Game: STONE
Genre: 3D, Adventure
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam, IOS and Xbox One)
Developer|Publisher: Convict Games
Age Rating: EU 16+ | US Mature
Price: UK £13.49 | EU 14.99 | AU $19.95 | CA $19.90 | US $14.99
Release Date: 8th May 2020
Review code provided with many thanks to Convict Games
Passion Projects
Passion projects are a wonderful thing to be able to accomplish as a creator, especially when working in the entertainment industry. Maybe you’re a film creator, musician or video game developer. Having the creative freedom to make the project of your dreams is an empowering experience. Stone is clearly a project the developer was keen to get released but was unfortunately turned down by other companies. With a talented team who had worked on projects like Quantum Break and Control, and films like Gravity and Prometheus, my curiosity was peaked. So let’s grab a coffee and dig into Stone.
Stone’s Throw
Stone is a private investigator (PI) and a koala bear. He has had a rather rough night and wakes up to find his partner Alex has gone missing. Stone visits his animal friends in various locations trying to find out what has happened to Alex. There really isn’t much more to the game. Each act you’re plopped in a bar, club, or bowls course, and you talk to the same friends over and over again to progress the plot. Occasionally you can choose how you’ll respond to the dialogue mostly with a ‘soft touch’ or ‘hard ass’ comment. Choosing either doesn’t appear to change the direction of the story so I felt very little attachment to making the right decision. Then before you know it the story is over and that’s about it. The whole plot just feels so sterile.
It’s quite a shame really, as deep within Stone is an interesting plot about relationships and self-improvement, but it’s poorly developed making it hard for me to really care about any of the characters at all, including Stone himself. I guess the music that plays at the end of an act is kind of cool, but it’s not enough to make up for a very empty game experience
Audio Issues
The game has English voice acting but the audio levels seem all over the place with some characters, some appearing notably louder than others. Also warning to some gamers: there is a lot of swearing in this game. Not something that offends me but probably worth mentioning in case you play it on your TV.
Party Animal
Graphics on Switch have taken a notable hit when I compared it to PC. I began the game in handheld mode where the character models looked notably off in some places, and this didn’t particularly improve on the TV. For a game where you visit only a few environments they’re quite empty and lacking any depth. It’s also a little odd that you return to visit the club repeatedly only to see the same character models doing the same derpy dance over and over again. The world overall feels very empty, and the locations lack any real detail or stand out features. There is very little incentive to walk about further and take in the art when it all looks so bland.
Done and Dusted
I finished Stone in under two hours. Between scenes the game lets you explore areas of the city like the music shop where you can listen to various music tracks from different genres. You can also go to the cinema and watch films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as well as a few others. Absolute classics and to my surprise they run in their entirety. I sat in the cinema and watched Night of the Living Dead (one of my favourites) on my Switch only to sadly discover the film has audio issues. Part way through the audio is a few seconds behind making it feel like a badly dubbed foreign film. You’re better off just watching the film for free online since it’s public domain. At least there you can pause the film at your leisure. I really only felt compelled to finish the story just to see how things would pan out before switching the game off.
Drop in the Ocean
I really scanned to find some redeeming qualities in Stone. But every time I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt the game pushed back. No challenge, bland graphics, audio issues, and incredibly short on content. While I admire the developer for chasing their passion project, I feel Stone needs a lot more polish in just about everything to make it a worthwhile purchase. It did remind me how awesome Night of the Living Dead is though, and that’s good.
Final Verdict: I don’t like it
