No Stone Unturned, a comedy murder mystery from Wise Monkey Entertainment Ltd, launches on PC in Steam Early Access on 29 April 2026, priced at £9.99 / $11.99 / €11.99.
The game is built around bite-size minigames that serve as the primary method of investigation. Players search suspect homes, analyse crime scenes, interrogate townsfolk, and piece together evidence through a wide variety of familiar puzzle formats. Armed with a magnifying glass, tape recorder, and crowbar, the work of detection plays out across these short, fast-paced challenges rather than through traditional point-and-click adventure logic. Repairing bridges, buildings, and other broken structures broadens the map, with item bundles unlocking new areas and uncovering essential clues. The minigames also double as punchline payoffs, tying the comedy directly into the mechanics rather than leaving it to cutscenes alone.
The whole thing is set in Orchard-Under-Hill, a small village populated by anthropomorphic animals, all drawn from fairy tales and children's stories given a darker spin. A chicken has been found dead on the side of the road, and the central question is exactly the one you'd expect: why did the chicken cross the road? That setup is the first of six cases, each rooted in a familiar story. One involves the Hare and the Tortoise at each other's throats, another concerns whatever has got the Cat's tongue, and a third asks who tried to silence a giant owl. The Early Access release includes the first case, Cat Got Your Tongue, with four additional cases planned as free updates during the Early Access period.
The detective at the centre of all this is Cox, a self-described soft-boiled amnesiac squirrel with ambitions of becoming the greatest detective in the world. He's buck-toothed, earnest, and operating with a gap where his memory should be. Wise Monkey Entertainment partnered with Jim Henson's Creature Shop to build an official puppet of Cox, who has been appearing at events like MCM and PAX voiced by actor David Carter. The character carries the tone of the game on his shoulders, a detective who takes himself seriously in a world that absolutely should not be taken seriously.
Orchard-Under-Hill itself is a village on the brink of ruin, and the number of gruesome crimes piling up in one small community is played for laughs but also gestures at something larger. The Steam description hints at a civilisation in crisis, troubled animals trying to survive, and a Giant Wise Monkey appearing in dreams who seems to think the player can save the entire world before it's too late. The comedy sits on top of a story that appears to be building toward stakes well beyond a single dead chicken.
The tone walks a specific line: children's story characters placed inside murder mystery scenarios where choices matter but morals don't. It's not parody exactly, more like a world where Aesop's fables went wrong and someone has to clean up the mess. Each case reframes a story most players will recognise, then asks them to pick apart what actually happened through minigames and clue-gathering rather than through dialogue trees alone.
No Stone Unturned launches into Early Access with its first case and a village worth exploring, built around a squirrel detective who can't remember his own past but is determined to solve everyone else's problems with a crowbar tucked under his arm.