Silver Pines: How to Get the Shotgun and Best Weapons in Silver Pines (Weapons, Upgrades, Mementos, and Ammo Economy Guide)

30-Second Quick-Start (TL;DR)

The fastest way to end up with the shotgun and a strong arsenal in Silver Pines is to explore every district thoroughly, backtrack whenever you unlock a new tool, and spend coins carefully on ammo.

• Explore everything. Weapons, ammunition, healing items, storage upgrades, and mementos are all scattered around town as pickups.
• Expect the shotgun to be found, not given. The game confirms a shotgun exists among its weapons, but the exact pickup spot isn’t specified. Treat it as an exploration reward.
• Revisit locked doors. Many doors and paths are blocked early. A key item found hours later opens them, and those spots often hold more gear.
• Equip mementos. These charm-like items make both guns and melee builds viable.
• Upgrade guns with found gadgets and repair melee weapons before they break.
• Buy ammo at Vending Machines using coins, but remember each machine’s stock never respawns.
• Save coins for the Phone Booth. Every save costs one coin.
• Mix guns and melee. The game rewards switching styles when ammo or durability runs low.

What This Guide Helps You Do

This guide helps you build a reliable weapon setup in Silver Pines, including the shotgun, by understanding how weapons are found, upgraded, maintained, and supplied.

It’s best for first-time players who are worried about running dry on ammo, and for anyone on the harder difficulties who wants a smarter plan for guns versus melee. Silver Pines has four difficulty options, and the toughest setting is literally named “Survival Horror,” which is where resource decisions matter most.

Requirements & Prep

You don’t need anything special to start collecting weapons in Silver Pines; the prep that matters is knowing how your inventory, coins, and Safe Rooms work.

• Inventory management. Your inventory is a Resident Evil 4 style grid. You move and rearrange items to make space for new pickups, so don’t hoard junk.
• Storage Upgrades. You can find these around town. Grab them early, because a bigger inventory means room for more weapons and ammo.
• Item Box. Every Safe Room has an Item Box and a Phone Booth. Use the box to stash weapons you aren’t carrying.
• Coins. You’ll find them around town. They’re spent on saving at the Phone Booth (one coin per save) and on Vending Machine purchases.
• Crafting. You’ll combine and craft items regularly, so check what can be merged before discarding anything.

Route Overview

Silver Pines is a 2.5D side-scrolling Metroidvania town, so your weapon collection grows as you open up the map rather than following a fixed shopping list.

You begin with limited access and run into doors and paths you can’t open yet. As you finish major set-pieces and find new key items, you loop back through earlier areas and unlock new rooms, shortcuts, and secrets, many of which hold weapons, ammunition, and upgrades. The town includes a Police Station, bars, diners, repair shops, a church, a theater, and sewers, and everything interconnects, so backtracking is the core loop. Along the way you equip mementos, find gadgets to upgrade your guns, and use Vending Machines in different districts to restock. A rough flow: explore a district, note locked spots, progress the story, get the key item, return, and collect.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

1. 1Mark step 1 done

   Explore each district fully before moving on

   Weapons, ammo, healing items, storage upgrades, and mementos are all found by exploring, so clear every reachable room in a district before pushing forward. The game confirms you’ll pick up “way more different weapons” than the usual handgun, shotgun, and rifle trio, and that this includes melee weapons as well as guns. The shotgun is part of that pool, but no specific pickup location is given. Likely based on context: it’s a standard exploration find rather than a late-game secret, but verify this in your own run.

2. 2Mark step 2 done

   Note every locked door and blocked path

   Early in the game you’ll constantly meet doors and pathways you can’t open because you lack the necessary item. Don’t ignore them. Make a mental note of each one, because hours later, when you finally get the right tool, those spots become accessible and often lead to more items and secrets.

3. 3Mark step 3 done

   Backtrack as soon as you unlock a new item

   Every time you gain a new tool, revisit the earlier areas you couldn’t open. The map is built so that returning rewards you with fresh pathways, more items, and shortcuts that speed up travel between districts. Players describe this as some of the most satisfying backtracking in the genre, and it’s the main way you complete your weapon collection.

4. 4Mark step 4 done

   Solve puzzles for progress and rewards

   Some routes are gated behind puzzles. They’re described as neither too cryptic nor too easy. If you feel stuck, review all the information you’ve gathered so far, since the solution comes from combining clues you already hold.

5. 5Mark step 5 done

   Equip mementos to shape your playstyle

   Mementos work like charms, similar to the Case Charms in Resident Evil 4. They make both gun-focused and melee-focused play viable. You can lean on firearms, equip mementos for fast, hard-hitting melee, or combine both depending on the situation. Specific memento names and effects aren’t covered, so check each memento’s description in your inventory.

6. 6Mark step 6 done

   Upgrade your guns with found gadgets

   You can upgrade guns using gadgets you find while exploring. Upgrading the guns you actually use most, rather than spreading gadgets thin, is a sensible approach (inference), but the game doesn’t state which weapons benefit most.

7. 7Mark step 7 done

   Repair melee weapons before they break

   Melee weapons wear down with extensive use and need repairing. If you ignore durability, you lose your fallback option right when ammo runs low. Check durability whenever you reach a Safe Room.

8. 8Mark step 8 done

   Restock at the right Vending Machine

   Spend coins at Vending Machines for ammunition, healing items, and other useful supplies. Each machine carries a slightly different inventory: some stock plenty of ammo, others lean toward healing, and the Theater machine focuses on cheap items. Stock is finite and never respawns, so the longer you play, the emptier the machines get. If the machine near you is out of what you need, you may have to cross town to one that still has it.

9. 9Mark step 9 done

   Save at the Phone Booth, but budget the coin

   Each Phone Booth save costs one coin and requires calling a specific number. Weigh the risk: skipping a save keeps a coin for ammo, but losing progress costs far more time.

Boss/Set-Piece Strategy (Phase by Phase)

The source doesn’t describe any specific boss fight in detail, so there’s no phase-by-phase breakdown here, but a few general combat rules apply to every encounter.

• Aiming locks you in place. The moment you aim, you stand still, and you have to adjust the height of your shot to hit the head. Line up your shot before committing.
• Use the phase-through dodge. While running, you can pass through an enemy, Hollow Knight style, to change lane position and escape corners. Enemies may chase you from one room into the next.
• Watch your stamina bar. Both dodging and melee attacks drain it, so don’t empty it while surrounded.
• Nail the reload skill check. Reloading is a real-time skill check, so don’t start reloading with an enemy already on top of you.
• Bosses and beefy late-game enemies are where these systems come together, so arrive with ammo, healing, and repaired melee weapons.

Builds & Loadouts

No fixed best loadout is named, but the game supports three playstyles: gun-focused, melee-focused, and a hybrid of both.

• Gun-focused: Work through enemies with firearms, upgrade with found gadgets, and buy ammo at Vending Machines. Strong at range, but ammo-hungry.
• Melee-focused: Equip mementos and go for fast, hard-hitting melee combat. You’ll take more damage from being close, but you save ammo.
• Hybrid (recommended by the game’s design): Use guns for dangerous enemies, then swap to melee when ammo is low or when a weapon needs repair.

Farming Loop / Route Efficiency

There’s no true farming loop in Silver Pines, because Vending Machine stock doesn’t respawn and resources are finite by design.

• Your income is the coins you find while exploring, so every uncleared room is potential supply.
• Plan purchases per machine: use the ammo-heavy machines for ammo and the healing-heavy ones for healing.
• Shortcuts you unlock cut travel time between districts, which matters when the nearest useful machine is empty.

Troubleshooting & Common Mistakes

• Running out of ammo mid-game → Switch to melee, stash your main gun, and buy ammo only from machines that actually stock it.
• Broken melee weapon → Repair weapons after extensive use instead of waiting for them to fail.
• Full inventory blocking pickups → Rearrange items in the grid and use the Item Box to free space.
• Overspending coins early → Keep a reserve, since every save costs one coin and machines eventually run dry.
• Skipping locked doors → Return after you gain new key items; those areas hold more gear.
• Buying out the nearest machine → Remember stock never returns, so don’t waste items you don’t need.
• Standing still while swarmed → Use the dodge to phase through enemies and reposition.
• Misjudging shot height → Adjust your aim up or down to hit the head before firing.

Advanced Tips & Time Saves

The best time saver in Silver Pines is to unlock shortcuts between districts and plan each backtrack around the new key item you just received.

• Combine mementos with your weapon of choice to push either a gun or melee approach to an extreme, then switch when it stops being efficient.
• Use safe rooms as a routine: stash, repair, check ammo, then save.
• If you play on the hardest difficulty, “Survival Horror,” plan every bullet, since resources are tightest there.

FAQ

Source & credit

This guide draws on the excellent video walkthrough by itsNiclas! — watch it for the full visual run-through, and give the creator your view: