• If you want to know more about the original KONA, here’s my review.




https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3063060986

Set in 1970s rural Quebec, Canada, this Kona sequel follows the investigation of private detective Carl Faubert, former military official, into the dealings of Hamilton Mining Corporation (HMC). All contact was lost with a scientific and mining venture in a remote, snowy region, so now it’s up to the detective to find out what happened - this investigation will turn out to be a lot more paranormal than expected.

As far as the world design goes the environments, infrastructure and architecture typical (and expected) from this region in the 70s are well-made; locations feel immersive, desolate and eerie, a good thing, since there’s a clear horror connotation in how the story develops. While you’ll be spending most time outdoors, weathering snowstorms and finding your way to the next cabin for rest, there will be several indoors sections that are just as well-made artistically and visually. The graphics are good, but don’t expect the latest engineering in terms of eye-candy; if I have to be fair, the game doesn’t look that much better than the first Kona - but that one was ahead of its time.

For a narrative-focused title, the story is passable and won’t be a chore to play through, however it won’t be great either. From Carl himself to all the sparse side-characters, none of them will truly feel like a standout with either their personality or the interactions you can have with them - if anything, they’re static NPCs that serve as basic lore-dumps, and give main objectives at times. The amount of side-lore, expanding upon local folklore, culture and past events is of adequate writing quality, and will be sometimes interesting to sit down and read as a diversion from the usual loop.

Kona II uses a semi-open world approach, as it’s divided in three main areas you’ll be able to explore freely - however, several doors, gates and obstacles will need specific items to be unlocked at first, so there’s no “real” free-roam from the get-go, especially in the beginning hours. At first on foot, and later with the aid of a dog sled, you’ll be exposed to the rough climate of Quebec, and slowly freeze in the process - heat management is the only ‘survival gauge’ present other than HP, and it won’t be a worry at any point, since not only it degrades very slowly, but is fully replenished at any campfire or with plentiful herbal consumables.

Exploring every area accurately, and opening all containers, chests, drawers and so forth, will transform Carl into a walking general store (I ended my run with 137 flashlight batteries in my backpack!) filled with ammo, herbs, medkits and consumables to counter each and every malus that the game may throw at you. A handy general map with height levels and markers for nearby points of interest will be useful to make sure you won’t miss a thing, although some things aren’t marked on it and will be for you to find (mostly collectibles). You’ll also be able to save unlimited times at any campfire, and there’s one pretty often, on top of a backup autosave, and use Spare Parts, the only “resource”, to repair elements in the environment so that you can access additional supplies.

In many cases you’ll have to find key items to unlock parts of an area, and sometimes arrange them in a certain fashion, during simple puzzles that won’t be a challenge even for those new to the genre.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3065824333

Combat feels like a side-gig more than anything, despite the various weapons you’ll eventually find. You’ll be fighting both regular wildlife and their paranormal versions a bit later on, which don’t take many shots to be dispatched and deal negligible damage. The fact you can stop time ‘à la Fallout’ to select weapons or use medkits, which regenerate your health instantly by the way, means that as long as you have medkits, and you’ll have a lot of them, you’re basically immortal. I never died even once for the entire playthrough, and I’m not some “mad skills pro gamer” by any means. Don’t expect a realistic handling of weapons or any complex fight mechanics; it’s usually point, shoot, headshot does extra damage - that’s it.

You’ll encounter a number of NPCs in select locations; thew may give you tasks related to your investigation or their personal circumstances, but in the latter case, they won’t be like ‘side quests’ with optional rewards - they won’t give you a thing in return, and don’t seem to have any impact on the NPCs situation either. For instance, a certain character will ask you to make repairs to a house to help the survivors get better living conditions - you do that and… nothing happens. Why did I just waste my spare parts for this, again? We’ll never know.

These characters can also be talked to, mostly asked questions using a linear, simplisting dialogue tree that is a bit clunky to navigate at times. They’ll reveal info on events and local areas, but rarely any revelation or topic brought up this way, will be exciting or captivating.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3063270717

[h1]Sum-Up[/h1] [h3]In-depth analysis further down.[/h3] • If you want to know more about the original KONA, [url=https://steamproxy.net/id/tho545454/recommended/365160]here’s my review.[/url] [table] [tr] [th]🟩 [b]Pros[/b][/th] [th]🟥 [b]Cons[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] • Solid visual quality, that consistently offers highly-detailed, remarkable environments both outdoors and indoors. • Interesting exploration, that rewards attentive players with more than a few interesting lore pieces and Easter eggs. • Good amount of optional lore files and collectibles that expand upon the story, or are related to achievements. [/td] [td] • Far too easy, even on the highest difficulty. Environment hazards take forever to kill you, enemies trivial to beat, and resources immensely plentiful. • The gameplay loop doesn’t really evolve, in a significant way, at any point; it becomes repetitive. • Excessive backtracking during some sections, that will make puzzle-solving a tremendously-slow slog. • While the story does have some interesting points and moments, its generic protagonist fails to impress; the ending feels rushed and anticlimactic. [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [th]🟨 [b]Bugs & Issues[/b][/th] [th]🔧 [b]Specs[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] • Several unavailable visual options, like disabling aberration or selecting AA quality level. • Overall subpar optimization / performance for the visuals provided. • Key rebinding doesn’t work 100% with all commands; some seem to be hard-coded. [/td] [td] • i5 11400H • 16GB RAM DDR4 • 512 GB SSD • RTX 3060 6GB • 1080p [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td][b]Content & Replay Value:[/b][/td] [td]It took me around 14 hours to complete Kona II on Survival (Hard) difficulty, taking extra time to fully explore each area and gather all optional items when possible. The entire experience is linear; there’s no reason to replay once finished.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]Is it worth buying?[/b][/td] [td]Yes, but not for full price. Even if the content amount would be still fair for this cost, the ‘only decent’ overall quality makes it rather steep to get for 30€, even if you’re a fan of the first game. Wait for a good sale.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][h3]Verdict: Decent[/h3] [url=https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2548409603]Rating Chart Here[/url][/td] [td]A passable but inferior sequel to the Kona franchise. It does everything well enough to be somewhat engaging, but nothing that well to be truly remarkable.[/td] [/tr] [/table] https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3063060986 [h1]In-Depth[/h1] [h3]Writing & Worldbuilding[/h3] Set in 1970s rural Quebec, Canada, this Kona sequel follows the investigation of private detective Carl Faubert, former military official, into the dealings of Hamilton Mining Corporation (HMC). All contact was lost with a scientific and mining venture in a remote, snowy region, so now it’s up to the detective to find out what happened - this investigation will turn out to be a lot more paranormal than expected. As far as the world design goes the environments, infrastructure and architecture typical (and expected) from this region in the 70s are well-made; locations feel immersive, desolate and eerie, a good thing, since there’s a clear horror connotation in how the story develops. While you’ll be spending most time outdoors, weathering snowstorms and finding your way to the next cabin for rest, there will be several indoors sections that are just as well-made artistically and visually. The graphics are good, but don’t expect the latest engineering in terms of eye-candy; if I have to be fair, the game doesn’t look that much better than the first Kona - but that one was ahead of its time. For a narrative-focused title, the story is passable and won’t be a chore to play through, however it won’t be great either. From Carl himself to all the sparse side-characters, none of them will truly feel like a standout with either their personality or the interactions you can have with them - if anything, they’re static NPCs that serve as basic lore-dumps, and give main objectives at times. The amount of side-lore, expanding upon local folklore, culture and past events is of adequate writing quality, and will be sometimes interesting to sit down and read as a diversion from the usual loop. [h3]Exploration, Puzzles & Secrets[/h3] Kona II uses a semi-open world approach, as it’s divided in three main areas you’ll be able to explore freely - however, several doors, gates and obstacles will need specific items to be unlocked at first, so there’s no “real” free-roam from the get-go, especially in the beginning hours. At first on foot, and later with the aid of a dog sled, you’ll be exposed to the rough climate of Quebec, and slowly freeze in the process - heat management is the only ‘survival gauge’ present other than HP, and it won’t be a worry at any point, since not only it degrades very slowly, but is fully replenished at any campfire or with plentiful herbal consumables. Exploring every area accurately, and opening all containers, chests, drawers and so forth, will transform Carl into a walking general store (I ended my run with 137 flashlight batteries in my backpack!) filled with ammo, herbs, medkits and consumables to counter each and every malus that the game may throw at you. A handy general map with height levels and markers for nearby points of interest will be useful to make sure you won’t miss a thing, although some things aren’t marked on it and will be for you to find (mostly collectibles). You’ll also be able to save unlimited times at any campfire, and there’s one pretty often, on top of a backup autosave, and use Spare Parts, the only “resource”, to repair elements in the environment so that you can access additional supplies. In many cases you’ll have to find key items to unlock parts of an area, and sometimes arrange them in a certain fashion, during simple puzzles that won’t be a challenge even for those new to the genre. https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3065824333 [h3]Combat System[/h3] Combat feels like a side-gig more than anything, despite the various weapons you’ll eventually find. You’ll be fighting both regular wildlife and their paranormal versions a bit later on, which don’t take many shots to be dispatched and deal negligible damage. The fact you can stop time ‘à la Fallout’ to select weapons or use medkits, which regenerate your health instantly by the way, means that as long as you have medkits, and you’ll have a lot of them, you’re basically immortal. I never died even once for the entire playthrough, and I’m not some “mad skills pro gamer” by any means. Don’t expect a realistic handling of weapons or any complex fight mechanics; it’s usually point, shoot, headshot does extra damage - that’s it. [h3]Quests & Dialogues[/h3] You’ll encounter a number of NPCs in select locations; thew may give you tasks related to your investigation or their personal circumstances, but in the latter case, they won’t be like ‘side quests’ with optional rewards - they won’t give you a thing in return, and don’t seem to have any impact on the NPCs situation either. For instance, a certain character will ask you to make repairs to a house to help the survivors get better living conditions - you do that and… nothing happens. Why did I just waste my spare parts for this, again? We’ll never know. These characters can also be talked to, mostly asked questions using a linear, simplisting dialogue tree that is a bit clunky to navigate at times. They’ll reveal info on events and local areas, but rarely any revelation or topic brought up this way, will be exciting or captivating. https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3063270717