Silver Pines Preview
Silver Pines is a 2.5D metroidvania deeply inspired by survival horror classics of the 90’s like Silent Hill and Resident Evil, which sounds like a dream combination and it mostly is.
After getting to spend about an hour with Silver Pines, it’s a very unique concept that has me excited for the whole experience because it perfectly translates the genre experience to a new perspective, but there are some issues that hamper the immersion, which is foundational to survival horror. Hopefully, these can get ironed out before full release on October 8 if Silver Pines really wants to execute on its excellent vision.
SILVER PINES PREVIEW
You play as Red Walker, a private investigator who awakens in an empty diner in the middle of Silver Pines, a remote town very reminiscent of Silent Hill complete with a foreboding atmosphere. Silver Pines follows the same blueprint as any classic survival horror, which is already very metroidvania in design as there is something locked or blocking your path and you’ll need to figure out how to solve it or the find the item needed to progress. Following the blueprint of games like Silent Hill or Resident Evil, you will find yourself backtracking or scouring areas looking for clues and items needed. When you use the item, it’s also smartly removed from your inventory.
Awake in the diner, you need to find a way to escape. You enter one of the backrooms of the diner, which is done seamlessly as the game transitions you from background to foreground and vice versa. After rummaging around, you hear an emergency broadcast informing you of the recent town evacuation, but you also discover the key needed to get out of the diner.
As soon as you step foot outside the diner, the payphone out front begins to ring. On the other end is a mysterious voice asking if you’ve found Eddie Velvet yet, who was last seen at the dilapidated Silver Pines Motel. After ending the call, you realize that this payphone is how you save in Silver Pines, which works just like Resident Evil, except instead of a typewriter and ink ribbon, you’ll need to find a payphone and change. A nice tribute, while also being unique on its own because other things in the game also require money, which is the first glimpse of how Silver Pines will be focused on resource management.
Parked out front of the diner, is your car, you search the trunk and find an instant camera, which is incorporated into the game in a very similar way to how Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown handled map management. When you get to a place on the map that you think offers something important or is currently locked, you pull out your polaroid, take a picture and it will immediately be added to your map. This feature seemed like a game changer when Ubisoft implemented it a few years ago and it’s great to see other developers incorporate it into their games, which Silver Pines has done in their own unique way.
In the short amount of time I spent with Silver Pines I made my way through some sewers, down to the docks, to the general store and began investigating the Silver Pines Motel. I also found a box cutter, which not only opened up new areas to explore, but also provided my character with a way to defend himself. However, just like the inspirations, you don’t always have to fight as you can duck and crouch past enemies quickly if you time it right.
CRITICISMS
All of the shortcomings of Silver Pines funnel towards the same problem: Immersion, which is one of the most important factors in survival horror. One of the first issues you encounter is how stiff the vocal performances are, as they are missing conversational tone and believability, mostly from the protagonist. The timing of these performances is slightly off as well, which breaks immersion, like when Red reacts a few minutes late to a life threatening situation.
The animations in the game feel a little clunky and lack fluidity. The major area where animations could be improved is with the combat of the game, which lacks impact and weight. There are a variety of ways this could be improved with some better visual and sound effects or even slow it down to make it feel more methodical, thus giving it more weight.
Playing on controller also doesn’t feel intuitive and even some of the essential controls like taking a polaroid picture wasn’t even mapped to an input. I went to the settings and mapped it to an input that hadn’t been used yet, only to realize that when the game wanted to me to crouch, I had stolen the input needed to crouch. Controls should feel intuitive, but at the very least players shouldn’t be forced to map essential controls.
Conclusion
I thoroughly enjoyed the combination of metroidvania paired with classic survival horror. The concept and the atmosphere of Silver Pines was great, as it often left me with more questions than answers. What’s going on in this town? Who was that man on the phone and why don’t I remember anything?
Immersion is an essential requirement and can be found at the base of the house of cards that is survival horror. As good as everything else can be, if immersion isn’t there, the house of cards often comes tumbling down. Currently, immersion is an issue and hopefully these issues can be improved by release on October 8 because it would be a shame to waste this much potential. The good news is most of them don’t seem like catastrophic issues and the rest of the experience is highly promising.
If you’re interested in Silver Pines, you can find it on our list featuring the Top 12 Horror Games coming in 2026 linked below. Check out the video and let me know in the comments the horror game of 2026 you’re looking forward to the most.
