Game review
In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines
6.8 / 10
- Developer
- Laura Hunt (story), Thomas Möhring (art)
- Publisher
- Laura Hunt
- Released
- 1 January 2022
- Platforms
- phone, desktop
- Genre
- narrative,exploration
- Monetisation
- free
- Players
- false
The short version
An atmospheric, well-drawn Bitsy exploration piece set around a lonely forest homestead, confirmed genuinely interactive with real keyboard and swipe-driven movement on both desktop and phone - the craft is real, but this is a short, serious, one-shot narrative rather than a replayable game, and it carries a genuine content warning worth knowing before starting.
Biggest strengths
- Confirmed genuinely functional on both platforms - a keyboard press or tap advanced the opening dialogue into a real overworld scene (a house, fence, campfire, and a distant animal), and real arrow-key movement on desktop and a real touch swipe on phone both moved the avatar and changed its facing sprite, confirmed via direct screenshot comparison
- A genuinely atmospheric, detailed pixel-art environment - the muted forest palette, hand-drawn house, fence line, and campfire read as a real, considered setting rather than a placeholder scene
- Loaded and ran cleanly with no bugs to fix and no unstated third-party licensing concerns, and a handful of harmless legacy-Bitsy touch-handler console warnings on phone did not block play
Biggest weaknesses
- The itch.io page carries an explicit content warning - \"mentions of sexual assault, murder, righteous vengeance and furious anger\" - which is a serious, real consideration for who this is appropriate for, not a minor detail
- Very short and built as a single considered playthrough rather than a replayable game, which is true to its narrative ambitions but thin for a shelf built around repeat play
- This review's testing reached the opening overworld scene but did not have time to trace the full branching story the serious content warning implies, so the complete shape and handling of that heavier subject matter is not something this pass can vouch for firsthand
Who it's for: Adults specifically seeking a short, serious narrative game - the itch.io page itself carries a content warning for "mentions of sexual assault, murder, righteous vengeance and furious anger," which is worth knowing before starting.
Our recommendation: skip
6.8 / 10
Opening
In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines is an atmospheric Bitsy exploration piece named for the old folk song, set around a lonely forest homestead. It is worth knowing upfront that the itch.io page itself carries a content warning for mentions of sexual assault, murder, righteous vengeance, and furious anger - this is a serious game, not a cosy walkabout.
Real controls, confirmed on both platforms
Testing dispatched real input on both platforms rather than assuming the opening dialogue would simply advance. On desktop, repeated keyboard presses moved the game from its title screen into a real overworld scene - a house, a fence line, a campfire, and a distant animal - and a further arrow-key press genuinely moved the avatar and changed its facing sprite, confirmed by direct screenshot comparison. On phone, the identical result was reached via real taps to advance the dialogue and a real touch swipe to move the avatar, confirmed the same way.
A genuinely atmospheric setting
The muted forest-green palette and hand-drawn environmental detail - the house, the fence, the campfire - read as a real, deliberately composed scene rather than a Bitsy default. It's a stronger, more atmospheric visual presentation than many similarly-scoped narrative pieces.
A short, serious experience
This is built as a single considered playthrough of a serious story, not a game meant to be replayed. That's a legitimate and honest choice for what it's trying to do, but it means little reason to return once experienced, and the heavy subject matter flagged on its own itch.io page is a real factor in who this is for.
Final Verdict
A well-drawn, genuinely atmospheric small Bitsy piece confirmed working correctly on both desktop and phone. The craft is real, but between its brevity, its lack of replay value, and its own stated serious content warning, it sits below what this general shelf is looking for.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Confirmed genuinely functional on both platforms - a keyboard press or tap advanced the opening dialogue into a real overworld scene (a house, fence, campfire, and a distant animal), and real arrow-key movement on desktop and a real touch swipe on phone both moved the avatar and changed its facing sprite, confirmed via direct screenshot comparison
- A genuinely atmospheric, detailed pixel-art environment - the muted forest palette, hand-drawn house, fence line, and campfire read as a real, considered setting rather than a placeholder scene
- Loaded and ran cleanly with no bugs to fix and no unstated third-party licensing concerns, and a handful of harmless legacy-Bitsy touch-handler console warnings on phone did not block play
Cons
- The itch.io page carries an explicit content warning - \"mentions of sexual assault, murder, righteous vengeance and furious anger\" - which is a serious, real consideration for who this is appropriate for, not a minor detail
- Very short and built as a single considered playthrough rather than a replayable game, which is true to its narrative ambitions but thin for a shelf built around repeat play
- This review's testing reached the opening overworld scene but did not have time to trace the full branching story the serious content warning implies, so the complete shape and handling of that heavier subject matter is not something this pass can vouch for firsthand