Pine is an open-world action-adventure simulation game developed by Twirlbound and published by Kongregate, Inc. It was first released on PC and Nintendo Switch in October 2019 and will now be available on PlayStation 4.
The game takes place on an island called Albamare and it follows Hue, a brave and isolated young man who lives with his tribe upon a dangerous cliff. After a fatal accident occurs one day that puts everyone in his tribe at risk, Hue decides to find a new place for them to call home somewhere else on the island. However, he wasn’t fully prepared for the dangers that awaited him.
Hue discovers that Albamare isn’t just inhabited by Humans, but also a wide variety of anthropomorphic animals that have evolved and developed their own culture and language. The five main groups who have taken residence in different villages are the Cariblin, Litter, Fexel, Knocker, and Gobbledew. Each species is at constant odds with one another, but the only thing that they can agree on is that Humans cannot be trusted. Naturally, this puts Hue at a major disadvantage.
Fortunately, a neutral group of Tamba help point Hue in the right direction and instruct him to explore three hidden Vaults that are spread out across the island. As Hue investigates these Vaults, he becomes closer to finding his tribe a new home and also uncovering humanity’s past on the island.
In the beginning, the story hits many of the usual plot points we’ve seen in the past, seeming very reminiscent of a game like Wind Waker. However, as the plot continues, I became invested in this dark narrative that it was setting up with Hue finding out more about humanity’s history with the other species on the island and what went wrong through these Vaults.
The different animal species were also very diverse, both in their distinct look and way of life. Hue’s relationship with each of these factions is compelling as well since they’re both using each other to get what they want. The game’s compelling story elements are really what pushed me forward to accomplish many of the more irritating moments in the gameplay.
Speaking of gameplay, be prepared for a challenge because Pine doesn’t pull any punches. The simulation element comes in the form of the alliance and economy system with the five main tribes. While there is no in-game currency, the items and materials that are available around the island can be donated or traded to these groups. By doing so, you will raise your affinity rank with them and allow access to trade rare “ideas” they have available, which are essentially schematics that can be used to craft more items, weapons, and armor.
Keep in mind that while you donate towards one faction, your standing with the other groups will decrease, causing them to become hostile towards you. Another category of ideas are scrolls that can help affect the technological growth of a village or spread a social rumor that forces the other factions to cooperate with each other. After becoming allied with a faction for long enough by donating enough resources or raiding other villages for them, you start to see their presence on the island increase as their patrols and trading routes grow in size.
Pine’s affinity feature is an ambitious and intriguing part of the game, but there’s also a large frustration factor and wasted potential that comes with it as well. For anyone hoping for a passive run by becoming friends with all of the tribes, that simply isn’t possible. The game essentially requires you to choose one faction and be loyal to them until the end, leaving no room to bring tribes together in any way. This becomes problematic later on in the story when you need to build your affinity meter with certain groups to complete a required mission. Some of the missions will even have you sabotage tribes that you just spent a lot of time building your social standing with. Unfortunately, there’s an illusion of control through the simulation gameplay with many societal changes not having very much of an impact in general, taking away that feeling of ownership of the world.
Another issue with the affinity system is that by being friendly to one particular tribe, you become an enemy to four others leaving you with no other option but to defend yourself. Combat is very repetitive and feels sluggish at times with Hue only having the same sword slashes at his disposal. There’s also an unfair amount of difficulty when fighting against members of other tribes as they’re able to hit harder, take more damage, and usually have a few other tribe members to back them up. When you’re not dodging or constantly eating to stay alive, you’re taking small stabs at the enemy to slowly chip away at their health, praying they don’t get an instadeath hit on Hue that leads to a lengthy loading screen. Since the game’s affinity system makes gets you more enemies than friends, these challenging life-or-death encounters occur more than you think.
The exploration is done very well and easy to get immersed in. While venturing into the three Vaults on the island, each one has a series of puzzles using an item that you’ve just acquired. These portions of the game were enjoyable because it felt satisfying to solve them to either continue the story or obtain a new idea. Visually, there’s a beautiful level of detail put on different sections of the island that made journeying across the map pretty exciting, even when it had its rough spots with lighting or loading in textures. This is also accompanied by a very relaxing soundtrack to help you get further engrossed in the game’s vibrant atmosphere.
While’s there a lot that Pine could improve upon, it was still an overall fun experience. The story has a lot of heart to it and its artistic choices in both the characters and world were charming. I would love to see the affinity system and other simulation elements explored further to give more power to the player and the combat should be refined more. If you’re a fan of a short open-world adventure, then it’s definitely worth a try.
7/10
Check Out the Pine Trailer:
For more information, please visit: https://pine-game.com
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PlayStation 4 Review
I've loved playing video games ever since I first played Battletoads on the NES when I was a kid. Since then, I've played a wide variety of games on different systems, including Xbox One, PS4, Switch, and have mostly gravitated towards open-world RPGs and action-adventure games with amazing storylines and character arcs. I'm passionate when comes to writing and interested in working as a narrative designer.
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