People who are always cold may not enjoy a new survival game called Kona. It was re-released approximately one month ago on consoles. It is a first-person adventure game that has you stranded in the forest devastated by a raging blizzard. It was designed by indie studio Parabole. It is an episodic game, the first episode was released in December 2016 for PC, but was released for Xbox One and PS4 last March.
It’s set in a small Canadian village in Northern Quebec, Canada in October 1970. You play as detective Carl Faebert who is investigating case of vandalism at the home of rich industrialist W. Hamilton, presumably by the Cree community. Hamilton, believing that the Cree were the ones behind the vandalism, he calls upon the help of Faebert. When Faebert heads to talk to Hamilton, Hamilton is nowhere to be seen. Faebert then knocks on the doors in the rest of the village, only to realize the entire village is deserted. It’s your job to find the population, locate where Hamilton is and to find out of the Cree are involved in the disappearances.
Hamilton’s accusation isn’t completely made upon evidence, because it is well known that Hamilton has negative views upon the Cree people. The feeling is reciprocated. The Cree accuse Hamilton of destroying their sacred land to make money and the he pilfered their land without responsibility and only did so out of greed.
As the game is set in Northern Quebec, the game was originally written in French by writer David Bélanger and the music was performed by Quebec folk band CuréLabel. With the music performed by an actual band and not made electronically, the look, sound and play of the game is incredibly authentic.
Parabole is a seven-person video game development team based in Quebec, also adding the game’s authenticity.
Kona is currently available for download on the PS4.