Beacon Pines is a beautiful, touching and surprisingly sinister narrative-driven adventure where words really matter as you use them to alter the story of a cute little deer and his friends as a darkness enters their idyllic storybook world.
Billed as “Winnie the Pooh meets Twin Peaks”, Beacon Pines is a narrative-driven adventure that takes place within the pages of a mysterious magical storybook that’s still being written. It follows the adventure of a young deer called Luka, whose father is dead and his mother has gone missing. His grandmother now looks after him and he hangs around with a bubbly and brash best friend called Rolo. The town they live in seems fairly pleasant and peaceful, but Rolo’s heard some rumors about an abandoned warehouse which may turn everything upside-down…
Perhaps just as important a character as Luka in Beacon Pines is the book itself, which talks to you, narrates what’s going on and encourages you to alter the story. As you explore the beautiful hand drawn town of Beacon Pines you can discover hidden “Charm” words that you can use as dialogue choices and actions at pivotal points in the story to dramatically alter how things play out. You can even unlock new Charms in one branch of the story then travel back in time to use the new Charm to unlock a whole other branch of the story. The differences your choices make aren’t superficial either, they can totally alter the story.
The way you can impact the story is very clever, but what’s also impressive about Beacon Pines is how well written the dialogue is and how endearing the characters are. The friendship between Luka and Rolo feels very real and each character you meet is memorable and interesting (like a Coen Brothers’ movie). The story takes some pretty dark twists, but there are also some hilarious moments and by the end of the demo you’ll be dying for more. A touching, inventive and beautiful adventure with a whole lot of heart. Highly recommended.
Check Out The Beacon Pines Kickstarter Page Here (Launches Feb 2nd)
Check Out a Gameplay Video Here
Download The Beacon Pines Kickstarter Demo Here (Steam)