Transcript (en)

Picture a Metroidvania with shades of Alan Wake and a splash of old-school Resident Evil. This is Silver Pines. Silver Pines is a survival horror adventure we play as Red Walker, a private investigator digging into a strange small-town mystery. It's a simple enough premise on its surface, and let's be honest, indie Metroidvanias are a dime a dozen. But it's in the implementation of its mechanics where the silver shines. The standout feature here is Red's camera. Snap a photo of a locked door or an item you can't reach yet, and then you can pin that same picture right onto the map. It's such a unique and oddly refreshing take on the marker system most other games implement. It's very detective-y, a feeling that also translated to a lot of the puzzles in the game. This is layered on top of some heavy survival horror. Ammo is scarce, healing is scarcer, and it felt like we spent most of the game one hit away from a game over. That sounds like a negative, but it really, really worked for this game. Combat is rough, on purpose, and the whole experience forces you to get good at it and think about every move. That said, saving in the game costs your character money, and you don't always know when the next combat scenario will take place. The money-saving mechanic is a cool idea in theory, but gets hard to defend when you've lost 11 minutes to a boss you didn't see coming. In the end, between the noir atmosphere and gorgeous visuals, Silver Pines feels like something genuinely different. Check out the demo for yourself now on Steam and let us know what you think.