Beacon Pines is the 8th game of the UUGPGC Year 2. Finish by April 24, 2023! Spoilers open!

Welcome to the Unsanctioned Unofficial Game Pass Game Club. Our eighth game of 2023 is Beacon Pines. The target completion date is April 24, 2023.

We ask that until that date you use the forum software to mark any spoilers, either story based or mechanical, in the discussion below. Ideally the bulk of the discussion will occur after April 24, but if you want to comment before then you are welcome to so long as the spoilers are marked. We ask that if you leave a comment before that date you also come back to the thread after it to read other people’s comments and respond to them, though of course we cannot force you to do so.

All are welcome to participate regardless of whether you have stated a preference to or not and there is absolutely no commitment. You do not have to finish the game to participate but please let us know if you have not.

You are also free to come back any time after the completion date and share your thoughts! This club is meant to be open to all whenever you want to join in the fun!

You can find out more about the Unsanctioned Unofficial Game Pass Game Club or suggest future games for it here.

What is Beacon Pines?

A supernatural themed adventure game about uncovering a mystery in a small town starring cute animal friends. Make decisions that will alter the course of the story.

How long is Beacon Pines?

How long to beat lists it as 5.5 hours long.

I went into this game thinking it would be like Night in the Woods, which I really liked until the ending, and came away a little disappointed. It's basically a branching point and click adventure and while I appreciate the branching narrative the story itself didn't really hold my interest. I think the kids were too young, the town a little too spread out, and the whole thing a little bit too cute even with the horror elements. I just did not care about the characters (unlike Night in the Woods) and that makes games like this not hit. It's not a terrible game and I'm sure some people really like it, it has good production values and a fine concept, it just didn't hit for me.

I went into it not knowing anything about it, and I haven't played Night in the Woods, so I can't really compare... But I enjoyed it. The setting is picturesque, the voice acting is pretty good, the art style is well designed and the cast is pretty charming, specially the main trio. It was nice enough that I cared about them when it starts to escalate.

The gameplay is rather slim, even by visual novel standards. Some decisions have much bigger impact than others, but its all pretty well crafted illusion, since the game is built around the idea that you can return to a previous choice and opt for a different branch at any time. When most branches end in dead ends, or have options that are enabled much later in the adventure (on different branches), the truth behind the trick is that the game controls the order of the options it presents to you, and the only path to completing the game and getting the "true ending" is fairly linear.

It is a clever and novel concept, though, and I wish they can explore it on new adventures, even with a different setting.

My main caveat is that there is very little information on the UI about what happened on each branch's past, so it might get confusing if you hit a deadend and have to take a different path on a decision you took several hours ago. This also mean you constantly have more information that the cast, since you probably experience a twist a long time ago. This last part is also by design, but since you have to juggle alignments and motivations with past reveals, it gets extra confusing with what events and dialogues actually belong it the current timeline.

Luckily, the game is pretty short. Even 100% it takes about 6 or 7 hours so, the sense of confusion is minimized if you play it few sittings, but if you are planning to space it out, though, be warned.

My own take isn't much different from everyone else's. I generally liked my time with it, largely due to the quality of the writing. Though, my biggest complaint would be the narration, which usually felt tonally out of place and was jarring when put next to the simlish noises spoken by all the characters.

I'm kind of a sucker for games with mapped out story branches, so I was probably an easy mark. Also, I bounced off of Night in the Woods after about an hour, but I easily saw this game all the way through. I'm not sure why I attached to this better, even though its a thinner experience. Regardless, I'm glad I played it.