.