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I've been sent over a key to 'Kona', a pretty intriguing Early Access first person adventure game. I've given it a whirl so you know what to expect.

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I'm always wary of Early Access games, but I honestly think Kona is going to turn out to be something really amazing when it's done. It already has a number of positive reviews, and I will be no different. I think overall it's great, minus the issues I will outline.

You are Carl, a private detective tasked with figuring out what the heck is going on, and things quickly take a turn for the worst. You seem to be all alone too, and you need to stay warm.

I love having a good explore, and games like Kona with some lovely narration are easy to get lost in. The English narrator in Kona is excellent, and really helped set the game up well for me in the beginning.

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While the story, and general atmosphere is really well done in Kona it does have one glaring issue to me. The weird hazy-white overlay the game uses, the entire screen is covered in a white mist at all times, and honestly it hurts my eyes and generally looks bad. This isn't a bug, but I sincerely hope they allow us to turn it off, or at least turn it down.

The art and animations in Kona are really quite good, it really looks like a game built by a much bigger studio. It's fluid, looks like it has a decent and consistent art style and the sound effects are really good too.

I laughed at myself at how long I was stuck on a certain point in the game, remember to zoom in a little (right mouse button) to see certain details on buttons and levers. Try not to overlook the little things, or you will end up wondering around in the cold like me.

There's a very small hint of a survival game too, as you get cold and have a temperature gauge to keep an eye on. You can make fires in certain places, and I haven't really seen my temperature drop very far—yet.

The save system requires you be near a heat source, so it has a form of checkpoint saving which bugs me. I never like checkpoint saves, as there has never been a game to make me feel it's needed.

Issues
Right now performance is a bit iffy, as I was getting below 40FPS on both High and Ultra settings on my 980ti, but I seemed to get pretty good performance on Medium (using the presets, with no adjustments). Although, even on Medium there are times it dropped below 30, presumably as it's loading in new scenes.

Looks like for now on Linux it needs a pretty good card, but even so on Medium the game is still great to look at.

I seem to get graphical bugs with the tops of trees turning white, and water flashing when switching graphics settings, restarting the game seems to fix it. There are other graphical bugs in general, like getting the map out inside the car results in this:
image
Update: They have told me it will be fixed in the next update.

At one point you cut a chain, and the cutters are invisible. Issues like that really detract from the experience.

Right now, I would say to hold off if you are interested in it. As it really does need some fine tuning and polishing, and being a story-based adventure game it could easily ruin your fun with it.

It's definitely looking like it will be something great though, so keep an eye on it! I will give it a more thorough review when it leaves Early Access.

You can grab Kona on Steam, Humble Store and GOG. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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11 comments
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z3ntu Apr 4, 2016
The game is also available on GOG (https://www.gog.com/game/kona_day_one


Last edited by z3ntu on 4 April 2016 at 4:48 pm UTC
frostwork Apr 4, 2016
looks cool indeed. *wishlisted*
Feist Apr 4, 2016
I bought this on sale last week, it looked fairly interesting; like a more gameplay-oriented version of "Firewatch", so I thought it was worth a chance. However, like you say an adventure game with lots of story in it, is not really the ideal thing to play in early access.

Still, I'm feeling optimistic about this title.
GNUzel Apr 4, 2016
I preordered it. Loved it when I played the pre-order alpha. I'll have to try it out again.
Kimyrielle Apr 4, 2016
That haze does look horrible. oO

First person games are nothing I would normally buy (I won't ever get why people like it, but to each their own), but I am otherwise a sucker for a good detective story. Or is that a more a survival game, it's pretty hard to tell. :D
Segata Sanshiro Apr 4, 2016
Adding to the wishlist, this looks fantastic! I never got the point of story games in early access though unless it's done by chapters...

EDIT: Apparently they're planning to release a full version the end of the month, so this is more like beta testing, with the game at a cheaper price. I might pick it up now, but play it once it's fully out.


Last edited by Segata Sanshiro on 4 April 2016 at 5:02 pm UTC
burnall Apr 4, 2016
I'm not a big fan of adventure games, but I like the music in trailer.


Last edited by burnall on 4 April 2016 at 5:03 pm UTC
Xpander Apr 4, 2016
made a gameplay video about it some time ago.

had framerate issues, but not due to game but my videocard somehow didnt go to full 3D clocks.

View video on youtube.com
hummer010 Apr 4, 2016
I bought it on GOG recently. I don't generally care for Early Access (or In Development, as GOG calls it), but as a Canadian I couldn't not support a Canadian developer making a game set in Canada that supports Linux.
garyzw Apr 5, 2016
I bought the Early Access from GOG. I never buy Early Access but something about this one. I love driving the Red Chevy pickup. I use Mint 17.3 with nvidia GTX 660 TI on Ultra settings and it seemed to run smoothly. I did not like the white haze either-- unchecking bloom made it better. One of the developers seem to be active in the forums at GOG taking bug reports and responding to questions. Very nice.


Last edited by garyzw on 5 April 2016 at 4:38 pm UTC
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