Don't Be Fooled By The Cute Lil Animals In Beacon Pines: It's A Surprisingly Dark And Creepy Mystery

thegamer.com:

With its storybook art, cast of anthropomorphised animals, and general air of breezy tweeness, you'd be forgiven for thinking Beacon Pines was a mawkish, cutesy coming-of-age narrative game. I mean, it is that—but it's also dark. When you start the game and find yourself in the idyllic town it takes its name from, in control of a lil sweater-wearing deer named Luka, you don't imagine for a second that anything bad will happen to him. But then, while investigating a mystery involving an abandoned warehouse at the edge of town, he dies. Well, I assume so. You don't see it, but it's heavily implied that he's finito.

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Don't worry, though: I haven't spoiled the entire game for you. This early confrontation with the Reaper is Beacon Pines' way of introducing its branching story gimmick. When Luka meets his unfortunate demise, the camera pulls out to reveal the pages of a book. An unseen narrator, who accompanies you through the whole game, seems unsatisfied (understandably) with this ending, and wants you to find another. One where, ideally, Luka makes it to the next chapter alive. So you go back to one of the game's many Turning Points, do things differently, and hope that the outcome is happier this time. Thankfully, it often is.

When you hit a Turning Point, it's time to use a Charm. These cards represent a variety of abstract concepts—fight, tickle, refuse, break, pungent, smack, shit, shame, to name just a few—and playing them sends the plot spinning off in a new, sometimes dramatically different direction. Often the Charm you select will lead to a dead end, where the narrative grinds to a halt and you have no hope