Narrative Analysis – Beacon Pines

Spoiler warning: minor plot details for Beacon Pines

Overview

Beacon Pines is an indie narrative adventure game that was released in September 2022. It’s a mystery-filled choose-your-own-adventure-style tale that’s set within a storybook. Players take on a dual role as both the main character Luka VanHorn and the reader of the narrated adventure. In the quaint mountain town of Beacon Pines, Luka and his friends must work together to solve the creepy secrets their home is hiding. The game’s cute, illustrated aesthetics and sweet-looking characters mask an emotionally-charged storyline that veers into dark territory at times.

Beacon Pines also makes use of an incredibly clever storytelling mechanic to allow players to experience different narrative branches. With certain parts of the story missing, players can use words they discover through exploration to fill in the blanks, with varying outcomes for the characters as a result. There’s a lot to learn from Beacon Pines in terms of how to present interactive fiction as an engaging gameplay experience.

Personal context

I recently finished playing Beacon Pines on Xbox Game Pass. With no real prior knowledge of the narrative premise or gameplay style, I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly it hooked me. I found Beacon Pines to be a fantastic example of how a complex narrative can be presented over a compact setting, with a sense of player agency that still allows for linear storytelling within the branching elements.

From an analytical perspective, I believe that Beacon Pines has helped me to better understand the importance of establishing original ways to navigate and present branching and bottlenecks in narrative structures.

Key Characters

• Luka VanHorn – The player character. Luka is a twelve-year-old deer who finds himself caught up in a web of secrets. After the death of his father and the mysterious disappearance of his mother, Luka discovers some shady goings-on in Beacon Pines and decides to get to the bottom of things, with varying consequences.
• Rolo Cotter – Luka’s best friend and loveable sidekick. Rolo is a liger with a charmingly brash personality that contrasts nicely with Luka’s reserved and somewhat melancholy attitude. He finds himself in several precarious situations as a result of his adventures with Luka.
• Beck Moedwil – Luka and Rolo’s new friend who arrives in Beacon Pines with her parents a little later into the game. She makes up the third member of the kids’ detective trio and works to help Luka solve the mystery with Rolo.

What I like about the game’s narrative

• The story feels instantly engaging and mysterious thanks to the storybook presentation and dialogue from the narrator. 
• The use of a narrator is an interesting touch. The external voice works well to solidify the storytelling vibe in its own right. It’s a compelling combination of feeling like you’re being told a story whilst also being an active participant in its events. You almost feel as though you’re building a relationship with the narrator through the choices you make. This makes you want to start again and help her find the “right” ending for her characters.
• The overall presentation of the narrative is that of one that players can shape through their choice of words. However, the fact that these words have to be obtained through exploration and interaction makes the narrative still feel very gameplay-oriented.
• There’s an element of choice, but it’s a constrained choice, which makes total sense from a scope perspective. However, it doesn’t feel limiting, which is great for player agency.
• The use of conversation between NPCs and interactions with the world and environment works effectively in providing backstory and context.
• The environmental storytelling is excellent. It adds much greater breadth and depth to what’s essentially a very small playable game world.
• Characters are incredibly well-rounded and loveable. Their interactions with one another and general dialogue conveys their mindsets and personalities very effectively.
• The use of the charm mechanic (in which players can obtain and use specific words at different story junctions called “turning points”) is brilliant. It lends different tones to the overall story and creates new paths for players to explore. Additionally, it means that certain paths can only be accessed at turning points if the corresponding charms have been obtained.
• The implementation of The Chronicle cleverly lets players rewind to a particular turning point on a branch at any point to try out a different word. This conveys a real sense that the adventure is in the player’s hands. The planning involved in this particular aspect of the narrative must’ve been a lot of work, but it pays off.

What I’d do differently

• I’d perhaps implement some kind of opportunity for players to select a response for Luka during dialogue interactions. Although it may not necessarily need to shape outcomes, I think it’d be another way to enhance player agency or affect character dynamics at certain points within the story.

Exploring the game’s building blocks

I find it helpful to examine the fundamental components of the game as a whole to see how they work together in communicating the overall narrative experience.

• In Beacon Pines, it’s clear that both story and mechanics are very tightly linked. In one sense, the game’s main mechanic is the story itself, with players being able to choose words that they feel best fit the story scenario presented at each turning point. Integrating a replay mechanic as a principal means of navigating the story is a highly engaging approach to a branching narrative.
• While the main mechanic in this game is that of meaningful player choice, there are also ways to interact with items and locations in the game world through exploration.
• Conversation with NPCs is also a useful mechanic and can be another way of obtaining charms that can be used during turning points. A couple of the minigames that transport Luka further back into his childhood can be accessed in different areas of the town. These memory-based minigames allow for further contextual information on Luka’s relationships with his lost parents, which adds weight to the emotional stakes for his character in the game’s present.
• Beacon Pines’ story also informs the game’s aesthetics, in that the gorgeously illustrated storybook artwork enhances the playable folktale feel of the experience. However, The creepier sections of the narrative also gel well with the game’s nostalgic art style. The combination communicates a retro vibe that underpins some of the more science-fiction-themed aspects of the story.
• The game technology used in Beacon Pines supports the player with losing themselves in the narrative. This is particularly clear in the implementation of each of the small playable spaces that can be accessed through screen transitions. It gives a sense of the game world being larger than it is, whilst feeling highly interactive and engaging.
• Having a separate way to navigate the game via The Chronicle also puts greater control of the story into the player’s hands. The overall design of the game and the way it functions feels intuitive and smooth, and conversations are presented engagingly, albeit without as much interactivity as I’d have liked.

Aspects of this game I’d want to implement in my own work

• Engaging storytelling and a central pillar of player choice driving the narrative in different directions.
• Loveable characters that feel deeply connected to the game’s world and history.
• Dark, creepy vibes that are cleverly hidden under a cute and uplifting aesthetic.
• Witty and believable dialogue between the characters.
• Powerful replay mechanic – providing an opportunity to explore different versions of events to get to the ideal outcome/happy ending.
• Beautifully illustrated visuals.
• Environmental storytelling that provides context and backstory.
• A compelling emotional experience.
• Potentially exploring how to work with a narrator as a third-party character in a narrative.

Summary

There are lots of learning opportunities to take from Beacon Pines. Particularly from a game narrative standpoint, this experience puts storytelling front and centre by using it as a specific game mechanic. It’s got layers of detective drama on top of detective work; as a player, you’re left feeling that your express task is to dig through the different variations of the plot to get to the ideal ending.

It feels as though you’re trying to find the best outcome for the sake of the characters, but also for the sake of the narrator, who isn’t ready to close the book on the adventure that is Beacon Pines until she can navigate to the correct ending. It’s just incredibly clever storytelling as well as highly skilled narrative design. On top of that is a really enjoyable tale, packed with mystery, moments of dread, impactful choices and heartwarming situations.