You Should Play Kona, But Probably Not in VR
It has been more than a year since Parabole’s Kona was released on PC.
A somewhat non-linear adventure with survival elements, if you’ve not yet played Kona you should probably consider it. Placing you in control of Carl Faubert, a private detective, it has you travelling to a snowy Northern Canada. You were hoping to find your client there, who contacted you regarding acts of vandalism that have been occurring. Though the moment you arrive, it’s clear that something is wrong.
Kona throws together a hodge-podge of game mechanics, mostly to good effect. There’s some driving to be done, some point and click style investigation, puzzles, combat, and of course, survival aspects. You have to manage Carl’s health, heat, and mental fortitude levels if you’re going to survive the short adventure. It’s a task that’s challenging but not too much so. You’re not likely to freeze to death unless you really do get lost.
It’s the way that Kona‘s story unfolds that is the most interesting though. A narrator talks over the experience, like your actions are simply turning the pages of a storybook. Though it’s a storybook in which all the pages have been torn out and jumbled up. As you explore the isolated part of Canada that you’ve been let loose in, you’ll uncover various parts of the mysterious, supernatural story.
There’s a good chance that you’ll not uncover many story aspects in the same order as your friends. In fact, you might reach the game’s credits without finding out crucial elements. Kona is a game in which you need to work to unravel its mysteries; they’re not simply given to you. Many will love this approach, and see it as an excuse to jump back into it again once the credits have rolled. Others, well, they might find it laborious.
Up until now, the only way to enjoy Kona has been like most other games on the market: sat in front of a TV or monitor, with either a controller or mouse and keyboard in hand. Only recently, however, another way to play has been added: VR. While Kona is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch, playing in VR is understandably limited to the PC and PS4 versions of the game. And to do so, you’ll need to buy the Kona VR DLC. Honestly though, I don’t know if I’d bother.
The trouble with Kona VR is that it doesn’t really add anything to the experience. It’s perhaps a little more immersive, feeling like you’re seeing the world through your eyes, but it also feels a little more fiddly and less polished, pulling you out of the world. Playing in VR also removes combat, taking away one aspect of the gameplay in order to make the VR experience less disorienting. I’m sure that players would rather have had the choice whether or not to play in this ‘safe mode’ though.
It’s not all bad though. Taking pictures with your camera in VR is pretty cool, and having more control of your torch is always handy. It’s also pretty neat that you don’t need separate game saves for VR and non-VR; you can simply continue the game where you left off, with VR or without. VR is just another way for you to experience the game.
Costing less than £5 on both PC and PS4, The Kona VR DLC is a fairly cheap way to add more longevity to a brief game, but it’s really not necessary. Kona is a very good game that stands out because if its uniqueness, and playing in VR just adds more awkwardness to it all. So, you should definitely play Kona, just probably not in VR.
