Kona

I do wish the ending didn't feel so rushed, somehow at once feeling like it explains far too much, and yet resolves far too little. But the journey there is absolutely worth it - this is a narrative adventure that smartly pretends to be a survival game, while not shying away from wanting to tell you its story. It doesn't have the slick perfection of Firewatch, it's a rougher game (and again let's remember it was Kickstarted years before FW was released), but it understands the same ideas that made Firewatch work, and that's damned important.

Kona is a wonderful and lovingly crafted accomplishment. It’s charming, magical, and smart enough to instill real motivation in its players and layer its cast in realist ways. Kona might be the first of four planned games, but it also happens to be a great standalone adventure that’ll have you reaching for the thermostat in no time.

A snowy, Canadian wilderness is the perfect location to hide some bodies in the closet. If you don’t believe me, Kona – a survival adventure game by Parabole – will certainly convince you.

It's 1970 and Private Detective Carl Faubert is heading deep into the wilds of Northern Quebec on a job. Hired to investigate a spate of vandalism in a rural mining community, Carl's looking forward to getting out of Montreal so that he can do something that doesn't involve divorce and cheating spouses. Unfortunately, as soon as he arrives at Lake Atamipek, a car accident – and a blinding snowstorm – leaves him stranded in the wilderness with few supplies, and at the centre of a dangerous mystery.

Spanning several hours and sporting a number of more traditional game features, Kona feels far meatier compared to your average walking sim. The combination of nonlinear design and survival mechanics certainly help to dispel some of the issues I have with the genre. That said, the vagueness surrounding some puzzles, frequent backtracking, and a somewhat dissatisfying finale left me with mixed feelings despite introducing some welcome changes to the formula.

Emerging out of Steam Early Access in mid March, Kona is an exploratory narrative game that will have you battling the elements as well as your own wits to solve a mysterious series of events. Played from the first-person perspective, Kona will have you explore a small town, scavenge for supplies, and sleuth around, looking for answers to the many questions that your surroundings ask. Whilst there is an interesting story to be found within Kona, the journey to uncover that story is riddle...