Silver Pines is a great survival horror throwback with an unexpected Metroidvania twist, but it makes me glad the genre's moved on

It's those bloody typewriters all over again. Developer Wych Elm Games' Silver Pines is fantastic in a whole bunch of ways, from its woozy small-town ambience to its mix of taut survival horror and exploratory Metroidvania. But from the very first moment I saw its save system, its please-insert-coin phone box demands, I knew our relationship was going to be a fractious one. Silver Pines begins, however, in the gloom of a 1950s diner; lights off, windows boarded, as the titular town awaits an oncoming storm.