No Stone Unturned Gamescom demo preview — Solve a murder most fowl

British humor can often seem quite intimidating from a foreign standpoint; we are all about sarcasm and dancing a bit too closely to inappropriate jokes of nihilism that many people look at me stunned if they’re not used to it. This is most definitely the case when I realize I’m writing for an American publication; I need to keep my sassy jokes and British isms on the down low. But after I played No Stone Unturned’s demo, I certified that our humor is hilarious but also that it can be very abrasive. For me, this was a positive, but I’m wary that No Stone Unturned’s humor may not be to everyone’s taste. This demo does a great job of making sure you know if you’re into it or not through its dialogue, gameplay and characters, because this humor stretches to every aspect, it’s pretty much inescapable with no downtime. I’ll also do my job of pitching it and whether this funky detective mystery is worth investigating.

The game properly begins by asking you an age-old question, why did the chicken cross the road? Cut to a gorgeous pixel artwork that details a stormy night and a terrible collision that leaves our chicken splattered on the road. Word of caution, this game can be gory, you see fractured limbs and blood and apparently this is a recurring theme in other cases. This adds a level of grit to No Stone Unturned that I liked, mixing the usual whimsy of talking animals with murder and fatalities. After this collision that involves you – in what way we don’t know yet – you shake off any concussion and realize that you have no idea who you are. The only thing you know is that you’re a detective and you need to get to the bottom of this case. Here you’ll get to know how to analyse bodies and get used to their point and click style. You wave your – x-ray? - magnifying glass over the body and find points of interest, like a fractured leg and any items lying nearby. From the small amount of time I had with this game, I’m intrigued to see if you can mess up your own investigation as when asked to pick up one of two items, one is clearly a bit more useless. Overall, you’re still not too sure what has happened, so the game lets you leave the site and explore.

The game is entirely narrated by our main character, who’s a gruff quirky squirrel that’s a little stupid and has no class – sorry guy. The voice acting is phenomenal and hilarious, with characters boasting really strong comical accents and so much personality poured into everything they say. With the script they’ve been given, you kind of need to go all the way or go home buddy. Despite finding all his quips funny, they are everywhere. He is monologuing into oblivion, and I can see why some people would find that tiring. There’s not really a space for silence or reflection; it's bam, bam, bam. I hope it lightens up as I progress so I can feel more tension and seriousness balanced with the humor, but we will have to see.

After you gather your three clues, you make your way to a nearby house and are greeted by a wee Scottish granny – who is hilarious -  who claims you board at her house and have made quite the mess the night before. During your investigation, you’ll be bombarded by the other main gameplay feature of this game, minigames. Everything you do, any activity you can engage with will turn into a short and sweet mini game. For this mission, you have three spots to clean, including battling a puddle on the floor Undertale style and hovering plates under droplets of water in a catch-em minigame. After speaking with the dev, this game will be full of them, all homages to other pieces of media. They don’t outstay their welcome, so it seems like a nice break from investigating the doom and gloom. 

The demo ends after your time at the Scottish granny’s house and left me wanting for more with the investigation side of things. I felt like I had a good taste of its fun, but I want to know how fleshed out the murder mystery aspect of it is. The game is going to be about 20 hours in length and will boast about 6 cases, all episodic but will all come together at the end. No Stone Unturned’s humor and presentation makes it distinct from its competition within the puzzle detective genre. I think it needs to straighten out a couple of things for its release, including a skip dialogue button and maybe a skip feature on some minigames if they’re a bit annoying or hard. But ultimately, it’ll be one I look out for!

We also got to interview the lovely Gareth Owens, the Game's Director, at Gamescom for more talk about inspiration and Gareth’s personal journey to creating video games, check it out soon!

For all No Stone Unturned news, stay tuned to GamingTrend!