Play a koala PI in "hip-hop stoner noir" Stone, out now

A washed-up private investigator koala is searching for his kidnapped girlfriend boyfriend [the koala himself tells me -ed.] in Stone, a new "hip-hop stoner noir" story-o-adventure game released today. What's hip-hop stoner noir when it's at home? Well, the koala looks not wholly unlike The Dude out The Big Lebowski, so there's a big hint. Off you go, exploring an open-world town, chatting to the animalfolks, and getting your deadbeat arse into a whole lot of trouble. It also seems a good opportunity to brush up on the sort of Australian slang you won't learn from Neighbours or Home And Away.

First, the razzle-dazzle of a launch trailer:

Yup, that is the opening shot of Night Of The Living Dead there - it's one of several public domain movies available to watch in full at the in-game cinema.

Yeah yeah but what it's actually like? See this here gameplay vid for a sense of the start:

It's made by Convict Games, a studio founded by Australian siblings, with music from a number of Australian artists in there too. They're going so hard on the Australian flavour that a special beer has been brewed for the launch, a 6% "dank" black IPA available at several Australian bars. Australia secretly has some of the most fun games culture brewing away down there, though it's not something we hear much about here on the flipside.

Stone is out now for Windows and Mac through Steam, priced at £12/€15/$15.