First Impressions of Silver Pines

I played the demo for an upcoming game called Silver Pines on Tuesday and haven't been able to stop thinking about it, so I felt the need to get down some of the thoughts that are kind of bursting out of me at this point. You can find more information about the game at its official website, and you can access the demo and wishlist it on Steam. The website provides links to console releases as well, but I believe the demo is currently only available on Steam. The studio behind Silver Pines is called Wych Elm, a team based in Sweden with developers who previously worked on games like Yoku's Island Express, Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, and The Darkness. This is their first title together. They mentioned in their Reddit AMA that they're influenced by small-town episodes of The X-Files, The Thing, 8mm, Secret Window, The Shining, Twin Peaks, and Jacob's Ladder. Elements of all of those absolutely seep through the demo, but I came away from it feeling like I had played a game that was…