At PAX West 2025, I had the opportunity to talk to the Gareth Owen, the creator of No Stone Unturned. Their studio Wise Monkey Entertainment Ltd. are hoping to release the game is the first quarter of 2026. The demo is currently available on Steam, and from what I’ve seen, this game looks like a blast! 

No Stone Unturned is a comedy, murder mystery following Detective Cox, an amnesiac squirrel who finds himself trying to solve the mystery about why the chicken crossed the road. It is a linear narrative with limited open world exploration.

Immediately, I was hooked onto the premise. I love a good mystery and comedic elements make the experience that much better. I loved the humor placed in the dialogue and narration in the demo. The fluidity of the motion and controls in the game looked great. 

I am a huge fan of the art style, and it plays into the experience of the game. The text speed was perfect for me with a readable font. The fact that I could read it despite being a bit away meant it was perfect! 

Speaking with Gareth gave me a lot of insight into the game. The play through of the game usually takes about 20-25 minutes with a completions run taking more than 50 hours. There are over 30 different mini games in the game, and the mini game mechanics tend to play into the humor the game itself. 

Gareth has worked as a covert ghost writer for murder mysteries for over fourteen years now. His goal with this game was to bring his name to the public. So much of his work cannot be claimed by his due to his profession, and Gareth wanted something to call his own which prompted the creation of No Stone Unturned. 

The greatest challenge Gareth faced in creating the game was his own lack of knowledge. He was a writer, not a coder, and it led to some difficulties for him and his team. His team would hate when Gareth focused creating a single moment, developing new things around it, before never really using it again. 

Because this was a project for Gareth to work on something for himself, No Stone Unturned very much turned into a representation of himself. The comedy and murder mystery has been what Gareth did for so long, and he wanted to showcase that talent. Furthermore, he explained that both genres required one thing, a set up. The set up for a joke is the set up of the mystery as evidenced by how the main storyline is figuring out why the chicken crossed the road. 

Gareth wanted a deep story with lore and hints hidden behind it all. In fact, he specially called out establishing better lore than Five Nights at Freddy to ensure a better experience. He wrote the game as a trilogy and condensed it into the game to ensure that everything came together. In fact, he clued me in that some of the foreshadowing in the game comes from off-handed dialogue, jokes told whose meanings become prevalent in the story later on. 

His favorite part of the game is the final boss fight. Although he couldn’t share much with me since it’s the conclusion of the mystery, he did reveal that the fight with brings back all the mini games used throughout the game. It becomes quite intense as the climax of the story unveils. 

But, the thing I wanted to know most was what Gareth wanted players to take away or get from the game. And his answer resonated with me. He hoped players would laugh, would enjoy themselves as they experienced the game. He wanted them to feel care in the game and feel a sense of companionship. Because the game is like a version of himself turned digital, Gareth hopes the game lets players feel that sense of competing the game together. The relationship between the narration and the dialogue should make players feel like they’re having a conversation, reacting in the moment and creating an organic experience. I absolutely love that. 

I for sure am looking forward to the release of No Stone Unturned. Will you be checking out this game’s demo? What are your thoughts as to how Gareth and the team approached the game? Share your thoughts in the comments below or in our Boss Rush Discord! 

Featured Image Source: Wise Monkey Entertainment Ltd.

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