Speaker A
Fear is why players turn to horror. The boundaries and forms of the genre have long since blurred. And as practice shows, you can get scared quite well even by anime girls.
A detailed review of a horror shooter game set in a foggy town, blending Silent Hill and Resident Evil vibes, developed by a small Russian studio.
Key Takeaways
- The game successfully creates a tense horror atmosphere through fog, lighting, and sound design.
- It combines classic horror elements with modern survival shooter mechanics.
- Immersive storytelling is achieved through environmental clues and character interactions rather than explicit tutorials.
- The game has some rough edges, such as lack of clear instructions, but offers a compelling experience for horror fans.
- The narrative hints at a larger conspiracy and promises continuation in future updates.
What the video covers
- The video explores a horror shooter game developed by Vision For Team, a small studio from Krasnodar, Russia, built on Unreal Engine 5.
- The story follows Joshua Teller, who visits the mysterious town of Pine Harbor after receiving a letter from his missing father.
- The game features a foggy, eerie atmosphere reminiscent of Silent Hill, combined with survival elements similar to Resident Evil.
- Gameplay includes exploration, combat with mutated and hostile townsfolk, scavenging for supplies, and crafting ammo and bandages.
- The narrative reveals a chemical plant disaster and corporate conspiracy impacting the town and Joshua's family.
- The protagonist interacts with characters like his father and Kaya, the preacher’s daughter, who provides quests and warnings.
- The game interface is minimalistic to enhance immersion, with stamina, health, and ammo indicators fading over time.
- Players must manage resources, use a flashlight, and board up windows to survive the dangerous nights in Pine Harbor.
- The story is delivered through environmental storytelling, notes, newspaper clippings, and diary entries found throughout the game.
- The video reviewer shares personal impressions, gameplay tips, and highlights areas where the game could improve, such as tutorial hints.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Horror and Game Premise
- 01:01Joshua Teller's Journey to Pine Harbor
- 01:57Arrival and Exploration Begins
- 03:03Meeting Joshua’s Father and Nighttime Events
- 04:25Encounter with Kaya and Local Threats
- 06:11Combat and Scavenging in Town
- 07:07Discovering Grandpa’s House and Crafting
- 08:51Uncovering the Town’s Dark Past
- 09:50Further Exploration and Story Development
- 11:02Gameplay Challenges and Ending Tease
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
I want to eat. But today we will dive into a classic foggy atmosphere of Silent Hill, seasoned with a pinch of Resident Evil: Pine Harbor. It is a kind of homage from a small Krasnodar studio, Vision For Team. I cannot even
Speaker A
recall how I stumbled upon this project, but it interested me for two reasons.
Speaker A
The fact that it is from domestic developers, and that it is a horror shooter built on the Unreal Engine 5.
Speaker A
The game tells us about the forced trip of Joshua Teller to a small provincial fishing town, Pine Harbor. The thing is, the main character receives a letter from his father, who disappeared without a trace more than 9 years ago.
Speaker A
In it, he writes that he is conducting an important investigation, on which the lives of many innocent people depend. He feels that he can no longer cope, and therefore begs his son to come to his aid. It is worth noting
Speaker A
that the visuals right from the start immerse you well into an atmosphere of uncertainty. The developers immediately show us how light will work in the game, because this tunnel passage is not here without reason. Emerging into the
Speaker A
light, the driver asks Joshua: "Why are you going to Pine Harbor?" "It's an abandoned place where nobody lives." The protagonist asks what happened here. The driver replies that some chemical plant went up, because, quoting him, "the [ __ ] corporations screwed up
Speaker A
again." After driving for another couple of minutes, the bus drops us off at the desired stop and disappears into the thick gray fog. We have to head deeper into the town, but whether from experience or intuition, I know that in
Speaker A
horror games, no one will scare the player in the first few minutes. First, some action has to take place. Walking a few more meters, some strange shack and a house appeared, where, apparently — and here is the action itself.
Speaker A
Waking up upside down at night, a man with a shotgun slowly approaches the hero, genuinely surprised that a human was caught in the trap. From the old man's muttering, it becomes clear that this is, in fact, our dad who "went out
Speaker A
for milk" 9 years ago. Finally done talking, the old man frees his son and tells him to get into the house quickly. But before going in, I took a look at the night sky. It really is beautiful.
Speaker A
And it also reminded me of how I used to go on summer overnight camping trips with friends in my youth. But let's return to the game and enter the house.
Speaker A
The father starts saying that he never sent any letters pleading for help. After a strange noise in the woods, the old man tells me to go down to the basement, lock the door, and open it for no one. He will knock four times
Speaker A
when it's all over. The basement entrance doesn't look very welcoming, of course, but I listen to the old man and head down, after which something strange happens upstairs. I counted five knocks, so whoever you are, go to hell. A few seconds later, Joshua
Speaker A
passes out. Most likely, it's because the protagonist hit his head on the ground earlier. Waking up, I heard four knocks. And that means I can stop worrying now, because the password given by the old man is correct.
Speaker A
Opening the door, I saw the old man bustling about the kitchen as if nothing had happened. He offers me some food and says that we were lucky tonight since only one came by. The shot-up guest is the result of
Speaker A
chemicals and mutations. Dad is writing an article and trying to fix the situation on his own. And this is, I quote, "the [ __ ] corporation trying to frame me and weaken me by inviting my son." After that, the old man says
Speaker A
we need to leave Pinecreek, but asks for help getting supplies first. Never having eaten the spaghetti and meatballs, I get into the car. Driving out of the forest, the old man starts asking how the family is doing. And
Speaker A
that's when we learn that the main character got divorced. And if we recall the letter about the bus, which said that Joshua's mother died, it becomes clear that there is no one left but his father. Entering the fog-covered town, the old man, spooked
Speaker A
by some half-naked weirdos, crashes the car into a house. This is, by the way, the third time the main character has blacked out. Though this time, upon opening our eyes, we meet a rather pretty girl. I hope that in our short
Speaker A
time together we will have sex. The girl's name is Kaya, and she is the preacher's daughter. Joshua asks where his dad is. She says there was no one else in the car. Kaya asks if I could get her some medicine and fuel,
Speaker A
claiming she can't go out alone to get all that. But I have a question off-script. Then who the [ __ ] helped me if you can't go anywhere alone? Kaya sets a timer on our watch and tells us
Speaker A
not to go out into the street at night. After kindly swiping a bat and some food, I decided to take a look around.
Speaker A
Wandering a bit, I scavenged some boards and saw the first, as I understand, local residents. My intuition told me they were clearly not running over to say hello. After beating the living hell out of these citizens, I started to examine them.
Speaker A
They look quite creepy. What's more, there were mutants of both sexes lying before me. I wouldn't want to get this video banned, so I won't be showing you their gloomy bits and sad privates. I didn't really know where to go, since
Speaker A
the game interface is designed to immerse the player as deeply as possible in the story. Stamina, health, and ammo count do pop up, but they fade away over time so as not to be a distraction. I spent 10 minutes walking
Speaker A
through the woods hitting nudists, then another 10 minutes walking through town hitting citizens who were actually dressed properly. I looted some random junk and somehow stumbled upon grandpa's car, which had a note inside.
Speaker A
After that, I got a new task to visit the pier during the day. After some more looting and getting my ass kicked by the locals, I realized that I could press Tab to see my inventory, tasks, and the map. And I only figured that
Speaker A
out after half an hour of running around the city. Having studied the map, I headed toward the marker. The road led me to grandpa's house. And honestly, if it weren't for the bat in my hands, I wouldn't have gone inside for
Speaker A
anything. I instinctively pressed the F key and my flashlight turned on, even though the game never mentioned it anywhere. Perhaps the developers should consider adding a few small hints at least at the very beginning of the game. After thoroughly searching the rooms,
Speaker A
grandpa was nowhere to be found. However, his supplies were discovered, which instantly became mine. There was no electricity in the house. I realized I needed to look for a breaker or a generator somewhere outside. That turned out to be the case. In the yard,
Speaker A
I found a shed with a gasoline generator inside that wasn't running. After starting it, I was surprised that there was no sound of it running,
Speaker A
because in real life, a piece of equipment like that is very loud. In that same shed, I found a table for crafting ammo and bandages. And now it finally clicked why the hell I had been collecting all that junk. Returning to
Speaker A
the house, I started boarding up the windows with planks I had looted earlier in the city just for fun. At this point, I realized the night would likely be tough, so just in case, I went back to the generator and topped
Speaker A
off the gas. Inside the house, I found a door with an improvised electronic lock. After opening it, I entered my father's room. Grandpa still wasn't inside, but there was a pile of beer bottles, guns, and a bunch of paperwork.
Speaker A
From the newspaper clippings on the wall, which, by the way, were written by grandpa, we learn that in '87, an industrial accident occurred at some factory. On the table lay a note about a shelter in a mine. Grandpa writes
Speaker A
that this place needs to be cleared out urgently. He also writes, and I quote: "We need to continue the work and not let Helen catch us." W
Speaker A
around the house a bit more, this happened. It was a rough night. In the morning, I headed into town to find supplies for Kaya. I ran into many locals along the way. And since this shooter-horror has survival elements
Speaker A
with limited resources, I decided not to waste my ammo for nothing. After gathering everything I needed. I returned to Kaya. The girl won't let the protagonist inside the house. She tells me to leave all the loot on the
Speaker A
porch. Joshua asks about the mine. Kaya marks its location for me and shuts the door. Instead of the mines, I decide to head to the pier. There, I meet a guy who used to supply my grandpa with provisions and beer. In return, grandpa
Speaker A
brought him dead mutants. After chatting with the one-eyed guy, I got a quest to find my father's crate. The area where I need to look even lit up on the map. Logically, the crate should have been in the wrecked car or nearby,
Speaker A
but, unfortunately, I didn't find it. Maybe it's because the game is currently in Alpha. And this plot line just isn't finished yet. If anyone found the crate, definitely let me know in the comments. I went home to prepare
Speaker A
for the raid on the mines and wait out the night. I set out bright and early, walked through the familiar pine forest , and crossed the old bridge. I went down to the river and found the entrance to the abandoned mine. I ended
Speaker A
up in some kind of storage area. After looking around a bit, I discovered a pickaxe and a shotgun. Something tells me there are going to be some big tunes.
Speaker A
Unfortunately, due to copyright, they won't be here, but at least there's that. In one of the corridors, I meet an old man who tells me not to follow him. After having a deep talk with the local laborers, I stumbled upon an
Speaker A
interesting room where I found a miner's diary. In it, the author writes that after an accident at the plant, their mine was buried. The head foreman and his assistants started monitoring order and provisions. For some reason, the assistants ripped the wires out of
Speaker A
the main gate and drained the fuel from the generator. Two weeks later, there was a brawl over a can of peaches where two miners died. And on the twenty-third day, the foreman's assistants completely lost it and ganged up on some poor worker. What a
Speaker A
mess. I condemn the extremists. The diary author realizes that it won't be long before it's his turn, so he writes out an escape plan. By the way, while I was wandering the mine, I found that very foreman in one of the rooms. I
Speaker A
fixed the gate, filled the generator with fuel, beat the hell out of Slavik, opened the door, and saw some kind of flooded basement before me. I don't like places like these. By the laws of the genre, they don't bode well, but I
Speaker A
have to go on. This is a nightmare. And not in the sense that some creepy monster scared me. No, the thing is, I couldn't get past this Pudge for about two hours. I tried shooting him right in the face. I tried hitting him in the
Speaker A
face with a pickaxe. I shot at the gas pipes and then hit him in the face.
Speaker A
Nothing worked. I went to Google it on the internet, but there was nothing there either. And, well, at this point I thought the review wouldn't happen because I simply couldn't move on. I decided to take a risk and wrote to the
Speaker A
official Pine Harbor Discord server. To my surprise, a developer replied a minute later and told me how to get past that part. I also had a problem where the pistol ran out of ammo, and I had crafted rounds in my inventory that
Speaker A
didn't fit the pistol or shotgun. So, it turns out you had to double-click on them to load them into the pistol. And that kind of setup is more to my liking now.
Speaker A
Having defeated that f*cking Pudge, I finally got out of the Gachi mine. My next path led to Kaya. I told her about the miner's diary and showed her the author's initials. The girl went to ask her dad whose diary it was. Returning,
Speaker A
she marked the house on the map and, once again, without asking me for tea, she dipped. I approached the marked house. The author of the diary came out to me, looking more like a f*cking ghoul from Fallout. He said our grandpa
Speaker A
had gone totally crazy and destroyed dozens of families. To find him, you have to find the one who crawls in the night. But before that, you need to get explosives to clear some path or other.
Speaker A
I quickly ran to an abandoned shed, looted the explosives, went home, crafted ammo and bandages, survived the f*cking night, and headed to the red marker early in the morning. Reaching the rubble, I used the dynamite. The forest was suspiciously quiet, and I
Speaker A
didn't encounter a single mutant on the way. Upon arriving at the spot, I saw some Spider-Lady coming at me, apparently closely connected to the old man. She says she won't let me take the old man. After a couple of minutes of
Speaker A
running and shooting, the spider drops, followed by the next cutscene. Grandpa, have you lost your mind? The story breaks off here, but it doesn't end. At the end, the devs explicitly state that it will be continued in the next update
Speaker A
. I deliberately won't talk about the downsides of this game, which certainly exist, just because it's an alpha version. Its goal is to collect player feedback and polish up all the problematic areas. And considering that a developer personally helped me get
Speaker A
through it without knowing I was some blogger making a video, I dare say they are paying attention to feedback. Game devs, if you’re watching this, I know you don't have a Russian localization yet, so feel free to reach out, I can
Speaker A
easily voice something for you. Even that [ __ ] Pudge, for all I care. In short, I support this domestic indie project that the guys from Krasnodar are carrying. As for supporting a simple firefighter who makes videos like these with a like and a sub.
Speaker A
That’s entirely up to you, my dear viewer. For the coolest ones, there is, of course, my Telegram channel. The guys there suggest all sorts of interesting games and just chat. And Boosty, excuse me, is for the elite; that's where my patrons read my
Speaker A
firefighter stories. And I thank them for that. And thank you for watching. Bye. y
Topics:horror gameSilent HillResident EvilUnreal Engine 5Pine Harborsurvival shooterRussian indie gamefoggy atmospheregame reviewhorror story
