That is an IGN opinion piece from Tristan Ogilvie, who performs survival horror video games prefer it’s his job (as a result of a whole lot of the time, it very a lot is).
Whereas there’s definitely been plenty of horror-themed metroidvanias launched in recent times, from the savage executions of the Blasphemous sequence to the good shapeshifting reverse-horror of Carrion, till now I’ve by no means skilled one which has so expertly tailored correct survival horror mechanics into the style. Silver Pines takes the worry and foreboding of Silent Hill and Resident Evil, and flattens it right into a 2.5D setting that begins as a small city however turns into an more and more bigger one as new instruments are uncovered and new paths are unlocked in typical metroidvania style. I’m solely about 5 hours into what is seemingly a 12-hour story, however ever since I picked up this mystery-soaked journey I’ve discovered it tougher to place down than a household pet.
I’m admittedly a reasonably straightforward mark right here on condition that survival horror and metroidvanias are two of my private favorite genres. It’s not a complete shock to find that I take pleasure in them when paired collectively. I additionally like beer and burgers, by no means extra so than when I’m gripping one in every hand. Nonetheless, taking the restricted stock administration and deliberately clumsy fight of traditional survival horror and splicing them along with the sidescrolling viewpoint and exploration of a 2.5D metroidvania might simply have resulted in a mutation uglier than something that’s ever emerged from an Umbrella Company lab. In the succesful palms of developer Wych Elm Video games, although, this unlikely coupling has turned out to be each bit as energising as the results of combining a inexperienced herb with a pink one.
Simply because its presentation has been crushed down right into a 2.5D airplane doesn’t imply that Silver Pines’ survival horror has sacrificed any of its gameplay depth. Boss fights are current and accounted for, proper all the way down to the panic induced by emptying your pockets of ammo reserves and by no means actually understanding how shut you will have an enemy to dying. You possibly can’t get from one ground of a constructing to the subsequent with out fixing elaborate strings of puzzles, like the restore of broken-down equipment and the appropriate alignment of mixture locks. Then there’s the wholesome number of enemy varieties to take care of as you discover, from ghouls that pursue you menacingly on all-fours to Hitchcockian hordes of crows that swarm down from the timber, together with a slowly increasing arsenal of shotguns and rifles to fight them with.
In the meantime Silver Pines’ slowly increasing suite of exploration instruments doesn’t depend on typical powered-up double-jumps and unlockable grappling hooks with the intention to open up new paths to discover. Slightly, it’s grounded in a manner that feels much more acceptable to the Anytown, USA setting. The field cutter you simply picked up in an workplace could be wielded as a melee weapon, however it can be used to slash via the plastic sheets masking building areas, opening up new rooms to ransack for clues to the whereabouts of Eddie Velvet, the lacking singer you’re seeking. The sledgehammer can crush via weakened sections of concrete partitions, the sewer key can raise manholes and entry the surprisingly expansive tunnels under road stage, and the pistol can be utilized to shoot padlocks off gates or the coverings from air vents to scramble up into.
Every little thing simply feels so effectively thought out, proper all the way down to manually punching in numbers on the metallic keypads of the payphones dotted round the map with the intention to save your recreation. Positive, the same mechanic was utilized in Silent Hill: Townfall simply final month, however Silver Pines takes it a step additional by demanding you really feed in one among your valuable few cash with the intention to make a name, cash that would in any other case be used to buy very important medkits or ammo from a merchandising machine. Should you’re contemporary out, you may even rummage round in the coin return slot for some uncollected spare change.
I additionally love how deliberate each motion is in Silver Pines. From slowly chambering every particular person spherical in your revolver whereas making an attempt to not panic at the shadowy stalkers stumbling in direction of you, to pausing to attend for a pot of espresso to percolate in a police station break room with the intention to gulp down a piping scorching improve to your stamina bar, nearly every thing you do in Silver Pines feels methodical. Silver Pines isn’t ever afraid to take that further little bit of time, whether or not it’s to painfully delay the seconds of pure panic or to permit a uncommon second of peace to be correctly savoured.
In truth, at occasions I’ve gone past merely slowing down in Silver Pines; I’ve really stopped fully and left the most important character idling simply to take a second to soak up the unimaginable quantity of environment that’s been soaked into each body. It could be seen at a distance reasonably than over your character’s shoulder or in first-person, however Silver Pines nonetheless manages to attract you into its gloomy ghost city with an ominous atmosphere that’s each bit as engrossing as the most large-budgeted of survival horror standouts. It even has in-game serials that run on the televisions you move in motel rooms and deserted residences, very like Alan Wake. The truth that that is the debut launch for Wych Elm Video games, apparently with a core improvement crew of simply 5 folks, is truthfully fairly exceptional.
As I stated at the prime, I’ve nonetheless acquired a protracted method to go along with my investigation into Silver Pines so it’s too quickly to move judgment on it. Nonetheless, if it manages to maintain constructing on its unimaginable opening hours, then Silver Pines might effectively turn into one among my favorite video games of 2026 – and that’s saying one thing in a yr of gaming that’s arguably produced extra must-play gems than some other on this console technology.
Now the solely factor we want is a catchy portmanteau for what I hope turns into a well-populated new subgenre of metroidvanias. Er… Survivalvania? Look it’s not nice, however it should do for now.
Silver Pines is accessible now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Collection X|S, PC, Nintendo Swap, and Nintendo Swap 2.
Tristan Ogilvie is a senior video editor at IGN based mostly in Sydney, Australia. He has 25 years of expertise overlaying video video games, having served as Deputy Editor on Official PlayStation 2 Journal Australia and as Editor of Official Xbox 360 Journal Australia, earlier than becoming a member of IGN in 2009. You could find him on Bluesky @tristanogilvie.bsky.social