It’s not often that you get to describe a game as Lynchian, and it is always a treat when you can. Hiding Spot Game’s Beacon Pines is the very definition of Lynchian.
Beacon Pines is about small-town America and the unexpected secrets it hides, wrapped in the kind of storybook visuals you would expect to find in your average cosy game. It’s Don Bluth meets David Lynch – Blue Velvet, by way of the Secret of NIMH.
The result is possibly one of the most engaging adventure games in recent memory (and with a new Monkey Island out, that is high praise indeed)
You play as Luka, a 12-year-old orphaned deer who lives with his distant yet kind grandmother in the sleepy midwestern town of Beacon Pines. As autumn approaches, preparations are underway for the annual harvest festival, sponsored by the slightly shady Perennial Harvest Company that has recently moved into the town.
But under this veneer of quiet, mid-western life hides something much more sinister just under the surface.
After Luca breaks into a seemingly abandoned factory with his best friend Rolo, the teens’ lives are turned upside down as they stumble upon truths that those in charge of the town will do anything to keep hidden.
Though the best thing about Beacon Pines is how it handles its narrative, a literal storybook, Beacon Pines is a tale without a satisfying conclusion, and the narrator needs your help to figure out how it ends.
You do this by picking the right words to finish sentences. The game calls these charms, and they are found all over town.
You progress through the story by finding new charms. You can keep track of which ones you’ve used by looking at the Chronicle, a story tree that shows all the paths and dead ends various combinations of charms lead to.
Although the charms you use may seem inconsequential at the time, they can have far-reaching effects and lead to characters going missing, dying, or the story ending.
When this happens, the narrator offers some advice, and you can go back and try again. Though this sounds repetitive, each of Beacon Pines many endings feels unique. Some are grim, others are heartwarming, and others are funny, but you will want to see all of them on your road to unlocking the true ending.
Accompanying this is a soundtrack that drives the game’s emotional core and perfectly complements the action on screen.
If you’re looking for a decent adventure that doesn’t outstay its welcome, with strong art direction and a gripping plot full of well-drawn characters, you should take a trip to Beacon Pines.