Kona

*Warning*
This is NOT a Detective Game or a Survival Game.
This is Detective Story with some very minimal Survival elements to add some interaction.
This is a 6 Hour Interactive Movie with no Alternate Endings.
This is fine as long as you know this going in. Had I known this I may have enjoyed it much more.
If you expect a Detective Game or a Survival Game you will be let down.
You are not using Detective Skills to uncover anything. You are watching a Character go around while the Narrator explains everything to you. You are not uncovering a story you are being told one.
You are not using Survival Skills to manage what is important or where you go. Ammo, Fires, Tools, Vehicles. These things are plentiful and easily accessible. Only the bottom 1/4 or so of the map you see is accessible, and what IS accessible is very restricted.
Why recommend this Game / Movie?
Atmosphere and Old Rosaire

This is one of the coziest cuddley games except it definiely needs more people in it! Because it's such a cold snowy desolate game, you feel isolated throughout, so it would be nice to actually communicate with, meet or talk to other characters, even if via radio like with Fire Watch and Rachel Foster.

I love the open map which you can explore pretty much at will and how it makes it seem very non-linear.

My complaints are that I wish it were less whited out everywhere! This becomes tiresome quickly, especially while you are travelling. Sure we get it, we're in the great white north during snow and blizzards, but it makes the navigation unbearable at times. While driving the snow mobile we could really use the map! While hiking, we could really use at least a compass or mini-map.

Every once in a while, the game will freeze to have another part of the map load. I guess it's better than a load screen. There is no hint system whatsoever. With such a big open world and large scale map, it would be nice to have at least some direction. But I really did enjoy the mystery and overall game and world that it's set in. Oh and please make a warp feature! This is one of the best and coziest games I've played. It makes me want to cuddly up with a nice warm blankie, cup of coffee and bowl of soup!!!!

This started out as a fantastic game of exploration, set in a 1970's tiny Quebec town. I loved visiting all the different locations, exploring off the beaten path, collecting various tools and items, solving a few puzzles, and generally enjoying the atmosphere of this unique game.
What I didn't like:
Very similar to what I see people complain about in a lot of the message boards, the ending took a bizarre turn away from what the rest of the game seemed to be about. I found it disappointing, unnecessarily difficult, and I ultimately couldn't deal with the final boss to finish the game. Instead, I just had to watch a YouTube video to see the ending. I bought it for the story and exploration, but the combat felt like a rug pull.
I would have to do some careful research before investing money in the sequel. If it's going to end with the same hard shift as the first one, I might give it a miss.

Kona is the kind of survival game I can enjoy. It has a lot of similar features as other survival games but it doesn't take them to a masochistic level. You have to manage inventory weight, cold, stress, and health but at no time was I pulling my hair out dealing with them. The story is very well done although I do think it could have done a bit better of explaining it near the end. Despite that I really liked the direction the story took. I think that the fact the game doesn't have a stated goal is good and bad. The game usually did a good job at letting you know what things need to be done without listing it on the screen or having a quest marker. I found the journal to be fairly useless at keeping track of things though. The map was great although it would have been nice if it listed which places you had visited. The graphics were decent but not spectacular. Nothing from object detail to clothes, faces, etc were mind blowing but they were not an eye sore either. I will give a shout to to the fact that your footprints in the snow stay a while. Many games don't go through the trouble to even have footprints in the snow. The sound effects were very well done. Everything from the sounds of feet crunching on snow to the sounds of doors, the truck, the snowmobile, etc were all great. The music was decent but repetitive. The game did employ invisible walls a couple times which is a cheap way to block your path. Other times they properly find good reason why you can't go somewhere so not sure why they didn't other times. I found it a tad weird that you can't view the map while driving the snowmobile while you can in the truck. I've never driven a snowmobile before so maybe this is realistic.
I played Kona on Linux. The game never crashed. I did notice a couple minor glitches such as weapons going through Carl's body and shrubs going through the floor of the truck. Nothing major though. The game has an FOV slider that goes from 65-90, an AA toggle, a v-sync toggle, two AO settings, and twelve other graphics options. Performance was great with the exception of the game having the odd micro stutter. The frame rate never dropped low but for a second or so the game would stutter. It didn't happen often enough to ruin my experience. I will also say that the game took way more horsepower than expected given the graphical detail. The game has a manual save system but the game doesn't load you back to where you saved, it loads you to the last location your non manual save occurred such as a cabin or fire. The manual save does save progress and inventory though. There is only one save slot but the game does allow you to have multiple different game files if more than one person wanted their own play through.
Game Engine: Unity
Graphics API: Vulkan
Disk Space Used: 2.9 GB
Input Used: Keyboard and mouse
Graphics Settings Used: 2560x1440, motion blur and depth of field off, everything else on highest or turned on, 90 FOV
GPU Usage: 35-86 %
VRAM Usage: 3459-4672 MB
CPU Usage: 17-41 %
System RAM Usage: 5.7-8.6 GB
Frame Rate: 134-165 FPS
Despite the little nitpicks I have with Kona it was a highly enjoyable experience that I recommend. It had good mechanics and a good story. I finished this play through in four hours and fifty five minutes. I paid $20 CAD for it when it originally came out so the current price of $16.94 CAD is more than fair for what you get.
My Score: 9/10
My System:
Intel i5-12600K | 32GB DDR4-3200 CL16 | Gigabyte RX 7800 XT 16GB | Western Digital Black SN850X 2TB | Artix | Dasharo 1.1.1 | Mate 1.28.2 | Kernel 6.10.10-artix1-1 | Mesa 24.2.2-arch1.1 | MSI G2730QPF 2560*1440 @ 165Hz

I both really enjoyed and was disappointed with Kona. I agree with reviews saying it was a lot of build up for the end to be rushed and everything thrown at you at the end. I didn’t mind the slow pace throughout because I felt it matched the atmosphere. I would have continued slowly but once it was nighttime I felt like there was suddenly urgency. I wish I felt like I had done any of the figuring out rather than everything being told to me. The spooky vibes were 100/10, loved loved loved. I found it really difficult to drive because everything went white. A mixed bag overall. I would still recommend it if it’s on sale.

Genuinely a fun game, I recommend it. Definitely not for everyone because it's a very slow burn quiet game where there's a lot of narration and focus on scavenging and exploration
it's very much so light on the survival and horror, but it in my opinion they pushed it just enough to be genuinely fun, and I had some fun moments with the survival meters. It really helps create tension without impacting the overall gameplay too much
or rather the meters create the gameplay, it's really good. They definitely knew what they were doing with that.
And I liked the story and following threads around the village.
There's a part 2, but apparently it has some flaws and there's a good deal of people who said that Kona feels really unfinished (which makes sense, it's very intentionally a first in a series.) But for me personally, if you follow the threads and thoroughly comb most of the game, you piece the story together for yourself quite well and I found it really interesting. I also really like how the story plays out concurrently. Glad I played this game. I don't personally need to play the second game, but this package was very well done in my eyes, and I could see people wanting to plunge into the next game.
Edit: Played on Xbox One controller, huge recommend. The game feel was amazing on controller. Sheathe your keyboard and mouse for this one!!

It's easier to survive harsh winter than to open doors in this game but overall it was an ok experience. I would give it a solid 6/10