Pinewood Island

+ Симпатичные мультяшные спрайты героев. + Нет воды! В отличие от словеснопоносных визуальных новелл, тут всё кратко и по делу, без растекания мыслями по древу. + Написано достойным языком: не замысловатым, но и не примитивным. +/- Три пацанчика на выбор: скромняжка хипстер, дерзкий гот и хиппи блядyн. Не густо, конечно, но выбор есть. +/- Одна ветка проходится за полтора часа. +/- Концовок огромное количество, но большая их часть заканчивается невнятно и имеет незначительные отличия от других. +/- Детективный сюжет. Однако линейный. Не смотря на количество концовок, он закончится либо в тупике, либо в непонятках, либо в раскрытии убийцы, но он всегда один и тот же, без вариантов. +/- Пикантные сцены только в текстовом виде без визуального сопровождения, но написаны хорошо. +/- Интуитивно добиться желаемой концовки вряд ли получится, только по гайду. - На бэкграунды денег не хватило. - На CG сцены, видимо, тоже. В галерею собирать почти нечего.

Content warning: murder, stalking, obsessive infatuation, suicide, physical abuse references, sexual assault, psychotic behavior, gaslighting, abduction, and general scenes regarding death. This game has psychological horror and a murder mystery (though, none of it is graphic). The protagonist goes on a university class trip to a remote island with a professor and some classmates. After one night, a murder occurs and suddenly everyone is suspicious. Meanwhile, there are three guys the protagonist can become romantically involved with despite the situation. Sadly, it involves what I call "psycho romance" in which a romantic interest character is so deeply infatuated with a protagonist that they do absolutely bat-sh*t crazy things to secure their involvement with said protagonist. I understand that some people like this and understand that it is fictional or a fantasy. [b]I cannot stress enough that you should never, ever romanticize these behaviors in real life. You do [i]not[/i] want that in real life. If a romantic partner is gaslighting or exhibiting possessive behavior, gtfo immediately.[/b] I suppose I understand the psychology of it as feeling so wanted that someone is willing to do crazy things for you, but at the same time, that same person can do crazy things [i]against[/i] you as well. Furthermore, no one is [i]entitled[/i] to you, no matter what they've done for you. Why am I still giving it a positive review? Because the psychotic behavior is framed negatively, at least. The story is still entertaining and I really liked the other romance paths. [b]Pros[/b] [list] [*] A good "cabin fever" story. [*] Fairly good mystery. [*] Romance paths elicit romantic feelings fairly well. [*] Discussions of serious topics. [*] Several endings. [*] Protagonist customization. [/list] [b]Cons[/b] [list] [*] Way too short. It took me a bit over 6 hours to finish all endings. [*] No queer representation. [*] Token black character, everyone else is white. (Opting for the protag to be dark-skinned doesn't count.) [*] Preferably more romance options than just three white guys. [/list] It's a decent VN with two decent romance paths and, I guess, if you're into psycho romance, obviously, you'd like it.

Really good pacing and options in game! If you like otome games, a must buy. I liked that there are A LOT of endings where stuff can go horribly wrong and it's fun to try and 100% the game without a guide. Really easy to tell if you are building a relationship and with which guy. Susan the unsung hero and building with her proves to also be valuable. The endings had me instantly replay after playthrough 1. I also like that there are plenty of save spots organized into 1 2 3 4 5 so I can keep track of my routes! I HAD FUN!

Looking for another murder mystery visual novel with optional romance and interesting characters? While there's little in terms of CG (if this is your major reason for playing a visual novel), Pinewood Island is a very fun story with an interesting approach to solving a murder: you may figure out who the killer is, you might not. You might save some lives, you might not. Pissing off the killer unknowingly tends to head things towards worse endings. You can have an entire playthrough of the game without truly romancing anyone and still have a pleasant story. Saying much more would potentially spoil some element of the game, so I'll stop there. I recommend it.

I refunded it a while back, it was just too bland. Get it if it's on sale but be aware that it's really empty. Nothing is fleshed out at all, choices don't do much, story just leaves you wanting more.

[h1][b]Pinewood Island [/b][/h1] [h1][b] Summary: [/b] [/h1] • In Pinewood Island you are a college student on a trip with your classmate to an island. Upon arriving, you find out that the professor in charge has been murdered. With three (or four?) weeks to go until help arrives, it’s up to you how you spend your time. Will you find romance? Solve the murder? Keep these idiots you’re with from killing themselves and each other? [h1] [b] The Good: [/b] [/h1] • [b]Character Customization. [/b] I wish character customization was a must-have for visual novels. Regardless of whether or not I 10/10 love the style, I’m absolutely delighted to put a face to my character, and to see the many options for skin color and hair color represented. This is something I hope Jaime Scribbles Games always continues to incorporate moving forward. • [b]There is significant branching involved with this story, not necessarily in the ways that we are used to, but the (at least) 10 different endings are evidence of this. [/b] While I wish the endings had more content and each had a CG there was still significant so much to see and play through. This is the type of branching that encouraged me to play through the game multiple times, when I normally would be satisfied with only playing once. • [b]I really enjoyed way the plot unfolded from the inciting event. [/b] In case you want to miss spoilers, I’ll just say that it was really nice! [spoilers] Mainly, the danger of to the inhabitants is their own fear and unconstrained emotions that put themselves and others in danger. I was genuinely surprised that saving these people’s lives had nothing to do with some shadowy man in the background, but about the fear of being stuck somewhere with a killer making people dangerous. [/spoilers] • [b]The characters! [/b] While there was absolutely more room to get to know the characters, the characterization done within this space was still very enjoyable. • [b]Friendship routes! [/b] Yes, there’s romantic love, but also a friendship route was really nice! • [b]The mystery-but-not-how-you-think[/b]: I’m not an avid mystery person, so this might actually be a negative for those people, but I didn’t find the mystery incredibly hard to solve or anything like that. Instead, the value of the experience was more about the journey, and how you made the good/bad things happen. [spoiler] Example: I kept having Jesse? Joey? *A guy* die via the bonfire, so I spent time figuring out how you could influence the deaths of your fellow students, and how it was possible to save them. This was the true mystery, for me, instead of a who-done-it. If figuring out how and why you get good endings/bad endings regarding the plot, this is an extra fun read. [/spoiler] [h1]The Middle[/h1] - The art style I think will be hit or miss. It grew on me, although it felt out of place with the environmental renders. [h1]The Not-So-Good[/h1] [b] I Wanted More: [/b] • I wanted more, which is a great issue to have if that desire isn’t damaging the quality of the work already done. Here I liked a lot of how the plot unfolded, but, to me, it felt like there was room for more. However, this did not detract from the work that was done (except in the case of the epilogues). [h1] [b] Suggestions for New Players: [/b] [/h1] • Catch it on sale now during the Steam summer sale. This is my second (and a half?) game by Jaime Scribbles (check out As You Know It in the BLM bundle on ITCH. It’s awesome to play one of their early games and see how they’ve grown. [h1] [b] You’ll Like This If: [/b] [/h1] • You like branching narratives • You’re are exhausted with highschoolers been put in the position to act like adults. These characters are college students so that issue is averted.

You came here to solve a mystery and date boys? Too bad. if you try to focus on the mystery, you get a bad ending. And dating the boys is very shallow. You'll exchange a bit of dialogue and then it will timelapse and say, "You really learned a lot about James. He's a cool dude." Be still my swooning heart with that depth of romance. I did like the playboy with a heart of gold, what little was there.

大半夜玩儿的，心里有点儿发毛！整体感觉很像无人生还，要是能再多死一点儿人就好了！ 本来想这次把三个角色都攻略个遍，然而！我第一个选择的男性角色真的太可爱了，（严重剧透注意）[spoiler]之前看立绘以为他是那种风骚胡子男，结果是容易脸红的安静男孩儿，因为父亲常年家暴他的缘故，自闭且有暴力倾向，不过他天性温柔，一直克制着施暴和强占有欲的冲动，对女主永远是默默地体贴和关怀（除了某个坏结局）；当然了，这种性格的人肯定就是杀人凶手，当他目睹教授试图强/上女主的时候，他一想到QJ未遂的教授根本不会受到法律制裁，直接失去理智捅死了教授，但他没想到第二天他们居然好巧不巧跟外界失去了联系，事后又看见其他学生因为自己的举动濒临崩溃，从而产生了强烈的负罪感，这时如果女主跟他好感度足够高，他就会在结尾哭着和女主吐露真相，女主可以选择把他送进局子，或者帮他隐瞒罪行，再或者和他成为一对儿专杀【性//骚//扰学生的老师】的killer couple。[/spoiler] 我个人最喜欢第三个结局！毕竟现实中这样的例子比比皆是，前段时间微博上不就是，美院教授骚扰学生却并未受到什么实质上的惩罚，我倒真希望这些社会渣滓都给我死光。