Asbury Pines

Asbury Pines

Early access since Nov 2025

A grisly mystery in a small town unfolds across centuries through the stories of its residents. Orchestrate their work, grow resources, upgrade skills, and create automated production loops between past and future eras. All to uncover a sprawling secret embedded in the flow of time.

90% positive · 559 reviews
Not yet
In early access, content still planned
High confidence
Content Planned
Not yet
In early access, content still planned
High confidence
Content Planned

Where to buy

Steam $10.39 $12.99 −20%
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Evaluation

Asbury Pines launched into Early Access on November 19, 2025, developed by a two-person team at Chaystar Unlimited LLC. The developers have maintained a consistent update cadence since launch, releasing ten patches through July 17, 2026, covering quality-of-life improvements, bug fixes, new features like fast-forward controls, Steam Deck optimization, and UI animations. On February 1, 2026, the developers published a formal Early Access roadmap detailing their path to 1.0. Planned work includes a guided tutorial, expanded character capabilities, a deeper skill leveling system, new resource buildings (homes and warehouses), new gameplay tabs (Friendships, Learning, Conflicts, Tomes), artifact equipping, animation upgrades, and up to four new soundtracks (with an album purchasable as DLC). On the story side, the ending will be reworked, four new characters added, 17 new stories written, and 15 existing stories deepened. Localization into Simplified Chinese, Japanese, German, and Korean, and ports to Nintendo Switch, Android, and Mac OS are also targeted. The June 21, 2026 patch post explicitly states that the team has entered "Phase 2" of development — transitioning from quality-of-life polish to building out the new content described in the roadmap. A June 27, 2026 preview post showed early work on the overhauled Character Skills system, one of the first Phase 2 features. The most recent update, Patch 10 on July 17, 2026, confirmed ongoing Phase 2 work, including new UI animations described as preparation for larger feature additions. Active development is clearly ongoing, with the full scope of the 1.0 vision still ahead.
Evidence
Developer preview post shows early work on an overhauled Character Skills system, one of the first new features being built in Phase 2.
news post · Jun 27, 2026 source content planned
high
Patch 9 post announces the team has entered 'Phase 2' of development, shifting from quality polish to building new content as outlined in the roadmap.
news post · Jun 21, 2026 source development ongoing
high

Media

Details

Publisher
Chaystar Unlimited LLC
Achievements
31
Platform
Windows
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Verified
Players
Single-player

About this game

“Godforsaken. No other word for it. A murder so brutal it made the whole town of Asbury Pines look itself in the mirror. We work, we raise kids, we do our best, we let time run its course, and then we’re still left scratchin’ our heads. Why did this evil have to happen?”

- Rodney “Buzz” Snow, Sheriff of Asbury Pines

Asbury Pines is a first-of-its-kind story incremental/idler title. Combine and synthesize the work of Asbury Pines townfolk (the Pinies) to unveil a murder mystery across the small town’s history – from the late stone age to the deep future. Immersive writing and image-rich worldbuilding pair with idle/incremental gameplay. As you unlock an array of characters, artifacts and places from one era to the next, combine them and their unique stats in different ways to build and link resource production economies… across centuries. What emerges is a sprawling factory of working lives that unveils a story embedded in the flow of time.

If you enjoy gameplay that balances resource management, rich narrative development, automation/factory strategy, and idle progression, Asbury Pines was made for you! 

From Hrokk the caveman to Moharan the temporal physicist, strategize and connect the work of Pinies through the dozen eras of Asbury Pines history. As you create and modify your resource production engine, you unlock more people, places, and upgrades that combine to strengthen yields and unveil greater depths of a grand mystery.

The breadth and possibility of your plans grow alongside the story.

There ain’t any angels among the Pinies, but a good many are hearty folk who aspire to make a proud home. How did this bizarre murder happen, and why? The narrative begins in the present day and spreads – past and future – across 12 eras from the late stone age to the deep hereafter. Each era brings more details, characters, intrigue, and answers to a mystery that spans the flow of time.

Explore how individual insights, conversations, and documents – stories from wildlife, artifacts, inhabitants, heroes, and invaders – piece together and connect one era to the next, one answer to another.

More than 50 people, plants, and animals with unique stats and backgrounds emerge across the history of Asbury Pines. They drive the mystery with their personal stories, age across timelines, and contribute to the resource growth needed to progress.

Features

  • Expansive worldbuilding based on an image-rich narrative.

  • Accessible and evolving progression systems that build on unlocked content, characters, and places.

  • Many hours of balanced resource management, story development, and progression gameplay.

  • More than 50 characters with 350+ stories to discover and utilize.

  • Offline progression can be enabled/disabled and game speed increased for different play styles.

  • No microtransactions for consistent player experience.

Last evaluated Aug 26, 2026
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