Why did the chicken cross the road? And end up dead? That’s the question on the mind of Detective Cox, a squirrel who stumbles across the body but finds he has no recollection of what’s happened. Exploring a small town, and speaking to a cast of colourful characters, Detective Cox has to uncover clues, piece together the events that lead to the chicken’s untimely demise and unmask the killer!
‘No Stone Unturned’ is a quirky murder mystery from Wise Monkey Entertainment Ltd. that is currently on Early Access on Steam. The publisher (and developer) is releasing the game in episodes, so gamers have a total of six cases to look forward to. The Early Access release is just the first of those cases and it gives you a really good feel for what you can expect. A mixture of comic-book style graphics and 8-bit style graphics, ‘No Stone Unturned’ really leans into nostalgia while serving up something that feels completely fresh and new.
Taking control of Detective Cox, playing through the first episode of ‘No Stone Unturned’, ‘A Murder Most Fowl’, is anything but predictable. It’s part adventure, part point-and-click, and part mad-cap mini games. Using the keyboard to move Detective Cox around, the game helpfully signals when you can interact with something and highlights the appropriate key to press. At the beginning you whip out your magnifying glass that can X-Ray and find clues on the body of the dead chicken. All the while Detective Cox throws in some very amusing commentary, and his wit continues in every aspect of the game.
Once your clue searching is complete, it’s time to jump into the game properly, which requires you to navigate around a small town (it’s worth noting that you don’t get to access every part of the town yet – presumably that comes in later episodes). Along the way you meet characters you can interact with and speak to in the hope of gleaming clues. The dialogue system allows you to choose what you want to say when, and you can cycle through all of the options before you exit the conversation and move on with the game. The characters you speak to are all very quirky, with some fantastic voiceover work to bring them to life.
As you progress through the game, you’re thrown into many mini-games, which you need to complete in order to progress. These range from having a staring competition with a doctor through to chewing through safe wires with your squirrel teeth. There’s also a few chases where you need to avoid another character and the many breakable vases littered around the environments. The mini-games add to the overall zany feel of the game, and it’s a nice touch that offers plenty of variety and keeps you engaged. It’s also another opportunity to really sink into the humour of the game, and it kept me amused!
Drawing from classic point-and-click adventures, ‘No Stone Unturned’ requires you to locate and use items, which are stored in your pocket. This can be something simple such as a key, or it can be a host of items that you need to present during a conversation as proof of your accusations. Finding and using these items isn’t particularly hard, but it’s a lot of fun.
The first episode of the game took me a little under 2 hours to complete, and that felt like a good investment. ‘No Stone Unturned’ is incredibly quirky and I’ve not played anything quite like it before. This first episode shows the game to have a huge amount of promise and I can’t wait to play future episodes. There’s a cliffhanger at the end, and an introduction to the next case, which promises to arrive this summer. I can’t wait!
Publisher: Wise Monkey Entertainment Ltd Developer: Wise Monkey Entertainment Ltd Reviewed on: Steam for PC Release date: 29th April 2026 View ‘No Stone Unturned’ on Steam
