Silver Pines Review

Within the modern survival horror genre, there are plenty of indie curiosities trying to capture the foreboding essence and slow-building dread of the classics, such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill. 2024’s Crow Country from SFB games, and 2022’s Signalis from Rose Engine, are two shining indie survival horror examples that successfully borrowed the methodically woven fusion of fear-inducing action, inventory and item management systems, as well as the sophisticated puzzles from their esteemed forbears. Wych Elm Games’ Silver Pines is the latest indie survival horror to pay homage to the trailblazers, and for all intents and purposes does a convincing job of replicating the formula.

Awakening in a diner, private investigator Red Walker finds himself needing to answer a telephone call, so he recovers his inhibitions before grabbing his car keys and the diner entrance key, optionally stopping for a fresh brew, before making his way outside to take the call. While on the phone to his superior, we discover Red Walker is on the hunt for a musician named Eddie Velvet, who is believed to be connected to a case involving a missing girl. However, Walker’s job turns into both a psychological examination of his own mind paved out in the desolate and grisly environment surrounding him. 

Silver Pines doesn’t unleash payloads of exposition at you, deciding instead to drip feed you along the way with various letters, posters, and notes filling you in on the dire ominous straits this modest little town has fallen into. The mystery and intrigue covering Walker’s descent is designed convincingly to steadily smother you in its slow-building dread, making you constantly feel like you’re isolated and on your own, despite encounters with a few locals along the way. As such, Silver Pines does a great job of positioning you into its particularly discomforting atmosphere, one you’ll want to dig into the unpleasant bowels of, even if you’ll dread doing so along the way. 

Created with a sleek 2.5D presentation, you proceed in Silver Pines along left-to-right plains, interacting with objects and literature in the environment to progress towards your goal. Walker starts out by taking basic items with him from the boot of his car, including a polaroid camera to snap areas of interest, which is useful when memorizing key locations and recalling locked doors to revisit once you’ve found the correct key. Gradually, Walker will find healing items like soda cans and herbs to patch himself up, a trusty knife to cut open otherwise inaccessible clothed paths, and uncover passcodes and combination locks that reveal new weapons and story-related locations. 

Telephones are placed sporadically so you can manually save by entering a five digit code. Much like the save rooms in Resident Evil games, you’ll certainly be relieved when you find them. Just ensure you gather up enough coins and save as regularly as you need to, or you’ll be pinged back to a far earlier portion of the game-and you really wouldn’t want to relive the dread again, would you? Actually, you would, because Silver Pines is an indulgent indie horror to be embraced, but traipsing through and retracing the movements you’ve already made is certainly inconvenient.

Much like the dreary atmosphere and methodically sparse storytelling, Walker’s restricted physical abilities and movement speed only adds to everything else in this inspired, viscous indie cocktail. Walker is adept at (you guessed it) walking, opening gates, manually tapping keys on keypads, and kneeling through holes in walls. He isn’t a fast, nimble and agile type, but he does somehow possess the body strength to force himself onto raised platforms, but you’ll need to be in the right position and tap the required face button for him to reach his arms up and pull himself onto them.

Sometimes the 2.5D design can be a little bit irritable, like when you attempt to navigate any rooms with stairs in them. There is a white stair icon you can use so Walker can make his way up them, but if you’re in the heat of the moment dealing with a monster, the last thing you’ll want to fiddle with are the controls. You may intend to head up the staircase, but instead waltz into the other side of the room where monsters are awaiting, so you best get familiar with the room-to-room navigation. 

The monstrosities in Silver Pines are an inscrutable lot, though they’ve a tendency to lunge at Walker. You will need to time dodges to avoid a nasty booboo. The warped and twisted malevolence are a physical representation of Walker’s psychological state, and considering the bosses you’ll come up against, his grey matter is in all kinds of bedlam. The lugubrious fiends Walker fights off are dark, mangled and malicious in intent, some of which carry heavy weapons, while others strike unpredictably. This set of beasts might air on the side of cliche when you look at them, but the way they’re visually represented is definitely outstanding and keeps you positing about what evils lurk as you progress through the shrouds. 

The neo-noir stylings of Silver Pines is what truly separates it from other similar titles. The game is simply marvellous and evocative to gaze at, whether during cutscenes and character interactions, or during gameplay. The muted colour palette blends stunningly with the painterly reds and dark hues. It truly captures an essence that isn’t quite comic-like, but evokes the textured panache of games like The Last Window: The Secret of Cape West on the Nintendo DS. The character pictures during dialogue are painterly and eerie, sometimes just as disturbing as the monsters Walker encounters. The fact that portraits change in accordance with facial expressions are kinda creepy.

The sound design in Silver Pines is low-key and distinct. Dialogue natterings are very telling, as Walker’s gaspy utterances give off a sense of desperation coherent with the unshakable horror pervading throughout the experience. While strangers can sometimes behave a bit too relaxed, like the cowboy bartender at The Rabbit Hole, his job is likely why he’s a livelier type who juxtaposes Walker’s more distressed mindset.

The fusion of Silver Pines’ many elements is what allows it to stand out among the horde of alternative survival horror games. This spangling new neo-noir survival horror brings many of the genre’s strongest traits into the fold, and mixes them in with refined Metroidvania aspects and layered environmental storytelling, along with action and presentation that seamlessly moulds its familiar-yet-hauntingly distinctive aura. Not only does Silver Pines meticulously weave its Resi and Silent Hill inspirations with the utmost deftness, but the mood and twisted elements within the monsters and the general presentation really do an impressive job of soaking you into its brand of horror. What this means then is you should definitely not let Silver Pines pass you because it’s one of the best examples of its kind around, and you shouldn’t miss the chance to submerge yourself.