Silver Pines is a new side-scrolling survival horror game from Wych Elm Games. The game focuses on finding a missing person, and it’s far from the only game in the genre that does so.
Silver Pines centers on finding a missing musician
Welcome to Silver Pines, a small town that seems more populated by shadows than by people. Red Walker, a private investigator, is trying to track down Eddie Velvet, who has mysteriously vanished. Eddie is a musician who might have already given his final encore. As Red digs deeper, he searches for answers while facing horrifying humanoid monsters and discovers Silver Pines is more than it first appeared.
This debut feature from the studio takes its inspiration from The X-Files and Jacob’s Ladder, along with survival horror classics Resident Evil and Silent Hill. As Red, the player moves through a 2D world, using melee weapons that take as much damage as they dish out, meaning they risk falling apart, or firearms with ammo nearly as scarce as Eddie Velvet himself.
Silver Pines is out now, and anyone interested in exploring the town can pick it up on PC (Steam), Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.
Tracking down missing people is a staple in the survival horror genre
Silver Pines shares a lot with other entries in the genre. Searching for someone lost, whether they are a spouse, a friend, or just a job, is a trope survival horror keeps returning to. Think of it like Resident Evil 2’s Mr. X – always there, perpetually showing up, but for a reason rich with plot resonance and challenging fun.
Speaking of the Resident Evil franchise, it has its own entry in this category. In Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, protagonist Ethan Winters searches for his missing wife, Mia, who sent him a frantic video message telling him to come find her, even though she disappeared three years ago. Ethan immediately sets out to track her down, only to find himself trapped in a rambling, derelict house owned by the Baker family. Ethan does find Mia, but she’s not quite who he remembers.
Another husband searching for his wife is James Sunderland, the protagonist of Silent Hill 2. One significant way Ethan and James differ is that James technically knows he’s looking for his wife, Mary. She died of a terrible wasting illness, which would seem to be a fairly definitive answer. Until he receives a letter from her, telling him to come find her in their special place: the lakeside resort town of Silent Hill. When James arrives, he finds the streets swamped with fog and monsters, including the distinctly shaped and determined Pyramid Head.
Red Walker also isn’t the only one whose job it is to track down the missing person. In Blair Witch, based on the franchise of the same name, the player controls Ellis Lynch, a veteran joining the town-wide search for missing child Peter Shannon. He doesn’t immediately find Peter, but he picks up a camcorder that lets him play tapes that alter reality around him when he rewinds or fast-forwards. The infamous Witch, along with her acolyte named Carver, exploit terrible trauma from Ellis’s past as his search for the missing boy entwines with a search for absolution.
What draws developers (and players) to this story?
What about this storyline provides such rich fodder for so many games?
For one thing, it provides strong motivation, whether it’s a loved one like Ethan’s wife or a job like Red and Ellis. It’s a simple narrative hook that tells the player what the main character wants, at least on a basic level.
Perhaps the most crucial reason is that the “simple level” doesn’t last long. The missing person is always on the surface, and the journey to find them often reveals more about the main character than anyone else. James Sunderland, for example, starts out as a man just trying to find answers about his wife, and ends up uncovering secrets that completely change the player’s perspective of him.
Whether it’s Silver Pines or another game centered around this trope, players have a wide range of hair-raising, exciting options to choose from.
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