While I’ve repeatedly shared the fact that visual novels don’t tend to be my cup of tea, I’ll admit that when handled properly they can be effective. Semi-interactive games are another means of trying to tell a deeper story while keeping the gameplay more minimal, and that’s clearly the road that the developer behind Pine: A Story of Loss was aiming for. The thing is, when the depth and quality of what passes for gameplay is so minimalist and neglected, I think the value of the entire mission to try to “gamify it” at all starts to rightfully be questioned.

Aside from the fact that the title gives away the crux of the protagonist’s challenges, it takes very little time to understand that your character is struggling, but surviving. Going out each day he tackles the tasks that are necessary for survival, whether chopping wood, working to maintain his humble home, or managing a small garden. You’ll participate in these actions in a very limited manner, doing little more than swiping or tapping a button. To break things up you'll periodically work a puzzle or do some carving, but for the most part it’s clear that he’s merely surviving, and doing little more.

At some point things do turn a bit and change as your character starts to try to find ways to change his sad lot in life, but they’re very slow coming. I understand that what gameplay there is reinforces the somewhat autopilot-driven existence your character is stuck in as he tries to cope with his loss, but that also doesn’t make the grind-like repetition of very simple tasks any less dull to sit through. Then there’s the matter of whether or not you feel like the new path he finds for himself is something you can relate to or would somehow reject, further muddying the water for whether or not the typical person would connect with the ultimate experience. It has a story to tell, but I do question whether this was the ideal means of properly sharing it in the end.