Never Alone (other wise known as Kisima Inŋitchuŋa) is an upcoming adventure puzzle video game that is currently in development by Upper One Games and E-Line Media. The game is currently being developed primarily as an 8th generation exclusive title with a PC build coming as well. The title is slated to be published by one of its developers, E-Line Media.
Set to release on November 4th of 2014 (presumably world wide as no regional release dates have been given) the game will be launching on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows PC’s.
Never alone is being developed by Upper One Games who are recognized as being the first Native American video game studio, they are working on the project alongsit the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, an NPO (Non Profit Organization) that primarily works with indigenous peoples living in the more urban areas of Alaska. The title is being developed on the hugely popular Unity Game Engine and is scheduled for a Q3 release of November 4th 2014.
The game first came into being during the conceptual stages when the Cook Inlet Tribal Council met with a company that uses video games as an educational device as well as a media platform, this group is known as E-Line Media. It was during this meeting that the idea of Never Alone was conceived as being part of a series that “shares, celebrates, and extends culture”.
Upper One Games, the ‘for profit’ portion of the Cook Inlet Tribal Council are the “first indigenous-owned video game developer and publisher in US history”, they have built and developed the game around the idea of “what it means to be human” and plan on doing this by weaving the narrative with intergenerational stories and plots. The general idea of the game is to be one that focuses on and shares the stories that are embedded in the culture of the indigenous Alaskan people and their folklore, any proceeds generated by the game will be going towards funding further Cook Inlet Tribal Council education missions.
The story of Never Alone is constructed around the tales found in the folklore of the indigenous Alaskan people, the narrative follows a story of bringing balance to the “eternal blizzard” by going to its source. The influencing stories set to make an appearance include the Blizzard Man, The Little People, Manslayer, The Rolling Heads and Sky People, but the game will be split across eight separate chapters to better facilitate the puzzle platforming structure of the game.
The gameplay of Never Alone follows that of the typical “atmospheric puzzle platformer”, this is perhaps a genre best represented in the hugely popular game, Limbo. Never Alone however takes on an entirely different art style that makes the game somewhat singular in this regard, opting to go for a more desaturated chalk-like pastel esque art style.
The player takes control of the young Alaskan Native, Nuna and her pure white Arctic fox. The primary puzzle platforming mechanic in Never Alone is that the player can swap between Nuna and her Fox to help solve puzzles and progress through the game. The fox is much faster than Nuna,as you would expect, but Nuna can pick up items and can use her Bola (the Bolas is a throwing weapon that originated in the Americas and consists of two weights at opposite ends up a rope to make a heavy, tangling projectile) to open up new areas in the game. Nuna and her fox will adventure together and solve puzzles throughout the 8 separate chapters of the game.
The game is mostly set in the cold, harsh and often hostile environment of the Alaskan tundra and reflects a very real but wholly natural threat to Nuna and her Fox.
Never Alone has two main characters in the game that travel through the 8 separate chapters together, they are:
Nuna – Nuna is one of the Iñupiaq,the Alaskan Native folk and she is adventuring with an arctic fox. Skilled in the use of a Bolas, Nuna is one of the games two main playable characters.
The Arctic Fox – The Arctic Fox is a pure snow white companion that is going to be travelling with Nuna throughout the adventure, the fox is considerably faster than Nuna bu is obviously lacking the means to throw the bolas like Nuna.
Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.