Beacon Pines is an Adventure game narrated with Visual Novel and Choose Your Own Adventure elements. You play Luka VanHorn, a twelve year old who was befallen with a second tragedy after his father died when he was six, this time his mother disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Not wanting to lose another parent, Luka embarks on an investigative journey with his good friend Rolo, and the first stop is the abandoned old warehouse of Beacon Pines.


At one with Luka in terms of suffering tragedies, the town of Beacon Pines and its residents being mostly a farming town are picking up the pieces of what they call “the Foul Harvest”. Which triggered after the unexpected death of the owner of a fertilizer company, Valentine’s, the company that was helping to build the town. As things and the town start to wane, a new company steps in out of nowhere, hoping to revive the town's fortune, but at what cost?

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As you slowly start to explore Beacon Pines, you’re introduced to “Charms”, a story mechanic that lets you respond to the story and alter its course at vital junctures. For this is where Beacon Pines develops its unique way of storytelling, as responding to a situation with a different charm will write the story in a certain way, but often it leads the player down a path that ends the story. However, the player can “rewind” and choose another alternative Charm to steer the story away from an unfortunate end.


Beacon Pines is filled with colourful and interesting characters that when given the chance to interact with, always gives the player a bit more of an idea of their personality and such. Interactions and Points of Interest in Beacon Pines don’t repeat, meaning once the player has interacted with it, it won’t be available again in most cases.

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The story of Beacon Pines shines in the way it is delivered. The beginning and ending of chapters and story bits are delivered by a narrator who does an exceptional job at delivering the story and always makes you feel like you’re experiencing the story together with the narrator side by side as she reacts as you are, to events that occurred.


With some expert delivering, that standard of storytelling continues on to the gameplay aspect of it when you play. The path it goes, the unexpected (some expected) twists, the multiple sides to the characters that develop them further and not be one dimensional may not be new but it keeps the player at the edge of their seat.

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There is plenty to gush about in Beacon Pines. But there are bits that should be known coming in, though it starts off as a story with branching paths, it is linear in the end as the player will go through multiple charms before getting a “proper” ending.
As with the positives, there’s plenty to go around, with the high quality nature of the art, animation, audio, storytelling and delivery is something to be admired and applauded for achieving with Beacon Pines. Everything that is made here just exudes with top quality.