Something is rotten in the town of Beacon Pines, and it's up to Luka and his friends to find the source. This is a branching narrative adventure developed by Hiding Spot Games and published by Fellow Traveller, the same publisher behind other narrative focused games like Citizen Sleeper and Genesis Noir. It follows Luka, a young man whose father died and mother disappeared shortly before the start of the game, as he and his friends Rolo and Beck unravel the mystery behind Beacon Pines' old warehouse and the wider, more bizarre conspiracy surrounding it. Despite its cute characters and aesthetics, Beacon Pines has an equally dark and heartwarming story to tell through interesting characters and clever gameplay systems.
Hiding Spot Games describes Beacon Pines as "Winnie-the-Pooh meets Twin Peaks," leaning into this further by having the story unfold within the pages of a fantastical storybook. Players take on the roles of both Luka and the narrator, as they explore the unfolding narrative together until a point is reached where they must make an important choice. Unlike many other games in this genre, Beacon Pines doesn't allow players to pick from a list of responses, rather it makes players pick a single word like a high stakes game of Mad Libs. What's more, Hiding Spot Games came up with a clever idea that ties the choice system, narrative branches, and game world together in an inseparable way: charms.
In Beacon Pines, charms are like merit badges that represent the various words that will be available in certain scenarios, along with illustrations to clarify the precise emotion attached to the word. When the time to make an impactful decision arises, players are provided with two or three options that fit the given scenario. The choices made will create "branches," which are depicted in the book as an illustrated tree with flowers that represent the moment a choice is made. What makes the charms so clever is that they can only be obtained by exploring Beacon Pines and interacting with everyone that lives in it. This design choice encourages players to explore the semi-open world and learn where everything is, as there is no map, as well as truly get to know all the townspeople and their rich personalities.
Branches also play into Beacon Pines' interconnecting systems, as the branch menu can be viewed at any time and some charms can only be found within the multiple stories and endings the branches create. When exploring the flowers that represent the player's choices, it will display the charms that were used and a check mark that signifies it was used to its fullest potential; however, acquiring a new charm will add it to one of the flowers. Since players can interact with branches at any time, they can then go back to that flower and make a new choice to explore where it leads.
While there are technically multiple endings, as each branch has one and should be reached to get the full context of the story, most end in disaster. The game acknowledges that those branches "can't possibly be the end of the story," thus making players go back to make different choices. This decision opens the door to valid critiques of the choice system and if the choices actually matter, similar to Assassin's Creed Valhalla since there's one true ending, but it's important to keep in mind that this isn't a game about players forging their own stories. Rather, it's about exploring the history of Beacon Pines, both its past and possible futures, to fully unravel the conspiracy threatening the town.
Readers may notice the lack of story details in this review, and it's for good reason. The risk of spoiling parts of the story is high because it takes twists and turns the moment it begins, and the best to experience this story is going in completely blind. Overall, Beacon Pines is a fantastic game with clever systems that enrich its characters, world, and masterful storytelling. With a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass, this is a must-play for fans of narrative-focused games and leaves one excited about what Hiding Spot Games will make next.
Beacon Pines releases September 22 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox Game Pass, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Screen Rant was provided with a Nintendo Switch download for the purpose of this review.