Your next favourite cozy Steam game could be the nostalgic, sleepy Pine Hearts
Pine Hearts is a heartwarming tale about looking back at one’s childhood holiday adventures.
Packed to the brim with upcoming games to try out over the weekend, EGX had a breadth of indie games to take a look at, and most of them were incredibly impressive feats from small, enthusiastic teams. One such game was the cozy Pine Hearts that managed to make everyone who witnessed its gameplay smile.
Described as an itsy-bitsy open-world puzzle game set in the sleepy scenery of Pine Hearts Caravan Park, your character roams the whimsical world exploring fond memories of growing up while solving environmental puzzles. It takes the item-based progression of the Zelda series and blends it beautifully with Souls-like level design, delivering a game that’s ideal to wind down with and simply enjoy.
During my short demo of the game, I arrived at the train station, entered the Caravan Park and began to accustom myself with navigating the area and meeting its characters. As my character runs around gleefully, one of the first that he meets is a charming pup, yapping at you from afar to show where you need to go. And of course, once you finally catch up with him, you can pet him for his help. Need I say more?
With that, your adventure properly begins. As you collect new tools to help you manipulate the environment - break rocks, push down trees, you know the drill - you can reach new places. Caves will take you to other areas of the Pine Hearts Caravan Park, and in some instances, you’ll find yourself exploring your character's memories of the Caravan Park rather than the park itself.
As someone who’s childhood holidays were also spent at caravan parks, I feel a fondness towards the chaos of Butlins and all the different walks myself and my family would go on during this time. It’s very apparent that Pine Hearts is also trying to encapsulate that feeling; caravan parks (or all holiday destinations, really) and our experiences of them change over the passage of time, including Pine Hearts. That doesn’t change our cherished memories of such a place, though, as Pine Hearts expertly expresses.
As your cube-shaped character runs amok with a stupid grin across his face, I found it really hard not to smile with him. Those watching the game from around Hyper Luminal Games’ booth all echoed the same sentiments; “it’s so cute,” and “look how happy he is,”, and of course, “you can pet the dog!” There were smiles all around, and one of the best things a game can do is bring its players joy, which is what Pine Hearts certainly sets out to do, and successfully did over the weekend at EGX.
With a focus on puzzles rather than combat, it’s a relaxing game with no real pressure attached. Your only worry is getting lost, but even then, there are some wholesome scenes to witness and splendid, almost familiar scenery to head out and discover.
It might even tug at your heartstrings, as one short beautifully illustrated cutscene did during my time with the game; our character and who we can assume to be his father share a moment together, and it’s something myself and others could relate to all too well. For just a short demo to have an emotional pull on some players, I was really impressed, and I certainly look forward to seeing what further secrets - and bittersweet memories - Pine Hearts is hiding away in its sleepy, memory-filled forests.
Pine Hearts is set to release during Q1 2024 on Steam, which means that all being well, we don’t have too long to wait until we can play it! You can wishlist it now, if you’re as enthusiastic for the sleepy caravan park of Pine Hearts as I am.