Beacon Pines
Beacon Pines is a cute and creepy adventure set within a mysterious book. Sneak out late, make new friends, uncover hidden truths, and collect words that will change the course of fate!
Beacon Pines is a visual novel, story rich and emotional game
developed by Hiding Spot
and published by Fellow Traveller.
Released on September 22nd 2022 is available in English only on Windows.
It has received 3,121 reviews of which 3,051 were positive and 70 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.4 out of 10. 😍
The game is currently priced at 7.80€ on Steam and has a 60% discount.
The Steam community has classified Beacon Pines into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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Requirements
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Windows
- OS *: Windows 7
- Processor: 1.8GHz+
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: 1GB
- Storage: 500 MB available space
Reviews
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
A bizarre, intriguing story told in a compelling way. The voice acting was very good and the characterisation was even better. Ultimately it's a linear story, despite the appearance of being branched, but that didn't really detract from the storytelling. Personally I loved practically all of the characters; they were all very well-written, with their own motivations, strengths and flaws, and through the various branches of the story we explore their relationships from multiple angles. 10/10 would recommend to anyone.
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This game not only has a beautiful art style, but a wonderfully crafted and emotional story. This was my first experience playing a game on steam and I couldn't have been happier with it. It was easy to play while still delivering the level of story telling and beauty I desire in my gaming. 10/10
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Beacon Pines is an adorable and often touching game about change. Good or bad, everything changes. Luka is a 12 year old boy living with his Gran who moved in recently after his mother disappeared (and his father passed away 6 years ago). The story follows him uncovering secrets that the small town of Beacon Pines has hidden for years along with his friends while dealing with a lot of the difficulty that comes with growing up. I'd liken it to Stranger Things most directly while competently doing it's own thing. It was a fun plot to explore and unravel, though I'd argue it's made more effective by the characters themselves being so strong than a truly mind-bending mystery. But that's perfectly fine, I'd prefer simple but entirely enjoyable than something obliquely convoluted. The game is, for all intents and purposes, a visual novel with a tasty shell of gameplay overlayed on top. You read (or listen to) the story, reach branches where different outcomes can occur, hit different "endings" and make choices that change the direction of the story. What made this a bit more enjoyable for me, is that the gameplay was much more involved than most VNs that are simply clicking through text. You have lush and beautiful environments to run around with Luka, people to talk to and goals to reach. Sure, most of that is simply running around and hitting interact before the next story beat but you'd be surprised how much limited agency helps you stay invested and connected to the story. Run around, find new charms (keywords to use at story moments) and move the story along. The actual prose is nice but what makes it sing is the voice acting. There is only one voice actor in the entire game, reading the narrative descriptions and making asides on her own. And boy, does she put in an amazing performance. Absolutely wonderful job that imbues the lines with such nuanced and varied delivery for complicated emotions and maintaining appropriate mood. I can't praise the voice actress enough, she carries this game on her back. None of the characters speak but it doesn't detract at all from the game since the VA is always there to follow up and move things in the proper direction. The other two standouts are the music and art. The music was a nice surprise. I was only expecting some background nicety, maybe a nice tune here or there but the soundtrack has some phenomenal piano work and I found myself noticing it again and again because I'd hear some measure that just hit really well. The art is stunning, just gorgeous in its backgrounds and characters. Lush coloration and cute designs. Really gave you a lot of great characters and environments to look at in what is mostly a game told through dialogue and narration. Amusingly, my favorite art was actually the little 'pencil' illustrations at each decision point in the menu as it resembled the normal character art but...sharper and more active. My only complaint (and it's not actually a complaint but something that I can see bothering others) is that the actual character models are of the 2D paper on a limited skeleton variety that some games do nowadays. I know a lot of people don't care for this as it often looks cheap or like a mobile game, but the actual art of the models is great and you can only really tell when they're moving or need to adopt a position that is difficult for the skeleton to do. That said, they also did a number of clever tricks with regard to staging so that it hid the model's limitations in certain scenes. Again, I think it looked fine and wasn't out of place, but it might bother some. I enjoyed my time with this game, played it over the course of two days. Easily recommend for a fun narrative experience that doesn't overstay it's welcome, filled with heart and beautiful art.
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This is a super cute game, but looks can be deceiving. There's a mature, ominous story mixed in with the cuteness. And it's a worthwhile story to dig into. This is a branching game, so be prepared to play parts of it multiple times if you want to get a "good" ending. That gets grindy, but I stuck with it and was rewarded with a satisfying Epilogue. If you can spare the money, then Beacon Pines is worth its full price. If you wait for a sale, like I did, then it's DEFINITELY worth a purchase. I recommend it.
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Alright. Beacon Pines is done and dusted. Curiously, this is the second visual novel I’ve played in a row that incorporates breaking the fourth wall into its story, which has been a successful aspect of both games (the other being Paranormasight). https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3135381574 Beacon Pines is a visual novel. However, the author doesn’t really know how the story is going to unfold, so she asks you, the player, for advice in how this will happen, and together, you work through many permutations seeking an acceptable ending to the story. Which is a mystery novel wherein three kids end up working together to solve a missing persons case, a murder, and a conspiracy that could kill or enslave everybody in the sleepy town of Beacon Pines. Instead of humans, all the characters are anthropomorphic animals, but for all intents and purposes, they’re people. And everything about the game is crafted with eye towards cuteness and whimsy. Except the story itself, which does carry those aspects, but, as mentioned before, also features a more sinister plot. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3135381935 In fact, this is one of the most pleasant looking games you’ll ever play. Its truly charming artstyle is disarming. The author (narrator) is voiced. All the characters also have unique voices, but instead of words, they speak in gibberish. With real word subtitles. It was really a perfect way to approach things. As far as gameplay goes, you’ll explore Beacon Pines and some areas just outside the town. Most of the game is dialogue driven. However, you’ll find encounter cues throughout the game that can be used to alter the direction of the story, and key events are illustrated on a story tree with branching paths based on the encounter cues you select. Typically, each key event has two or three cue options, with consequences and story progression based on the specific cue chosen, which includes several death scenes (not graphic deaths though). You can access the story tree at any point to try out new cues as you find them. Oh…and the main character can either walk or hop around as you travel about and explore. Hopping was somehow incredibly satisfying, lol. Beacon Pines is fully Steam Deck compatible and you’ll get between 2 and 2 1/2 hours of gameplay on a full battery. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3135381708 Anyway, it took me right at five hours to 100% this game. Almost everything can be uncovered by simply doing everything available to you in each story branch. I played into the 100% organically with no issues. I thought this was a truly captivating and charming experience with a splash of sinister that was well worth the cost of entry. I can easily recommend this game. If you found this review helpful and would be interested in supporting my Curator group, Robilar's Reviews, it would be appreciated. Cheers. https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32549618/ Also follow IndieGems for more reviews like this one. https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/
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Last Updates
| Steam data | 20 November 2024 06:10 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 23 December 2024 22:42 |
| Steam price | 23 December 2024 20:25 |
| Steam reviews | 24 December 2024 00:05 |
Online players
20
Developer
Hiding Spot
Publisher
Fellow Traveller
Release
22 Sep 2022
Platforms
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