Koalas aren’t bears, and their diet of eucalyptus leaves apparently doesn’t get them drunk. But who cares what the science nerds say, because it’s fun to imagine them as shiftless stoners. Stone, an upcoming adventure game, casts a rough-around-the-edges koala in its titular role, a kind of mashup of Jeff Lebowski and Hunter S. Thompson.
Stone is exactly the kind of person you’d expect a koala to be – hungover, fairly confused about what happened last night, and possibly a bit too fond of certain herbal remedies. In the game, you’ll have to help Stone figure out what happened during a boozy crawl through Oldtown the night before, and reunite with his “chookie” (Australian for sweetheart), a lorikeet who enjoys raves and making art.
Developer Convict Games says Stone is a spin on the classic adventure game format, but “minus the infuriating point-and-clickiness and overly vague puzzles.” In their place, you have a story and characters inspired by boozy authors like Charles Bukowski and Thomas Pynchon, and full-length public domain films like Night of the Living Dead to watch along with Stone as he turns on, tunes in, and drops out.
Being an extremely Australian game, Stone also features heavily-accented animals who constantly shit-talk each other and potentially have undiagnosed substance abuse problems.
As Stone, you’ll be able to take either a “hard-ass” or “soft-touch” approach when dealing with the game’s zany cast of characters, a bit like The Dude and Walter rolled into one fuzzy marsupial.
You can check out the Stone Steam page now. It’s due out sometime this fall, although in keeping with its lovable wastrel theme, a specific date has not yet been set.