I absolutely adored Ubisoft’s Valiant Hearts: The Great War earlier in the year. A cute, indie-like puzzle game, it merged great gameplay with emotion and education; those who picked up a controller were immersed in the horror and pain that World War I brought to soldiers and their families. I honestly didn’t expect such a combination from another video game — especially so soon — but Never Alone absolutely falls into the same category.
Created in a partnership with the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, a not-for-profit organisation that works with indigenous people in urban Alaska, Never Alone serves many purposes. It preserves and shares the stories of the Iñupiat, a group of Alaskan indigenous peoples. It educates those within the still-thriving tribe so their way of life is not lost to time. It also entertains anyone game enough to pick up a controller and play.
Never Alone’s story is based on a folk tale about a child who must discover the source of an eternal blizzard; only then will balance be restored and the child’s village saved. The child is accompanied by an arctic fox, stressing the fact that interdependence is hugely important in the Alaskan way of life — especially in the face of such extreme weather conditions. You can play single-player and switch between Nuna, the child, and the arctic fox, or go through co-op and play as either or.
Largely, Never Alone is a puzzle platformer, There’s a light emphasis on ‘puzzle’ there, and a rather huge one on ‘platformer’. Those who’re used to the feel of a controller in hand will find gameplay largely simplistic, but that’s not really why you should give Never Alone a try. As you progress through each of the game’s levels, you’ll pick up video clips that delve into the indigenous Alaskan culture. They’re not videos that are hidden behind a couple layers under an Extras screen, but rather put front-and-centre. The game wants you to stop what you’re doing and watch those videos. And you should.
The videos either tie into the fable that you’re basically playing out, or give insights into other aspects of Iñupiat culture. As an example, you’ll unlock a video that discusses the importance of drums to the Iñupiat while being tasked to track down a drum in-game.
Those videos – alongside the game’s slightly adapted fable-as-story – are the best parts of Never Alone. You’re basically platforming through each level to unlock more videos and find out what happens to Nuna and the fox. The platforming itself is kind of awful, to be honest, and is the only under-cooked thing about the game. Nuna has a very LittleBigPlanet-like float to her jump, and both Nuna and the fox have trouble with collision detection at times.
I chose to play as the fox most of the time, because it’s far faster than Nuna, but that caused problems as well. At times, the game just bugged out, clearly needing my single-player instance to be controlling Nuna to unlock some trigger. Switching to Nuna after the fact didn’t help, but restarting as Nuna from a previous checkpoint did the trick. Playing as a lone gamer is also made more difficult by the fact that the AI of the second character is terrible, falling too far behind at times, or just deciding not to jump up a simple ledge sporadically. Playing with two people is highly recommended, as sharing the experience is also great fun… and you’ll need faster fingers near the end of the game, otherwise.
All up, Never Alone is a charming game, full of wonder and culture and class… it’s just a shame none of those amazing qualities made it to game play. You will absolutely get frustrated with it at times, but if you want to expand your horizons, it’s well worth a try.
Never Alone was reviewed using a promotional copy of the game on Xbox One, as provided by Surprise Attack.
