#RagdollReviews: Beacon Pines

“This is a story about... change”-narrator

Beacon Pines is a game that has been on my radar since January when I was looking into horror games I could handle (I don’t usually play horror and often refer to myself as a “scaredy cat”). The trailer seemed cute but you could tell that the story would have some mature themes. So with its second anniversary fast approaching, I settled in for an adventure I wasn’t expecting. But first, some context.

Beacon Pines is a cute yet creepy, narrative-driven game released in September 2022. The story follows Luka, a young deer boy, and his friends as they uncover dark secrets about the town where they live and its founder. The game's main component is to look around and interact with things around town to collect charms. Charms are then used at turning points. Using a different charm changes the story, leading to an alternate ending. All endings come together to give you the one true ending, a feat that took me over nine hours to complete.

In my honest opinion, Beacon Pines was not what I expected when I first saw the trailer. First, when I first came across the game, it was categorized as a horror game. That made me skeptical about playing,  considering my aversion to horror games. It could not have been further from that. Touching on topics like loss, abandonment, murder, bullying, and mystery; The story never truly felt scary, feeling more like a murder mystery than anything else. The art style helped lighten the game nicely, with the team opting for cute anthropomorphic animals as citizens in a 2D style. I’d often find myself obsessing over how adorable the main character (or one of his friends) was, only to realize that they were trying to make a life-or-death choice. All of these things made the game unexpected and fun to play. I’d find that when I wasn’t playing, I’d make theories, and try solving the case. I’d have to sit back down at my PC to play more and figure out if my guesses were correct.

Controls were not difficult. Use the A, W, S, and D keys to traverse around the world, and then use the space key to interact with items that help you collect charms. The soundtrack could play cozy Lofi music for one minute, just for a change of scenery to throw you into the thralls of a spooky suspenseful beat. Always having the right tune for the right moment. Now, while most of the characters talk in a language that resembles the gibberish that comes from the villagers in Animal Crossing, the narrator left me feeling like I was listening to an audiobook. She was masterfully articulate, and her voice came out soft and smooth yet she still let her emotions come through so I felt how she was feeling.

At the end of it all, Beacon Pines was a pleasant surprise and was super refreshing. A surprise that was: a deep, dark, and cozy narrative wrapped in an adorable art style. If you are looking for a chill game that's not a farming sim, you should check out Beacon Pines!

Rating: 8.3/10

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