As a Canadian, I am contractually obligated to like Kona, the snowy supernatural mystery that debuted on Steam Early Access in March of last year. Fortunately, I actually do think it looks potentially quite good, or at least very interesting, and I'm really looking forward to giving it a proper go when it launches in full on, as developer Parabole revealed today, March 17.
The trailer that came along with the announcement may be the most purely Canadian game promo I've ever seen. A Korean war vet named Carl sits in his pickup truck, having a smoke and listening to French folk music while a CN train rolls by. Then some dumbass who forgets that you're supposed to slow down in bad weather—slow down, dumbass!—runs him off the road.
Meanwhile, the guy who used to narrate all those National Film Board documentaries you had to watch back in public school explains that things "got pretty rough," which is Canadianese for "he's being hunted by a Wendigo and has nothing to fight back with but an old hunting gun and a lantern, but ehh, it could be worse."
All kidding aside (although I'm not really kidding), Kona is a game I have very high hopes for. It's a deep north supernatural mystery set in 1970, which begins simply enough—Carl sets out to investigate complaints of vandalism at a wealthy industrialist's hunting lodge—but then veers off into a "perplexing quietness" that's gripped an entire, tiny town. Parabole said Kona is the first of four games that collectively will tell "a chilly, narrative-driven interactive tale you won't soon forget."
Kona is available on Steam as an Early Access game for $18/£14/18, and also through GOG's "In Development" lineup. Parabole also released a trio of new screens you can lay eyes on below.
