Cozy Game Reviews was given a complimentary game code for Pine Hearts, courtesy of the Hyper Luminal Games’ press team. Our game reviews are always objective and honest; read more about our transparency policy.
Pine Hearts is a short, meandering narrative adventure about a young character called Tyke who sets off to climb to Pine Hearts’ mountain peak in the memory of their late father. It’s the player’s job to help residents in the campsite, caravan park, and beach locations in order to unlock critical memories, learn new skills, and collect all the tools needed to make the trip. A quiet meditation on grief, growing up, and the healing power of helping out, Pine Hearts can be played in an afternoon or two and would make a suitable companion for fans of A Short Hike and/or Haven Park.
The opening chapter of Pine Hearts introduces you to our titular silent protagonist, Tyke, and their dreams of climbing to Pine Hearts’ peak. Carrying a journal outlining their plans to summit the mountain, the storytelling hinges on a deeply emotional musical score and paper-cutout memories that play out in the style of a child’s vivid imagination. Their dialogue-free train ride to the park is wrought with longing —and perhaps even a touch of grief, if you pay close enough attention. Melancholy may be in the air but the steady trudge onward is inspiring and even hopeful. There is something to be gained from reaching the summit: but what?
Pine Hearts is a game that rewards players for patience, eagle-eye observation, and curiosity. On a quest to prepare for their climb, Tyke agrees to help various campers and resident of the park with their troubles in exchange for tools like a shovel, an axe, and a hammer. Alongside practical equipment they need to progress, Tyke earns “droplets” for helping out as well as exploring the environs, which will eventually collect to unlock treasured memories and associated skills like knocking trees into bridges, climbing cliffs, jumping across chasms, and lifting blocks. These droplets could be interpreted as tears, sweat, or even rain—all of which symbolize a trading of effort or labor in exchange for the reward of eventual growth.
While completing quests is the easiest way to watch that water gauge go up, you can also find rogue droplets by exploring every nook and cranny of the park and interacting with objects like lamps, animals, faucets, and camping gear. In order to attempt the summit, you will need to collect enough droplets to unlock five critical memories, each of which will grant you a new skill that helps you better progress around environmental obstacles. As I said, the game heavily rewards exploration and curiosity. You’ll want to poke around everywhere, and touch everything, to claim each critical drop for future momentum.
Quests are primarily “fetch/deliver an item” in nature with the occasional light touch mini game sprinkled in. You’ll traverse five main areas: a campground, a caravan park, and a beach. Within each are sub-areas that get really creative and fun: a chaotic golf course, a maze-like cove, a spooky castle, a jovial harvest festival—to name a few. You’ll fix a deflated tent, BBQ a burger, sew a sail, reassemble some knights, fix a broken portcullis, judge a vegetable contest, scare off some pesky crows, reunite a band, and so much more.
The quests are simple, for the most part, but where the adventure comes in is in trying to find everything you need in the maze-like woods and roads of Pine Hearts park. Some areas are blocked by logs and rocks, or cliffs and chasms, and so you will have to level up your gear and abilities before returning to scour every cranny. The first time through each area is rewarding, exciting, and satisfying—though I’ll admit becoming a bit frustrated with the amount of dead ends and backtracks. The map is quite difficult to explore efficiently, and you’ll need a bit of patience to manage it, even with your trusty map.
Collecting X amount of droplets from quests and exploration will awaken dormant memories in the style of a cardboard cut-out adventure radiating childhood imagination and creativity. It’s here that the heart of the story starts to emerge: memories of a parental figure playing games, soothing scraped knees, teaching about the world, and shepherding the winding journey that is growing up. These flashes of childhood memories are packed full of adventure and fantasy: castles and creatures, daring tales of rescue, and games where the hero always triumphs. Easily the best part of the game, these colorful glimpses into the mind’s-eye of a child exploring the world around them with wonder tell the bulk of a touching, heartfelt story about love, grief, and perseverance.
Because you need droplets to unlock memories, and memories to progress the story, you may find yourself with all the tools you need to climb Pine Hearts mountain trail and yet you remain woefully stuck until you clean-up the last 50 droplets from missed areas and forgotten side quests. (Happened to me.) Collectathon-ers and completionists will have an easy time of it, as being sure to complete every ask the first time through is the ideal way to play the game, in my opinion. Personally, I’m not one to find retracing my steps enjoyable, but I know plenty of gamers love to revisit areas and unlock hidden paths within them.
The story of Pine Hearts really got to me, and I found myself brushing away tears by the end of the narrative. However, I would have liked the quest-doings and helper mechanics to have played a bigger part in the story somehow. Yes, helping people was how you earned new tools—but I felt as if there was some unspoken connection between building community and surviving grief that was detached, too much left unsaid. I kept expecting all the friends I made to show up at the end and help heal my heart. But maybe that was the lesson all along—in grief, we ultimately end up alone.
Not to get meta, but of course games gotta game. Not every mechanic needs to be woven into the story. But, to me, something powerful and obvious was missing here.
The mountain climb is, of course—as seen in games like Celeste—the perfect metaphor for overcoming an obstacle, be it one in the great expanse of life or simply within yourself (often the harder of the two climbs). Pine Hearts does a great job making you earn that final summit, which expertly accentuates the catharsis of coming to terms with loss and celebrating the resilience of the human spirit. In a world as dark and upsetting as the one we live in now, I thought I wanted a game of pure escapism and colorful joy. But what I got instead—and needed much, much more—was the actual message Pine Hearts left me with at the end: We can overcome anything, it is in our nature, stitched into the very fabric of our hearts.
Overall, Pine Hearts is a sweet and simple story-driven cozy game that seamlessly blends quick-and-satisfying quest progression, meditative exploration, a quirky and memorable art style, and a truly engrossing tale of grief and growing up.
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Pine Hearts Review: Summary
Here is the quick TLDR of my Pine Hearts review for those who are in a hurry.
Pros
- Doesn’t overstay it’s welcome
- Casual, easy progression makes for a relaxing experience
- Heartfelt story told in a powerful way
- Unique and memorable art style
- Masterclass in “wordless” storytelling
Cons
- Maze-like map can be frustrating
- Hunting for the last ~300 droplets was a bit of a chore
- Price point a bit high for what you get
Expert Opinion
In my opinion, Pine Hearts is definitely worth wishlisting on Steam and buying when a suitable price point strikes your fancy for a tight, emotive 5 hour experience with low replayability. I can see myself happily spending $10-12 on a little game such as this.
Stay cozy, gamers!