Silver Pines, developed by Wych Elm and published by Team17, combines the survival horror of classic Resident Evil games with Metroidvania exploration and a generous helping of Twin Peaks. After spending some time with the game on our PS5 Pro, we can safely say that this is an unusual but highly atmospheric and memorable game, wrapped in a beautiful visual style that pulls us into its world and refuses to let go.
A Town With Too Many Secrets
We play as Red Walker, a private investigator searching for a missing musician named Eddie Velvet. His investigation takes him to Silver Pines, a remote town where most of the residents have disappeared and those who remain aren’t particularly eager to explain what’s happening. With occasional assistance from his mysterious employer, Mr. Jackman, Walker uncovers a disturbing history involving the town and its inhabitants.
The story has a strong David Lynch influence, particularly in its strange conversations, unsettling imagery and characters who seem to know considerably more than they’re willing to share. We piece together the mystery through documents, environmental clues and conversations. Slowly but surely, we learn more about Eddie’s disappearance and the events that turned Silver Pines into such a miserable place to live.
Exploring Every Suspicious Corner
Silver Pines is presented as a 2.5D side-scrolling adventure, but it has interconnected environments and exploration mechanics that belong to a traditional Metroidvania. In this wonderfully nostalgic town, we navigate abandoned apartments, shops, streets and underground passages, searching for useful equipment and ways to access previously inaccessible locations. A box cutter, for example, can remove plastic barriers, while a crowbar can break wooden obstructions or, even better, serve as a melee weapon. Every time our collection of tools expanded, so did the areas available for exploration.
There’s plenty of backtracking, which we’re not big fans of when it’s handled poorly. Here, however, we can keep track of locked doors and unexplored passages. Walker also carries a camera that allows us to photograph suspicious objects and attach those photographs to the map, a feature similar to one we’ve seen in Prince of Persia. It’s a particularly useful addition because puzzles often require us to remember something discovered several locations earlier. Speaking of puzzles, expect locked safes, hidden combinations, environmental riddles and plenty of objects whose purpose isn’t immediately obvious. We can’t remember the last time we had this much fun exploring, and we got a ton of satisfaction from revisiting older locations and discovering hidden rooms or valuable supplies. But not everything revolves around exploration and puzzles. Sooner or later, things start crawling out of the dark.
A Fight for Survival
In Silver Pines, combat is built around limited ammunition, melee weapons and careful stamina management. We can attack enemies with knives, crowbars and firearms, although melee attacks and dodging consume stamina, while certain weapons deteriorate over time and require repairs. Firearms also have an unusual manual reloading mechanic, making the simple act of preparing another round more complicated when some horrible creature is approaching. Of course, stronger weapons become available as we progress, and along the way, collectible Mementos provide bonuses to abilities such as stamina, healing and reloading.
We really appreciated the weight of melee attacks and the constant need to conserve ammunition, but there were times when we almost screamed out loud in frustration during some of the awkward enemy encounters and particularly troublesome boss fights. Bosses can be tough, and things get even worse if you don’t have enough healing supplies before an encounter. The game’s limited saving opportunities can make these situations doubly frustrating. But hey, there’s an easier difficulty mode that can make things a lot more manageable. At one point, after dying to the same boss for the second time, we gladly switched to that option.
Inventory management screams old-school survival horror. Be prepared to deal with limited space. With larger items occupying multiple slots, there’s a constant need to rearrange our belongings or leave equipment in storage containers. We can also purchase supplies from vending machines, provided we’ve collected enough money. Saving requires finding a payphone and spending a coin to contact Mr. Jackman, which means that dying can cost us a considerable amount of progress. If you remember the typewriters and ink ribbons from older Resident Evil games, and if the mere thought of them makes your mouth water, then you should feel right at home. We, however, really wanted a more forgiving checkpoint system.
Beautifully Uncomfortable
The presentation in Silver Pines is all about hand-drawn environments, rotoscoped character animations and carefully arranged lighting. The devs have really outdone themselves and created a beautifully disturbing world. Much of the scenery relies on subdued colours, occasionally interrupted by striking reds and other stronger tones. Buildings are filled with small environmental details that we often stopped to gawk at, while the layered backgrounds create an impressive sense of depth, occasionally tricking us into forgetting about the side-scrolling perspective.
The soundtrack is equally unusual, combining atmospheric compositions, unsettling ambient effects and occasional jazz music. We felt that the atmosphere relies more on psychological discomfort and curiosity than constant jump scares, while the music during some quieter moments was surprisingly zen-like and refreshingly relaxing.
A Strange Place Worth Visiting
We wholeheartedly recommend Silver Pines to both old-school survival horror fans and gamers new to the genre. It’s an amazing game and one of the best titles we’ve played in anticipation of Halloween, drawing us in with its wonderfully eerie environments and challenging puzzles. We found it easy to brush aside the occasional frustration caused by combat and limited saving opportunities, thanks to the unusual setting, distinctive presentation and intriguing mystery. We certainly wouldn’t want to live in Silver Pines, but we’d gladly come back for another visit, with enough ammo and a few extra coins, of course.
Our score: 9/10
- Developer: Wych Elm
- Publisher: Team17
- Release date: October 8, 2026
- Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2
- Genre: Survival horror, Metroidvania, mystery
- Modes: Single-player
- Estimated playtime: 10–15 hours
- Price: $24.99 / €24.99 / £21.99
Leave a Reply