Pine Hearts Review: A Cozy and Chill Adventure (Switch)

I love a good cozy game. I’m also a fan of games that include adventure and exploration. Perhaps that’s why I was drawn to Pine Hearts, a new cozy narrative-adventure game from developer Hyper Luminal Games. The outdoor and nature theme of Pine Hearts is also attractive. After finishing this game, I’m glad I chose to play it. Let’s go into further detail of why this game should be one to check out in this review of Pine Hearts.

Pine Hearts is now available on PC and Nintendo Switch for $19.99.

Story – Reliving the Past at Pine Hearts

Pine Hearts is labelled as a narrative-adventure game, and it does have a story to tell. You play a character called Tyke, who is visiting Pine Hearts Caravan Park. Tyke does have a purpose to going to the park; he wants to rediscover memories of his childhood. For a cozy game, Tyke’s backstory is sweet yet with a few sour notes thrown in, not all cozy, at least for him. Some of the memories he relives turns out to be quite painful. I don’t want to give away spoilers for this review, but some of the memories might be a little triggering if you’ve had to deal with losing a family member. However, while it is sad, it also has a sense of happiness and feeling at peace with your memories, leaving a positive and hopeful message.

You unlock Tyke’s memories as you play the game. A new memory is “rediscovered” once you collect enough teardrops that are found throughout the park, and helped certain people with their errands. In order to reach the end of the game, you must unlock all of Tyke’s memories by finding enough teardrops. The gameplay alone is addictive enough to keep you hooked, but the story and collecting Tyke’s memories also keeps you going until the end.

Gameplay – An Easy-Going Adventure

Pine Hearts is primarily an adventure game with a cozy twist, with some narrative thrown in. It certainly does have an adventure for players to enjoy, but it’s nothing too strenuous or frustrating. It’s more relaxing.

Pine Hearts Caravan Park

Let’s talk about the titular Pine Hearts, which is actually a caravan park, and it is HUGE. When you look at the overall map, it doesn’t seem that big, but trust me, it is. It’s so big it’s almost overwhelming, not knowing where you want to explore first. I have to say, I adore the world of Pine Hearts. It’s so beautifully mapped out and put together. I loved exploring every new section. I wish Pine Hearts was a real place! You can visit areas such as a creepy ruined castle, a beach, the caravan park itself, the neighboring golf course, and the final destination you get to unlock being the mountain. If I had to pick a favorite location, it would be the caravan park. It would definitely be a place I’d like to stay in, although the beach was fun to visit too.

I mentioned that Pine Hearts is a big place and easy to get lost in. There is truth in that, but it’s difficult to get hopelessly lost thanks to the map the game provides. In fact, there are two maps: one of the overall world, so you can see which section is where and you can figure out the direction you need to go in. The other is a more detailed map of the current area you’re in, with the overall layout of paths mapped out for you.

Visiting the rockpools at Pine Hearts, one of many locations to be explored.

Unlocking New Ways to Explore

When you first start Pine Hearts, not every area is available to you. There are two reasons for this. First, the mountain, your ultimate goal, is out of bounds because the ranger feels you are not ready until you have rediscovered all of Tyke’s memories. Second, in order to access the other areas, Tyke needs to rely on his memories to unlock new ways of exploring.

As you play through Pine Hearts, you find new tools to use, which can be used for completing quests or finding teardrops. Such tools include a shovel, fishing rod, and more. Unlocking a memory also unlocks a new way of getting around the vast park, which in turn gives you access to new unexplored areas. As Tyke, you will learn how to climb, cut away logs, hop over rivers and gullies, and move boulders.

At first, when you discover that you can’t access half the areas due to not having the right abilities, it can be a little annoying, but it also gives you an initiative for playing through the game. This mechanic does mean that you have to revisit previous areas to get all the teardrops you couldn’t reach before, and you have to make a note of them so you don’t miss them. Still, that’s part of the fun and challenge of this game. 

Beyond the gates is your final destination in Pine Hearts.

Puzzle Solving

Strictly speaking, Pine Hearts isn’t a puzzle game, but it does incorporate a few puzzle solving situations. There’s nothing too complicated or headscratching, but enough to get the cogs in your brain turning as you figure them out. One puzzle that sticks out in my mind is where you have to rescue a kid who is trapped at the old castle, and to do that, you need to find the 4 cogs for the gate mechanism and then fit them in the correct places. Fitting the cogs is the easy part; it’s locating them all that takes more work. Some other puzzles require you to rotate objects into the correct position, or locate certain items for specific quests.

Exploring can play a part in puzzle solving.

Helping People Out

As well as exploring and learning of Tyke’s childhood memories, another big part of Pine Hearts is helping out the locals. They can be found all over the park. Not every person you come across needs help; some are there just to make the place seem more alive (and it works very well, I might say), while others you can speak to but don’t provide quests. Those who do provide quests help with progressing in the game.

As this is a cozy game, these quests are straightforward. You usually have to talk to someone, find an item or certain number of the same item, or complete a specific task. In one instance, I had to use a lawn mower on the golf course. In another situation, I had to sew together a flag using items of clothing. Although admittedly simple, doing these tasks are good fun, and help you get closer to the game’s ending.

Some people in Pine Hearts end up in interesting situations.

Graphics & Audio – Breathtaking Cartoon-Style

For Pine Hearts, its cartoony graphics complements the game perfectly. I honestly don’t think it could have worked better. The world of Pine Hearts Caravan Park is wonderfully constructed and well thought-out, with the caravan park itself being a good example of the level of detail that went into putting this game together. I also love the way the characters look, with a cute and endearing design.

I should give a mention to the accessibility options in Pine Hearts for the purpose of this review. When I first booted the game up, it asked me what accessibility options I wanted on, if any. I chose not to enable them initially, but if you do choose to turn them on, it is incredibly useful. Regarding the graphics, one option allows you to grey out everything, except for objects and people that can be interacted with, who are given specific colors. This is handy for everybody playing the game, if you’re low on teardrops and looking for more, or if you want to see which characters offer tasks. I would recommend you try it out at least once.

I’ve got no complaints about the audio, namely the soundtrack. The music in Pine Hearts is very well done. It creates that perfect cozy adventure game atmosphere, yet also offers something a little creepier (namely when you’re exploring the old castle), or even something more tearjearking, as in Tyke’s memories.

Pine Hearts was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch with a key provided by Renaissance PR Agency.