Pine Falls is very loosely based on the Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch with some light touches of Stephen King's The Mist.
The MC has an accident with his car and wakes up in a strange town that is surrounded by a mysterious fog which prevents the inhabitants from leaving the town.
The small town is almost exclusively inhabited by young and attractive women, most men have mysteriously vanished in the past few years only exception are the sheriff and mechanic, both are old men however and apparently all the girls in town have no interest in them even if they are all craving for sex, but of course they are highly interested in the young and handsome MC....
Pine Falls' story is equally split between finding out more about the mystery of the town and the pursuit of the various love interests.
There is Alice, the very pretty and flirty blonde who tries to secure the MC for herself very early in the story, an offer few will probably refuse.
Then there Is Mia, Alice's younger sister, she is the petite, shy and innocent virgin (who looks a bit like Anne Hathaway's cousin or so) who will gradually display her interest in the MC.
Then there is Grace, a feisty redhead who used to work as a camgirl and thus has a lot of experience and is in in a competition with Alice for the MC (neither of them know about Mia as a potential LI).
And finally the MC can also pursue Lily, the girl with the tattoos and piercings who at first displays some tsundere tendencies, but eventually warms up to the MC.
The MC can also get in a relationship with Alice and Grace for the genre typical throuple, but well developed solo paths exist for each of the women. Each woman is entirely optional and you can also opt out of any of the women in part 1 - but who would do that.
Apart from those four main love interests there are various side characters. There are options for orgies and threesomes if anyone wants that. Again, all of that is entirely optional.
Options are certainly one of the strengths of Pine Falls, nothing is ever forced upon the player (other than anal sex in one entirely optional scene), you can always reject someone or reject a scene and just walk away or say "no".
The renders are all pretty good, this is your typical DAZ game. The females, with one deliberate exception, are all very pretty and all quite varied, there should be a preferred type for almost everyone. However, fans of big busted "milfs" or ultra wide hips won't be happy, since all the women are young and have normal proportions and look more or less like actual human beings. If you prefer that Pine Falls will give you all you want in that regard. I very much appreciated the more naturalistic approach.
Animations are ok. Nothing noteworthy though, the animations are a bit stiff maybe, but it's alright, if sex scenes are what you are after Pine Falls may disappoint with an almost exclusive focus on vanilla. Generally speaking the relationships you can have are all wholesome and romantic. If you want kinks you will not find them here. But if romance and wholesomeness is what you are after Pine Falls has a lot to offer.
The game features partially voiced dialogue, ambient sound effects and music. The music is "ok", but was not really to my taste, but since this is entirely down to taste I will not say more about it. The main love interests and the mechanic have a few voiced lines. But quite honestly, it's not needed. The female voice is very pleasant, but the performance is a bit flat. And of course each girl has the same voice. It's a nice touch, but since only a small fraction of lines are actually voiced it's more or less superfluous.
Part 2 has almost zero voiced dialogue other than a "hello" or so and some laughter and some moans during the scenes with the women.
The central mystery of Pine Falls is pretty good, but a far cry from what you get in the Wayward Pines novels. However, depending on which ending you choose, the resolution can be pretty disappointing.
You will either be able to escape and find out nothing about the mystery or you stay behind and learn a bit more. But I found that particular ending quite silly and absolutely nothing I wanted to see really, it was the most disappointing path for me and I much preferred the ending with one of the main LIs.
My advice for the ending is to pick your main love interest early in part 2 (you get a dialogue option for that) and then to escape with the main LI at the first opportunity given to you, this is the best ending for the MC and the romance partner. By far. Even if that means you may not get to see 100% of the content. But you miss very little of actual worth.
Pine Falls is split into two parts, there is no save game transfer between the parts, instead you have to answer a few questions (all interwoven into the game as dialogue options, so it' s not obnoxious) early at the start of part 2 that will set the appropriate variables.
However, that also means that while in part 1 you had the opportunity to pursue all love interests at once to see who your favorite is, part 2 will make you choose and you have to select a solo path for your favorite woman. There is no way around that.
You will only get interactions with her in part 2 and zero (sexual) interactions with the previous love interests, other than Lily whose path only becomes available late in part 2. She only has one scene, and then one scene at the end if you choose to escape with her. Of course there are still several scenes with optional side characters if you want that. But overall I feel it's ok that you have to pick and choose in part 2, since part 1 gave you the opportunity to explore all love interests.
Part 1 is overall the better experience, part 2 is shorter and focuses more on the mystery than the girls really. But it almost seems the developer lost the will to further develop the story, since the central mystery is either unresolved in any of the solo endings or is cut short and really quite silly in the alternative ending.
The story could have been so much more, especially when you think of the major inspiration behind the game. I think it would have been better to take more cues from Wayward Pines, but of course this would have been a daunting task for a VN since it would have required a much longer game.
All in all Pine Falls is ok, it looks nice, the women are all attractive (other than Millie who pursues the MC at several points in the story but can always be turned down), the MC also looks alright and is neither a creep or a complete pervert (depending on player input though) and the central romance with any of the potential LIs is sweet and wholesome.
But the dialogue is only average and the story is very undercooked. And when you find out more about the mystery in the alternative ending chances are you may facepalm since it's very lame, in my opinion.
At least Pine Falls has a proper ending and in the solo paths you do get one longer scene with your main LI after you escape, but there is no marriage, pregnancy or any of that, the MC is just in a loving relationship with his favorite woman, but it's something at least.
People who like VNs that focus on story and a wholesome romance with some completely optional somewhat more spicy elements (orgies with multiple women, some lesbian content, threesomes) will most likely enjoy Pine Falls.
Don't expect too much from the story though (especially if you have read Wayward Pines) and part 2 feels weaker overall and also a bit more rushed. The overall experience is fine though, but the game lacks that certain extra to make the romances more memorable and the central mystery ends with a whimper.
So I feel 3 stars is an appropriate rating. For more it would have needed a much stronger part 2, a better resolution and more interactions with the main love interests.