First Impressions - No Stone Unturned

I honestly can’t remember the last time I laughed while playing a video game. Like most players, I was perpetually grinning when I sent sentient chickpeas to the underworld in Sintopia. I smiled at many of Esoteric Ebb’s references, and Borderlands 4’s gags usually get a chuckle out of me. I’ve never had to pause a game because I was genuinely laughing that hard. At least, not until I played No Stone Unturned. 

The game is light on content at the moment, but its writing is far and away the funniest I’ve ever experienced. It masquerades as a detective story, but in reality, it’s a perfect parody of the modern gaming industry. 

That said, “masquerade” might be underselling it. No Stone Unturned is, at its core, a detective game — and a surprisingly good one. You play as Detective Cox, a fox tasked with figuring out why a chicken crossed the road… and then ended up dead. That means following leads, interrogating the residents of his village, and even chasing down a suspect. There’s only one case available at the time of writing, but it’s a genuinely strong one that doesn’t unfold quite how you’d expect. 

There are plenty of solid noir-themed games on the market, though, so while No Stone Unturned deserves credit as a compelling whodunnit, the real stars are its writing and gameplay. Both occasionally dip into lowbrow territory, with the former featuring plenty of dick jokes and the latter… also featuring dick jokes. But just when it feels like the game is overindulging, it swerves, delivering a line or mechanic that brilliantly skewers modern game design while somehow improving on it. 

For example, one level has you sneaking around a maze while avoiding a comically evil boss. It’s essentially a toned-down version of The Last of Us Part I’s cannibal section, complete with environmental hazards. Only here, instead of avoiding broken glass, you’re trying not to not knock over vases. If you do, the big bad’ll home in on you — while loudly sobbing over his shattered collection. And when you inevitably get caught, you’re not forced to restart. Instead, you’re reset within the encounter, keeping your progress intact.

Most of No Stone Unturned’s brief runtime plays out similarly. You’re given familiar tasks you’ve performed countless times in other games, but each comes with a twist and a comedic punchline. Not all of the game’s jokes land, but when they do, they really do. The kind of landing that makes you stop, breathe, and question how a game managed to be that funny.

That’s not something I say lightly, and probably not something I’ll say again until No Stone Unturned leaves Steam Early Access at the end of the year. In case it wasn’t obvious, I fully recommend it. However, whether or not it’s worth buying it now or waiting until its full release is entirely up to you. The content on offer here is amazing; there’s just not a lot of it. You could play a decent chunk of the game in the time it took you to read this piece. 

Still quality always trumps quantity. And it’s rare for a game to be this sharp, this confident, and this consistently funny. I’d be shocked if No Stone Unturned doesn’t end up on our best games of the year list come December. Until then, I’ll be replaying it whenever I have a spare hour, grinning from ear to ear.

‍No Stone Unturned is currently in Steam Early Access. Check back on Jump Dash Roll for a full review when it launches!