Silver Pines Horror Preview — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:02] interesting and unique ideas for video games still manage to pop out even as we've got literally thousands coming out every year. Now, if you haven't heard of Silver Pines yet, it's a pixelated 2D survival horror that answers the

[00:15] question, "What might Alan Wakeake be like if it were made for the PS1 in the '90s?" And it's something I didn't realize I needed in my life until now. >> Where am I? >> You didn't see the sign? After playing

[00:27] the first hour of this creepy, stressful demon love child of Silent Hill in The Secret of Monkey Island, I was completely pulled in by the strange and unsettling story, the deceptively beautiful pixel art, and the eerie

[00:40] sounds and music that made each new darkened hallway that much harder to explore. >> Hello, is anyone here? it remains to be seen if they'll be able

[00:52] to continue the momentum after a very strong opening stretch. Either way, this is already quite easily one of the most stylish and unique games of 2026.

[01:05] find Eddie Velvet? >> Eddie Velvet? I I just got here. >> Silver Pines feels like an episode of the X Files or Twin Peaks stuffed into the retro shirt of a point-and-click puzzle game from the '90s. And developer

[01:20] Witch Elm Games isn't shy about where it draws its inspiration. school era of the original Resident Evil or Silent Hill, you'll probably feel

[01:32] right at home in this survival horror that's equal parts fleeing from creepy monsters, gathering and rationing supplies to keep yourself alive, and fighting unspeakable horrors when all else fails. In one section, I

[01:44] investigated a derelict motel filled with massive bugs and shadowy humanoids while trying to track down a missing musician. temporary madness as the lines blurred between reality, and I found myself

[01:59] phasing into times and places I couldn't possibly have been present for. I'm dreaming. >> This is one of those slow, creeping mysteries you'll solve through the eyes of an unreliable narrator whose survival

[02:12] seems increasingly unlikely, even if the immediate horrors before you don't get their way. When you aren't slowly being driven to light puzzles that have you searching for circuit breakers to turn on the

[02:26] power, use various keys and cards to access new areas, and even play a carnival game to win the prize of a key you need to pass through the motel gate. Well, that's a pretty weird security system, but okay.

[02:44] work through while looking over your shoulder for whatever is making that sickening groaning noise. But they do a good job at making even simple tasks very panicinducing, as I

[02:57] fumbled the wrong button and opened my inventory instead of sprinting away because some ghastly figure snuck up on me when I had my guard down.

[03:13] that something very spooky is bound to happen any moment now reminds me a whole lot of the early Resident Evil games that Silver Pines is clearly going for, that Silver Pines is clearly going for, which is of course a very good sign.

[03:30] to the stress of surviving its levels is with its intentionally slow and imprecise combat. You'll swing at things with a box cutter and shoot firearms with the extremely limited ammo you're able to scrouch up.

[03:43] But enemies are often times faster than you. You've got some pretty beefy cooldowns between things like swinging your melee weapon. Reloading takes way longer than you'd like, and your character is a total wimp who gets

[03:55] pulled over by almost any attack. Sometimes this can be a bit frustrating, you sometimes feel like you've got no shot of out running some of the creepy caterpillar corpse things attacks or when you just can't seem to find the

[04:08] time to repair your melee weapon with duct tape before the bug chasing you gets another hit in. But it's the kind of good frustrating that something like Silver Pines just wouldn't be the same without.

[04:29] legitimate concern about the lack of enemy variety, as aside from the intro boss fight, I only encountered two types of enemies in my time with this demo. In and I fully expect that there will be more baddies to fend off. But it's worth

[04:42] shouting out that this wasn't showcased very well in the opening area. And between the two enemies I saw, humanoids and bugs, they both had extremely predictable movement patterns and a single attack that made them fairly easy

[04:54] to deal with once I encountered them a few times. I'll reserve judgment until I've had a chance to play a section a bit farther along in the game, but bit farther along in the game, but definitely something to keep an eye on.

[05:09] horror game if you weren't spending most of your time obsessing over a distinct levels. and Silver Pines is no exception. A lot of the tension comes from the fact that you've got precious few resources

[05:22] at your disposal. Ammo for your guns is hard to come by. Melee weapons have to be repaired with a roll of duct tape after just a few hits, items to repair injuries that make your character even slower.

[05:39] vending machine stocked with valuable items that can be bought with a spare change you find lying around. But horrifyingly, this money is also used to horrifyingly, this money is also used to save the game.

[05:54] form, you'll have to use your precious few coins just to save your progress, that's already pretty chalk full of dread. This means that most of the time the best solution is to run away if at all possible, conserving what resources

[06:08] you have by avoiding combat like the plague. that lets you pass through enemies and obstacles to keep you moving along. Plus, you can usually sprint away from enemies if you time it right, but you've

[06:21] also got to worry about an extremely short stamina meter to contend with, which leaves you pretty defenseless once depleted. Yet another resource you'll find yourself in short supply of as the waking nightmares close in on you. I

[06:33] mean, that's just some classic survival horror stuff right there. horror stuff right there. >> What is happening here? >> But the main attraction with Silver Pines, so far as I'm concerned, is that

[06:46] Pines, so far as I'm concerned, is that the whole thing is just so dang stylish. Pixelated art is surprisingly fluid and expressive. >> I feel so much better now. The voice acting is off-putting and eerie, and

[06:59] every part of the small town you find yourself in is just so ominous and filled with little hairraising details all over. It's utterly lynchy and stuff if I ever saw it. And despite so much of my time in this ghastly backwater being

[07:13] time in. >> Everything about this place feels wrong. Eddie has stayed here. I've only gotten a taste of this harrowing and unique indie game, but what I played made me really eager to return and dive deeper

[07:28] into the muck of madness. It'll be the kind of moment that lasts forever. small sampling when it comes out later this year. For more, check out our recent previews of Star Wars Zero

[07:42] Company or Oni Musha Way of the Sword. And for everything else, stick with IGN.