Pine

 Switch
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 22 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 22
  3. Negative: 7 out of 22

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  1. maisel97
    Jan 20, 2021
    8
    Switch Version 2.01.

    Pine is addicting. The world of Pine is beautiful with varied biomes, plenty of items for crafting, and secrets to find everywhere. It is quite impressive that this 6 person team was capable of creating such a lived in world despite working with a limited engine. _______ Story The main plot of the game is that you are a human that is part of a village on top of a    Switch Version 2.01.


    Pine is addicting. The world of Pine is beautiful with varied biomes, plenty of items for crafting, and secrets to find everywhere. It is quite impressive that this 6 person team was capable of creating such a lived in world despite working with a limited engine.
    _______

    Story

    The main plot of the game is that you are a human that is part of a village on top of a small mountain that is slowly falling apart. The village elders refuse to leave, believing the outside world is too dangerous for them. With a tragic event unfolding, you takes the matter into your own hands and proceeds to leave the village and look for a new home for the people to live. A solid premise that gives the player drive.

    You then must go to any of the animal races and ask for help. They will be hesitant to do so, as they have their own villages to take care of. They will only help you as long as you help them. Thus the game is essentially you donating, trading, or teaming up with various factions to find your people a land of their own.

    This leads to you trying to learn the history of the island, and how ancient humans must have survived in order to save humanity. It is enough to keep me invested, and makes the in game lore intriguing in its own right.

    Overall its compelling in the way classic adventure games have been, making me give it an 8/10
    _______

    Gameplay

    The core gameplay loop is pretty much that of a living breathing world. Each race has its own desires and needs, and will send out traders, gatherers, and warriors to ensure they can expand their control of the island to the best of their ability. This makes the world quite dynamic, as you will see different races interacting with each other in the fields and terrain outside of villages. You will also find them taking over different settlements throughout the game.

    You will have to work with multiple factions to help your own people. I have noticed many people criticizing this system in that you cannot stick with a single faction, and must constantly switch who you are allied with. I personally think this was a logical choice, on the dev's part, as it encourages you to learn each race's perspective in the world and do more than the generic grind of leveling up a single village until you finish the game.

    I would have definitely liked if there was more variations in NPC dialogue however. It would have been nice to see more side quests that provide materials or perhaps even some added lore. Outside from a few island stories I have played through, you will mostly be playing through multiple main story quests that you can do in any order you wish.

    Outside of that however, you will also go through 3 Zelda like dungeons called "Vaults" and solve puzzles in the overworld. These dungeons have been mixed, with the first time you entering a vault not really explaining what to do. Once you figure out the first puzzle though, the remainder of the dungeon become solid challenges.

    Combat can be improved, but is still good enough.

    Just fix the crashing. 7/10.

    8/10 with fixes.
    _______

    Visuals

    The graphical art style of this game is beautiful, and very reminiscent of Fable. Sunsets, and shadows from the moonlight give the world a serene look. Character designs amongst the factions is also well done, with plenty of detail. 9/10
    _______

    Sound

    I cannot stress just how amazing the soundtrack of Pine is. It is a perfect 10 in my book, and deserves the utmost praise. Sound effects are also surprisingly high quality. 10/10

    Replay Ability
    _______

    The world is interesting to experiment with, but aside from that the world could have a few more side quests. 7/10
    _______

    Verdict
    Overall Pine is fantastic despite some flaws in the code. 8/10    … Expand
  2. zanderlex
    May 30, 2020
    8
    Pine has come a long way from its release late last year. Originally heralded as a wonderful open-world RPG, the game was not well-received upon release. The game's quality left something to be desired in many areas, whether it was poor graphics, incredibly long load times, or a plethora of frame rate and rendering issues.

    The game has since been patched and not only is it playable,    Pine has come a long way from its release late last year. Originally heralded as a wonderful open-world RPG, the game was not well-received upon release. The game's quality left something to be desired in many areas, whether it was poor graphics, incredibly long load times, or a plethora of frame rate and rendering issues.

    The game has since been patched and not only is it playable, it's fairly enjoyable as well. The graphics, while still feeling a bit outdated are much more clear and vibrant, and really add to the exploration aspect. Other aspects, including combat and load times, have also been improved, making Pine more of a fun pick up and play kind of experience

    There are still a handful of issues that begin to take their toll on the overall experience of Pine. Loading screens, while much shorter than before, can still last nearly two minutes at times. While your immediate surroundings may look pretty, looking more than a few feet ahead can get pretty dull. Lastly, there are some bugs that could randomly cause you to start floating or temporarily get stuck somewhere.

    None of the remaining issues are inherently game-breaking and there's another patch expected out soon, so if you can get past these minor annoyances, you may find the game to be pretty enjoyable, especially if you are a fan of games like Breath of the Wild of Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles.    … Expand
  3. qaezec
    Nov 26, 2019
    1
    I have been looking forward to the release of this game since it was announced in a Nindies Direct. While I was disappointed that Pine was delayed 3 times, I was hoping it would be worth the wait. It wasn't. The game is buggy, has 3 minute load times, and the graphics are way inferior to the PC release even though the Switch can certainly run a game like that in it's full resolution. I doI have been looking forward to the release of this game since it was announced in a Nindies Direct. While I was disappointed that Pine was delayed 3 times, I was hoping it would be worth the wait. It wasn't. The game is buggy, has 3 minute load times, and the graphics are way inferior to the PC release even though the Switch can certainly run a game like that in it's full resolution. I do hope they fix these problems in the next couple of months, but until they do, I suggest staying away.… Expand
  4. evgenijblja
    Nov 28, 2019
    4
    After patch 1.0.4 this game is playable, but performance is awful.
    Hope they will finish, seems to be a good game.
  5. Tatted504
    Jan 13, 2021
    8
    Alot Better Game now Then at Release. If you tried it before you should try it again
  6. GrahfZeppelin
    Nov 27, 2019
    1
    Oh boy, where do I begin? This game has a lot of potential, but in it's current [released] state it feels like a pre-alpha in that it feels like I'm playing a concept for a game that will go into development soon.

    First off, the graphics are incomplete and feature texture popping, numerous glitches and sections of environments literal disappearing at random Second, the controls are    Oh boy, where do I begin? This game has a lot of potential, but in it's current [released] state it feels like a pre-alpha in that it feels like I'm playing a concept for a game that will go into development soon.

    First off, the graphics are incomplete and feature texture popping, numerous glitches and sections of environments literal disappearing at random

    Second, the controls are absolutely abysmal. The default controls are laughable and you have NO option to map the controls. The combat is absolutely broken with button delays up to 2 full seconds, as in, you will press the attack/block button and it takes a full 2 seconds before the characters acts, rendering the combat unplayable.

    Third, the structure of the game is EXTREMELY sloppy, with poor direction, awful pacing, terrible map layout and a downright confusing narrative.

    Forth, The game takes 2:30 seconds to load. That means the initial load time and when you die it takes 2:30...that's not exaggerating...that's ridiculous and a red flag meaning this is a poorly optimized game. Very VERY amateur

    As I said before, this game HAS potential, but why they decided to release it when it's basically not even close to being finished is beyond me. I'm guessing they couldn't meet their deadline and they decided to cut their losses. I wasn't a KickStarter backer, but I feel genuinely bad for those who backed what is essentially a failure. I don't think they're scam artists, but I do think the dev team were WAY over their heads and hopefully this utter failure allows them to learn...or better yet, I hope they gave refunds.    … Expand
  7. crazycupmuffin
    Nov 27, 2019
    0
    Seems like a good game. Though the performance problems hold it right back. And make it unplayable.
    I legit feel ripped off from this games company.
    Graphics looked nice enough, on the pc version that is. This version the resolution and the textures look disgusting. It reminds me of the ps1 days. Npc's, foliage and structures dont even load in til you are right on top of them. This port    Seems like a good game. Though the performance problems hold it right back. And make it unplayable.
    I legit feel ripped off from this games company.
    Graphics looked nice enough, on the pc version that is. This version the resolution and the textures look disgusting. It reminds me of the ps1 days. Npc's, foliage and structures dont even load in til you are right on top of them. This port makes Ark survival evolved's switch port look good.
    I have had rocks/boulders spawn on top of me twice leaving me stuck inside them, with loading an old save becoming my only option.

    Loading takes between 2 and a half to 3 minutes waiting. Yep, that's no joke. Every time you die you must sit in a 2 and a half minute loading screen before you can get back to this horrible looking mess.
    Framerate is very poor as well. In villages it completely tanks. Hitching happens during every fight as well. Sometimes during fights the enemy will literally vanish. Yea....
    Also the shadows in this game are about the absolute worst implementation of shadows I have ever seen. Just, black blocks.
    I'd love to know how it went so horribly wrong. Is it because it was rushed? Game engine? Lack of skills?
    Anyway easily the worst performing and worst looking game i've played in recent memory. I feel massively let down.

    Should be ashamed to ship a product in such a del boy state. Should be embarrassed knowing others in their line of work will see this. I'm not a game developer, but in my line of work, I make sure the job I do is done to the highest standard I possibly can. Maybe these people should do the same before charging money.    … Expand
  8. SpiderSucc
    May 6, 2021
    5
    I just got this game on epic games store for the free game thing cuz I thought it looked and sounded cool but little did I know I would be in for a padded boring game with getting stuck on nothing and falling off platforms (especially apparent in the vaults) falling through platforms or getting stuck in between objects unable to move. while yes the game has interesting parts a lot of theI just got this game on epic games store for the free game thing cuz I thought it looked and sounded cool but little did I know I would be in for a padded boring game with getting stuck on nothing and falling off platforms (especially apparent in the vaults) falling through platforms or getting stuck in between objects unable to move. while yes the game has interesting parts a lot of the quests are papped with the objective being across the map only to be given a fetch quest and to find materials that aren't easy to find sometimes just to finish the quest the combat is unfair since you can't dodge out of enemy attacks easily (like the game says you can) and sometimes the shield doesn't even block damage when it is hit and the bs energy system and relationship and trading system is underwhelming since you have to donate a lot to one camp/tribe and all you get is basic materials and a few crafting recipes I don't even want to finish the game if it is this repetitive just to pad out the game in which it has a boring story anyway there are good parts but i do not recomend… Expand
  9. CraigEchols
    Aug 14, 2021
    5
    Was really hyped for this game because I knew it was coming to Switch and figured it would be a Breath of the Wild - lite.

    There is a lot to like about this game with it being a resource-based trading game and your job is to smooth over relations between factions based on finding the items that that need. You travel finding items each faction needs and based on what you get, can open up    Was really hyped for this game because I knew it was coming to Switch and figured it would be a Breath of the Wild - lite.

    There is a lot to like about this game with it being a resource-based trading game and your job is to smooth over relations between factions based on finding the items that that need. You travel finding items each faction needs and based on what you get, can open up other items and quests for each faction for yourself. Not a bad premise honestly. However, the execution is paltry at best.

    First, the world is open and full of life, but kinda boring at the same time. 90% of what you come across are hostiles and the other half is just sort of background foder. Also, it doesn't help that every objective is like 50 miles from the nearest objective and given that this is the switch version, texture pop-ins and getting stuck in glitches isn't out of the question.

    Speaking of glitches, the first time I played the game, I got stuck on a quest because it wasn't letting me complete the task. When I next booted up the game, it had completed the quest and put me in the middle of a cutscene???? How that happened I don't know.

    Combat I was really looking forward to, but alas, that broke my heart the most. There is difficult and then there is Pine. Enemies are much stronger than you for the most part. Many attacks cannot be blocked. There is no parry. Projectiles only work on certain enemies (despite saying every enemy has a critical spot), enemies can attack through your attacks sometimes and worst of all, enemy attacks can send you reeling while your attacks may as well be throwing wet sand at a brick wall. Not to mention, enemies chase you throughout the map so the only real way to get away from them is to defeat them or to run into a dungeon or whatever. Oh, and despite the factions being at war with each other, they seem to have a common enemy in your so don't be surprised if you become the center of the battle.

    The ideas of this game are better than the sum which is sad because the foundation for this game is really something that could be built off of. It was just poorly executed. I may give them this some more time because I really do want to like it, but the performance and the way they went about this game just really is sad because it could have been so much better.    … Expand
  10. AnthLC
    Apr 12, 2020
    8
    It is actually not a bad game. It has struggled to be optimised on the Switch hardware which has let it down. But to the developers credit they have been regular patching and the games playability has improved now to the point it is playable.

    It still has some graphic problems, such as to much “fog” which is a shame, poor shadows and pop up/out of distant objects. But nothing like what    It is actually not a bad game. It has struggled to be optimised on the Switch hardware which has let it down. But to the developers credit they have been regular patching and the games playability has improved now to the point it is playable.

    It still has some graphic problems, such as to much “fog” which is a shame, poor shadows and pop up/out of distant objects. But nothing like what was first reported when first released. The graphics have been dumbed down a lot so is no BOTW. The loading of the game now is short enough that it isn’t as frustrating to wait if you die and have to reload.

    It is slower to get into but once you are in the gameplay of trying to alliance yourself to different tribes does work. The crafting is good too. Once you have telescope and balloon thing start to make sense. The combat is tricky as the controls seem cumbersome at first and the enemies are a lot tougher to kill as they can recharge their health. Often I wait for one of the other tribes gathers to have a battle and pick the loot they lost. Plus you can practice on the bird and horse things. I wish the tribe symbols and names were recognisable I often can’t tell who’s who by name or symbol.

    The puzzles can sometimes be frustrating but there enough on the internet about the game if you get stuck to get you back on track.

    Actually I hope Nintendo pickup it up in the next Switch console and optimise it further as a game concept it is brilliant and would compliment the Zelda games. You have the elements of the RPG story but also the alliance and enemies you create to alter how it ends.

    So I think give it a go it isn’t half bad. If you can get past the graphics not being the best and just enjoy the gameplay you should enjoy. Maybe wait until cheaper on the store.    … Expand
  11. CaptainPanic
    Apr 6, 2020
    1
    THE most unintuitive and clunky combat system I have ever encountered. It makes the game unplayable for me. I have about 10-15 hours in it, and I’m not going to go farther. Other that that game ruining mechanic, the visuals are better than I expected which brought my rating up one point. I honestly felt rather let down that I spent $25 on it. If you are expecting ‘botw’ type of game play,THE most unintuitive and clunky combat system I have ever encountered. It makes the game unplayable for me. I have about 10-15 hours in it, and I’m not going to go farther. Other that that game ruining mechanic, the visuals are better than I expected which brought my rating up one point. I honestly felt rather let down that I spent $25 on it. If you are expecting ‘botw’ type of game play, look elsewhere. This isn’t it.… Expand
  12. bancandrei
    May 21, 2020
    5
    Looks good, but gets boring way too quickly. Could barely remember the title, to give this rating. Wanted an alternative to breath of the wild, but better just play that one some more
  13. swampthings
    Dec 30, 2020
    0
    This game is unplayable on Switch, after the first level. The loading times are seriously about 10 minutes. And then I die quickly. And then it has to load again. So, if I play for an hour, then it will be about 50 minutes of loading time and 10 minutes of play time. I'm sure there are some people a lot better than me that won't die so much, but I can't picture anyone stomaching the loadThis game is unplayable on Switch, after the first level. The loading times are seriously about 10 minutes. And then I die quickly. And then it has to load again. So, if I play for an hour, then it will be about 50 minutes of loading time and 10 minutes of play time. I'm sure there are some people a lot better than me that won't die so much, but I can't picture anyone stomaching the load times enough to actually play through it on Switch.

    I'll probably try it again after they release 3.0 or 4.0. It's probably good on Windows with a super fast machine, but it's really bad on Nintendo Switch.

    I was really frustrated, because this game had a lot of promise. The first level and the story. It's basically a breath of the wild clone.    … Expand
  14. Floor84
    Jul 25, 2020
    7
    I actually really like what they have done with the game since it got out. It was a real deception when I started playing it in 2019. The gazillion bugs and long loading times just made it unplayable, even though I enjoyed the ambiance. I took it up again after a couple of months, not expecting too much because the initial loading time is still a drag. But overall it got so much better!I actually really like what they have done with the game since it got out. It was a real deception when I started playing it in 2019. The gazillion bugs and long loading times just made it unplayable, even though I enjoyed the ambiance. I took it up again after a couple of months, not expecting too much because the initial loading time is still a drag. But overall it got so much better! Once you get past the somewhat clunky gameplay it is a really immersive story. I love how your interactions with the different tribes affect the game. Yes, it is still way too buggy and therefore not the best value for money. But if you like the genre and you have some hours to spare I would really recommend Pine for its originality, the big open world, and the way the team has been working on the game ever since it got out. But bear in mind: if you are expecting Breath-of the-wild-like quality than you will be disappointed for sure.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
48

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 6
  3. Negative: 2 out of 6
  1. Gaming Nexus
    Mar 11, 2021
    65
    Pine has a lot of interesting systems and mechanics, but those individual pieces do not add up to a completely satisfying whole. While there is fun to be had with Pine's interesting exploration, many of the mechanics feel disjointed, with too much reliance on the game's collection-based economy. While Pine was clearly made with a lot of love, every good feature in is balanced by a mechanic that doesn't feel so great.
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  2. Nintenderos
    Dec 11, 2020
    55
    Pine is a game that we recommend with caution. Even after the 2.0 update, the loading times are still long. Overall performance has improved but needs more updates on Nintendo Switch.
    Read full review
  3. Gaming Age
    Jan 21, 2020
    58
    The execution is as boring as everything else Pine has to offer. It’s a shame that the finished (or, given the technical issues, maybe that should read “mostly finished”) product doesn’t come anywhere close to living up to the incredible potential displayed by the trailer, because that game could have been great. This game, however, is in dire need of improvements, and until it gets those you can skip it pretty safely.
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