Video games as art seems to be the most recent movement within the genre and the latest evolution in what art is and can be, from giant names like Myst, Shadow of the Colossus, and Journey, but also from smaller works with The Secret of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, and I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, all of them share a common theme - art, whatever that may be, it’s becoming harder and harder to deny that the medium of video games can produce art on a visual level, audio level, emotional, and even spiritual planes. They can confront our views of life and existence or to make social and political commentary with surgical precision (see Spec Ops: The Line). At the core of all of these is on aspect that has been part of art since its inception with early humankind: Story. From telling grand epics of battle to the most private and intimate moments between a child and a mother, the story holds it all together and Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) is no different.

Gameplay: 88 B+
Never Alone is a typical platformer with basic controls, the essentials one could say, it fits the game’s environment and for the most part is accurate. There is some stiffness in the movements at times as well as some blind jumping and timing required by the player or pure luck in reaching that magical height with your Arctic Fox companion in order to get over a cliff ledge, it can cause some frustration, but it isn't game breaking. Having such basic controls allows the player to focus on solving a puzzle instead of remembering combos or a certain move set, more in the spirit of Sonic the Hedgehog, but at a slower pace.

Audio: 97 A+
The music and ambience, along with the narration, is the shining jewel upon this gaming achievement. Like many before, the soundscapes are just as big of a factor to the world building as the visuals, which we'll get to dive into later. The native sounds of not just the land, but of the people and the words spoken in the tongue of theIñupiat people, native to Northern Alaska and Canada, which you can simply listen to while you play or you can turn on the subtitles to read more into the story. Even more subtle sounds such as an owl’s hoot indicating a checkpoint or a gust of wind all add to the immersion without the need for hyper realistic visuals. There have been multiple instances when I was just let the game sit there and let the ambience play.

Visuals: 95 A
Speaking of the visuals, they are superb for its setting. Much like the mobile hit Badlands and Limbo before it, there is a simple aesthetic in contrasting features, the characters and environments are based off of the culture not just in how the people look and dress, but also in their art and how they see the world from the landscapes, the animals, and the elemental spirits which surround and inhabit every aspect of their lives. While Limbo kept with the black and gray hues and shades, Never Alone does venture into some darker and vibrant colors, though it would be completely understandable if you just let the game sit and watched the snow roll over the hills like an interactive screensaver. There are some clipping issues and edge detection problems here and there, but like with the controls, they aren't game breakers. The scenes are all quiet self contained, having their own quirks with the foreground and background complimenting each other instead of one vying for the player’s attention.

Content: 80 B-
Never Alone on Steam is a fairly large download, especially when compared to other games of it’s type and even giving some higher end game a run for their money, but this is mostly in part to the short videos you unlock as you play the game, some are easy while others can be more difficult to find. Each video gives an insight to the culture the game is based off of and made by, in a way it’s an interactive documentary. The game does offer a co-op feature allowing for two people to control both girl and fox at the same time and as I mentioned, a fair amount of hidden objects to find for the curious, all of which does not necessarily take away from the game, but its addition is a matter of perspective, the gain is not a better weapon or being able to jump higher, but knowledge. The videos are appropriately called “Cultural Insights” and are just that, snippets that barely scratch the surface. Replayability is not really a strong point of Never Alone, but more about the experience of hearing a story being told for the first time. It captures your and brings you along. The true replayability lies in the co-op as you may share the experience with other people and seeing their reactions and emotions to the story unfolding before them as you tag along as a secondary teller.

Multiplayer: 75 C
Not much to really say about the multiplayer aspect of Never Alone, a basic co-op in the vein of Sonic the Hedgehog , except when one or the other falls, you start over from the last checkpoint.

Design: 79 C+
This is quite possibly the hardest aspect to nail down let alone grade. The fact that this game exists is somewhat of a miracle, so to judge it too harshly would seem unfair being an indie title, not to mention a new type of game structuring, but that doesn't mean there aren't any faults. As mentioned before, there are some graphical flaws, difficulty curves, and other things that may turn away folks from this, especially those looking for a “perfect” experience, but experiences like this doesn’t require perfection. Had this been made by a larger team and budget with similar faults, then one could expect a lower grade altogether. This is one of those times where the effort is what should remain in focus and not whether they colored in between all the lines.

Story: 90 A
The story of this game cannot be judged on its quality in terms of plot holes, quality, realism - this is a myth given an interactive element and thus must be taken as such. The story is told very well and and in a manner as if you were with a tribe elder telling you an ageless tale passed down from generation to generation. Having that tied right into the gameplay, the pacing is fully dependent on your progression through the game and with the soundscapes flowing in and out, accompanied by the art and visuals, the words ensnare you into investing with this girl and her fox as they trek along for the first time with you and for the innumerable times as a tale.


Verdict: 86/100 B
Never Alone is not alone in what it does and is part of an ever increasing trend in indie games taking on stronger story and art driven games, but the genre is still young with vast amount of themes to explore and interpret which we will dive into with time. The one thing Never Alone does well, that is not as common, is that it tells a good, solid tale without the curse of having every detail deconstructed, because you simply cannot without taking the magic away. It would be like trying to analyze Ulysses or Peter Pan on its realism or possibility and missing the point entirely. Too often we forget that an adventure is what we need in life instead of why we need an adventure. Never Alone is a step in the right direction for gaming to further evolve into a greater medium of depth and expression.

Insightful, colorful, and touching. Stunning graphics and simple gameplay allows you to take in and appreciate Never Alone's beautiful story and art. The idea for a community to use a video game for reaching out to the world and teach is a powerful one. I sincerely hope and look forward to more games like this in the future.

It's a charming little platformer, on the order of (but not quite as good as) Lost Winds. The fairy tale story is alright. The environments and characters are great.

The documentary part is alright too. I genuinely learned stuff and found the biographical parts interesting. I'd like to see it more integrated with the game, but I think it works fine how it is. My biggest gripe is that I missed 2 videos by the end and, while I would like to see those videos, I don't want to replay the game to find them.

If you've been looking forward to this game, I think you'll like it, but if you've never heard of it I don't think it's worth convincing you to try it.

Pros : Educational, beautiful, whimsical, lovely characters, insightful, and overall nice story. I loved feeling connected and learning about a culture that wasn't mine, and it's definitely an awesome way to discover Alaskan Inuit culture, a very rich and humbling one at that.
Cons : Bugs, Poorly coded making the game very laggy, hitboxes glitching a lot, IA being VERY dumb so many times, it can be very frustrating to play this game alone because it's a game that asks you to be precise and fast, well with all these flaws, you just can't be, so you end up dying over and over again, which can leads to madness. It gets much easier when played in co-op though, even though some moments can STILL get very infuriating.

Overall, I'd still advise anyone who wanna play something that is different, and that'll make them discover a culture they don't know, to play this game, despite all it's flaws. But if you can, do it in Co-op, you'll rage way less, that's a promise.

The whole game, from 2D sketches to final experience is just dripping with atmosphere and mood.
I am very impressed with art direction.

1- Visuals are absolutely beautiful. (when i saw it, imedietly got it)
2 - Controls are simple, easy to lean.
3 - Puzzles are simple too, which is meh, but they do get clever.
4 - Little culture videos is nice feature, I enjoyed watching them.
5 - Story a bit all over the place, but its fine.

Overall – It feels as if a true artist wanted to express him/her self, and did so through “game” medium.
Stunned by visuals and inspired by game.

Thumbs up!

First things first, the game is short, but that's not a point against it. It's not over before it starts, and the pacing is okay. However, the game is interspersed with (optional, but constantly unlocking) videos explaining the culture of the people the game is based on.

As a cultural exploration, it's okay. Production values of the videos are fine, but the content is mildly interesting, not enthralling.

As a game, it's just not very good, or very fun. The mechanics can be finicky in a way that break not only with platforming conventions, but it's own rules. If you're climbing, you can jump backwards away from the surface by pushing away from the wall and hitting Jump. However, you can't jump backwards from a standing position. You have to turn around first. But, you can't just turn around, since if you even just tap a direction, you not only turn, but move in that direction, which changes your location and possibly makes it so you'll not longer be able to jump and grab the ledge you could have if only you could just jump backwards. Or just turn around without moving. Or if the ledge-magnetization was more forgiving (it's inconsistent).

You end up dying and returning to checkpoint (after a few seconds unskippable "oh dear" cutscene from the other character) quite often, but rarely because you didn't know what to do, but because the game fails to execute on your intent. If the platforming was tight, I would have completed the game in even less time, and enjoyed it more. But despite a patch fixing some of the behavior, I doubt they'll fix the fundamental platforming to make it actually fun.

I think the people making this game enjoyed it a lot more than you'll enjoy playing it. Can't quite recommend it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zb0a9iVZYs&list=UU7_-PLIhjsEBwIQXqKxmNpA

Never Alone is a cultural art/game/story platformer. The game is based
on a story from the natives of Northern Alaska, passed down through video game
format. Overall the game runs smoothly, with a beautiful atmosphere conveyed
through visually appealing graphics.

The game is rich with traditional Northern Alaskan culture, with beautiful
visuals and music that captures the atmosphere perfectly. There are also 'cultural
insights'; little clips you can unlock throughout the game that sheds some
light onto the native community and culture.

The platforming element of the game is done well. As this game is
available to be played co-op, the challenges are scaled up to make it
challenging enough for two, so playing the game as a single player can be
even more challenging. You sometimes need to switch between the main
character and the companion, which does necessitate going slightly slower
in order to go back and forth between characters.

The game has a unique atmosphere, and while it is challenging, I didn't
find it to be repetitive or unfair. The balance between usage of mechanics and
length of the game was done very well. The atmosphere, story, and environment are woven together in an artistic, well done way, making this a game that
is easy to recommend.

This is a summary of my review video, which I encourage you to
watch if you are looking for a more in-depth review.

Thanks for your viewership and support; for more videos check click here.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SocioPyscho

Never Alone has a very interesting premise that me and my boyfriend love to see in games: cultures you don't see often being depicted in positive, informative lights by members of that culture, in this case, the iñupiat people. we bought this with that in mind as well as the availability of local co-op.
sadly, the game's platforming made getting through the mere 2 hours a trial. the first hald of the game features an irritatingly large amount of waiting, waiting, and more waiting. is there wind blowing? better wait for it to stop so you can move on. is it blowing the wrong way? wait for it to chnage directions so you can jump that gap. are you playing as the girl, Numa? hope you enjoy standing about whenever the fox needs to do something. the encounter with the polar bear in her den seemed like the only competent execution of the co-op in the entire game: if you need to wait, it's for a minimal amount of time, and you spend the encounter working together in a way that doesn't require either for you to stand about idly for several minutes.
the cultural insight videos were the highlight of the game: being able to hear from actual iñupiat about their lives in artic Alaska in the context of the game was wonderful and informative in a way that didn't bore. the option to switch from gameplay straight into an unlocked video was a nice option, however the jolt between screens caused very broken up gameplay that made smooth transition back into the scenes difficult.
the second half of the game is what made the experience go from downward sloping to a 90 degree angle. after (SPOILER) the fox dies and turns into its human form (END SPOILER), controlling the game became a frustrating trial instead of a fun but tiring experience. with no danger given to the fox, the other player is given an unfair advantage. whoever is playing Nuna is forced to experience every single death and watch the same animation of the fox, over and over. and don't doubt that deaths aren't plentiful: the platforming in the second half of the game skyrockets in difficulty, often requiring of the second player to move along the spirits with impossibly frustrating controls that more than once resulted in Nuna's death. the waiting time tripled as the fox flies around to pull the unbelievably slow spirits. at points, there's so many on screen my boyfriend was unable to competently control them all. the game became so unbelieveably frustrating, confusing, and uncontrollable that we had to quit right at the very last scene.
for a game that barely runs more than 2 hours and has led to such an unfun experience, i can't justify the $10 we spent on it, i'm not sure i could ever justify a full $15 to someone else.

Never Alone is one of those rare games that I'll remember for a really long time and come back to often. It had beautiful visuals, a lovely atmosphere, and great level design. It was a perfect length too: short, yet also long enough to tell its story. The levels never felt too long or redundant; each one was fun and unique in its own way with its own puzzles to solve. It's a video game, but it's a story as well, and the developers struck a great balance between the two to give the player a really unique experience.

But what I loved most was how Never Alone both shares and celebrates the culture of the Alaskan Native people through not only the game itself, but through the cultural insight videos that you can find throughout the game. I'd really recommend that anyone playing the game watches them as soon as the notification pops up in the lower left hand corner of the screen, rather than waiting until later; they really add to the game's story and atmosphere in so many ways. The narration was wonderful as well.

Long story short: Never Alone is a really lovely game for so many reasons.

This game was an interesting experience. I really liked the story and I think as an educational game it worked well. More people should learn about Native American culture. However, the gameplay just didn't quite do it for me. The controls felt sluggish and in one of the many "flight and fight" sequences I ended up getting killed to often. Maybe it would have worked better in co-op, maybe. The game is short enough that it makes for a one-night stand, positive or negative I leave to you. Also, the game bugged out whenever I tried to view the cultural insights. So I couldn't participate in the educational part of the game, which is a pretty bad thing to have glitch on you when this was planned my tribesmen to educate.
Until some bugs are fixed, I don't think I can recommend this game

Lovely game, but polar bear keeps wanting to eat me :(

Genuinely educational and pretty to boot, Never Alone is a simple game that is worth a weekend of play. Controls for the final two levels, however, might feel like a dirigible and frustrate some players.

Oh my goodness gracious, I learned things about a culture outside of my own. And I enjoyed every minute of it.

My only gripe is that sometimes the A.I. partner can be stupider than a sock full of sawdust and run into the path of oncoming disaster. Or just toss themselves off the nearest ledge for no good reason at all.

Aside from that, it's a wonderful game with roots tied in a deep and vibrant culture. The collectible videos are pretty much a mini-documentary, but that's not something I'd really complain about.

To keep itshort, it's beautifully designed, the story is nothing short of simple and sweet, and it touches base on some issues concerning today's world as a whole. Yay learning.

Never Alone is a simple platform game, which tells the story of one girl and her fox trying to find the source of a blizzard that is threatening her village & her people. Throughout the game, which takes about 2 to 2.5 hours to go from start to finish, the player will also be exposed to other bits of folk lore, from the Little People (a group of mischievous, super strong humanoids), Manslayer (a person who puts their greed and selfish desires before the community), Sky People, nature spirits, and more.

At times controls can feel stiff and there are a few moments where you will miss a jump or fall off a ledge due to this. Had they put in a little more work towards this, I think the game would have been much more rewarding to players and less frustrating.

I think the art-style of the game was a very good choice. Cut scenes also mix in animated tribal art and figures, which help keep the tone and mood throughout the game. Living in the praries of Canada, we get our fair share of blizzards and wind storms, and Never Alone does a good job depicting the blizzard in the game in both animation and sound.

One of the things few mention about this game is that it also has mini-documentaries which are unlocked as you go through the game. There are 24 in total, lasting only a couple minutes each, and can be played in the middle of a game when you unlock one, or after through the main menu. I found playing these short documentaries during the game actually added to it, as they would have something to do with the lore of the level you were in. Some of these documentaries are about the lore of the indiginous people (such as about the Sky People), while others were more practical (like how skin of the cariboo from different seasons were used for specific clothing).

In the end, not only does one finish Never Alone feeling like they were just told a good story, but one also walks away feeling as though they have learned something.

Great game , but it has some stupid bugs,
The story telling is so awesome and it gets better with the progress with the game

A cultural masterpiece that looks absolutely stunning and is a lot of fun to play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSnvJiPer2U
Built in partnership with the Alaska Native community, Never Alone is an atmospheric puzzle platformer that explores the harsh and vibrant world of Alaska Native stories. Delve deeply into the traditional lore of the Iñupiat people of the Arctic for a game experience like no other. - Highly Recommended!

This was a hard review to write - it's a hard game not to like, the art style is beautiful and it provides a fascinating insight into an indigienous people/culture that may soon be lost to the world. If you ever want a game you can point at when people claim games can't be art, serve no other purpose than mindless entertainment or violance - this is the game to point them at.

It's a genuinely moving at times, albeit mainly through the video segments that you unlock along the way. The story its self is interesting but for me this game's soul is driven by it's exploration of story telling through games, and opening up access to a culture you would otherwise move through life knowing nothing about.

That said, the game its self is far from flawless. The difficulty curve on the puzzles is random, and the controls at times are clunky. The most frustrating part, to the point that it becomes a distraction, is the companion AI. Some basic puzzles are made more challenging, and some hard puzzles made almost impossible by a random and sporadicly moving AI. The secondary challenge at times being where could you wedge your companion so they can't run off a ledge, or float off so the platform you're stood on dissapears beneath you.

As a medium, and as a piece of engaging storytelling this is pretty expectional and should not be over looked for it does and the message it carries. As a game it is solid, but challenging due to development flaws rather than the core concept. However, do not let that put you off...this is well worth having in your collection and will be 3 hours well spent.

Hey everybody! I work for Grab The Games website and I have done a first look of what

this game is all about. So come check it out and let me know what you guys think about

the game and my review.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MPplSgDs4c

I don't normally write reviews but this game is something special. Only played for a bit over the hour but I can see the next few nights going to finishing this game. Great narrative, good puzzels and the animation is pretty damn nice.

The events of the game and the themes it tries to deliver are quite refreshing. A lot of story telling in games can be quite dark however do little to advance or challenge expected norms/outcomes which I think can lead to ubiquitous genre or gaming experience. Though the initial story is quite dark, it's told in a captivating way making it feel like a more meaningful interactive experience.

The mechanics are also quite good and work to tell the story rather than impede it. It rewards pretty fast reflexes but nothing too punishing at the moment which keeps the game focused on the narrative!!

10/10 :)