Beacon Pines

[Craymen Edge]

I played this on game pass, having tried the demo during one of those Steam events and liking it. 

 

Beacon Pines is a cutesy storybook adventure with darker undertones. The big conceit is you find "charms" through talking to characters, looking at things in the environment or overhearing other characters etc. At certain points in the story you're presented with the option of choosing from 2-3 of these charms to decide what action take in that situation. The story branches off according to the choice you make, you might die a grizzly death or head off on a completely different version of the story. You can go back to any of these branches and try the other options, sometimes you'll find another charm down one branch that lets you make a different choice in an earlier decision.

 

The branching thing is more superficial in the end than how the game initially presents it to you, you end up exploring most of the decisions on the way to getting the ending anyway, but it's fun and engaging.  

 

It's about 5 hours or so in length, which is just right. It doesn't overstay it's welcome. The presentation and art style are top notch.

 

 

[Maf]

I played the first hour a couple of nights ago. Up to the point the 2 characters investigate the factory and then run away.

 

I don’t hate it, but I definitely don’t like it. So far it’s basically a visual novel with incredibly light interactivity.

 

But I read somewhere else it’s only 4-5 hours which is good. The points also seem to be 100g a pop so should be pretty easy on that front too.

But as of now I’ll be playing it as a lazy, switch brain off, after work game. Not because I I’m really that in to it