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No Stone Unturned is hard to describe, but I’ll try my darndest to by saying it’s a comedic dialogue-fueled fever dream filled with a variety of minigames, chase sequences, and adventurous sleuthing by one very confident squirrel with a case of amnesia to overcome and a case of murder to solve. Your job as Detective Cox is to try and find out what the heck happened to you and a slain chicken you come upon right after waking up outside. Alone and confused, you set off on a search for answers. Developers Wise Monkey Ent. Ltd. have employed some fantastic writers and artists for this project, as I found myself absolutely delighted throughout my playtime, as the whip-smart humor, incredibly creative minigames, and avant garde mish-mash of art styles never left me bored, and always kept things entertaining.
As I proceeded through the first Case of this Early Access venture, titled “Cat Got Your Tongue”, I was most excited about the prospect of what this especially quirky world could give, as we’ll eventually be able to take on four more detective pursuits that will all tie together in some way. At the MSRP of $11.99, No Stone Unturned is a steal to me, as the 2-3 playtime for just the first of these cases that’s included now was more entertaining than some $20 movies I’ve paid to see in that same time.
Fun & Funny Flare
The conversations you have with the many denizens of the town (and your own internal musings) are worth the price of admission. Filled with nonstop visual and spoken jokes and fully voice acted by a wealth of talented actors and actresses, the game encourages you to pick from some of the most ridiculous choices imaginable, all while having the characters react hilariously appropriately. Not one single NPC I interacted with was a cookie-cutter placeholder of a personality. At one point in the game, you’re able to talk to a bevy of animal patrons at a busy pub that you just burst into. I was stunned to realize that not only was I able to interact with all of them, but each and every one had their own set of questions I could “interrogate” them with, and none of the answers were worth skipping.
If you’re visiting Gaming Furever, you’re probably a fan of games that feature animals heavily, and to this degree, No Stone Unturned goes above and beyond to design some of the most expressive and hilarious furry folks that I’ve seen drawn in a game, or any other type of media for that matter. Also, the first case features a few cutscenes, which are fantastically funny and ridiculous, and added to the list of unexpected treats I ate up whilst playing. The combination of using a pixel style, along with hand-drawn, flat textured characters make for a pleasantly unique visual amalgamation. This pairs wonderfully well with the many minigames, all of which also carry their own graphical flair.
Many Mini Minigames
Truly, the true bread and butter of No Stone Unturned is the bite-sized minigames that pop up organically throughout your pursuit of answers to your case. I knew going in that the game would utilize a heavy dose of playful gaming throwbacks in these slices of various gameplay tropes, but even still I was surprised with each new one that I got to have fun completing. Just like the Wario Ware games of old, part of the joy when faced with a new minigame is figuring out what you need to do to succeed at your goal (and sometimes what that goal even is!) Whether it was extending my arm out sneakily to record a rumor, catch falling water droplets to wash dirty dishes, draw on a sketch book so that real-world effects would happen, or play DDR to win a staring contest, any time those red curtains came down in the game indicating a new minigame was started, I’d get a dose of serotonin to my system. Who knows what kind of creative craziness this dev team can concoct over the course of the next four cases if this is their first course! Color me very excited to experience the rest of Detective Cox’s story.
Ask Me Anything!
Speaking of his story, it’s one that doesn’t get too deep at this point, probably because we’re just dipping our toes into the rabbit hole of No Stone Unturned. There’s a lot of mystery layered throughout the dialogue, and the fact that Cox has amnesia doesn’t make filling in the unknown any easier. His role as a detective actually facilitates him asking so many questions, an ironic situation that the writers of the game playfully use throughout his inquiries around town. At the forefront of his quest for truth is trying to figure out who murdered this chicken, a question he bluntly blurts out at pretty much everyone, and quite vociferously and accusatorily. You’ll eventually find yourself ensnared in a few dangerous conundrums, which require some deft use of your WASD keys to escape from. These parts of the experience were some of the most skill-based, and it took me a few tries to get the idea of what the hazards and goals were within them, usually just because I missed some visual clue or an obvious path I needed to explore.
Speak to Me All Squirrelly-like
I’ve already mentioned the talented voice cast, but to expound further upon the audio offerings within the game, I was treated to a lovingly crafted, yet subdued soundtrack by Logan Hart, along with compositions by Charlie Persson, and a few high energy original songs (though most were cut short, I’m sure there are longer ones in the queue for future cases.) The stars of the show are the characters and the voices that bring them to life. I don’t know if the jokes and character’s art that changes to reflect their expression would work as well without the appropriately charismatic voices that burst through so colorfully. The main voice actor for Detective Cox, David Carter, is stellar, and throws himself fully into the role. It’s just a hoot and worth every penny.
In Conclusion
All of these parts are what made the game a complete package, in the end. The combination of involved and belly-laugh-inducing conversations, inventive minigames throughout, and tense sneak-and-chase sequences made for a completely brand new type of game that I was chomping at the bit to continue after the final scene. If this is just the beginning of this adventure, I’m confident that Wise Monkey will continue to deliver even more clever clues, cases, and characters to the game as it evolves throughout its stay in Early Access toward full release. If you like to laugh and love creative indie games, don’t leave No Stone Unturned unturned.
