The game I’ve been playing for March is an atmospheric puzzle platformer based on a traditional native Alaskan story. It’s called Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna), and I remember that it immediately intrigued me, but – for no good reason – it’s been on my Steam backlog for years. So, I thought it was time to finally give it a go.
Reminder: For the Year of Gaming Challenge, I have to play a game I’ve never played before (one of the many games I’ve bought in Steam sales and never got around to playing), give it a fair chance and write up my thoughts by the end of each month. (That may not sound like much of a challenge, but as a father with a lot going on right now, it will be hard to fit it in!)
Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)
Never Alone is a puzzle platformer, developed by Upper One Games and published by E-Line Media, released in November 2014. It’s based on the tales of the Iñupiat, a community of native Alaskans, and combines the small-child-scary-world aesthetic of games like Limbo with the sexy-voiced-narrator from modern classics like Bastion and Hades. The game features dual protagonists and can be played single-player or cooperatively.
Story
You play as Nuna, a young girl whose village is being ravaged by a never-ending blizzard. Nuna, with the help of her companion – an arctic fox – must face many dangers to find the source of the storm and bring everything back into balance. It is apparently based on a traditional story called ‘Kunuuksaayuka’.
The story is mostly told by a narrator (in the native Iñupiat language) and in 2D animated cutscenes between levels. It’s a relatively light story, but then it’s a relatively short game. What is there is well told, works well with the audio, visuals and general atmosphere of the game, and is more than enough to motivate you to help Nuna get to the end of each level.
Craft
That atmosphere is definitely the game’s strongest point. The game is over 10 years old and was clearly made on a budget, but it has aged remarkably well. They’ve crafted a hauntingly beautiful world that, while mostly made up of snowy whites and dark shadows, still includes a few injections of colour. It invokes a sense of loneliness, fragility and isolation perfectly. The game is not without its share of jank, and there are areas that lack a certain amount of polish, but that doesn’t detract from its charm.
Throughout the game, you can find a number of owls perched on branches and ledges. Finding these owls unlocks ‘Cultural Insights’ – a series of short videos about different elements of the story and the Iñupiat history and culture. These clips add up to a well-produced documentary that I found fascinating.
Gameplay
The gameplay mostly consists of jumping between platforms and solving basic puzzles. If you’re playing single-player, as I was, you have to switch between controlling Nuna and the fox. Nuna is able to move heavy objects around and use her bola (a kind of slingshot) to destroy objects in her path. The fox is more nimble, able to scurry up certain surfaces and fit through small gaps, as well as interact with various friendly spirits to open up new paths and platforms. Mostly, you follow a linear path, though I did find one or two hidden Cultural Insights off the main path, and at least one optional path that presumably led to the few Insights that I missed. Generally, it works pretty well. It reminds me of Limbo, with lots of jumping, climbing ladders and pushing objects around, with the USP being the added help – and hindrance – of strong arctic winds.
The only element I struggled with was the ranged weapon – the bola. You have to make Nuna face the right direction, then pull back on the right thumbstick to aim before flicking the stick to fire. Nuna points in roughly the direction she’s aiming with her free arm, but it’s a fiddly system to use. For the most part, it was just a mild irritant, but there are a few sequences where you have limited time to smash an obstacle, and then it can be downright infuriating.
One slightly random thing that got on my nerves more than it probably should is that your hero is sometimes water soluble and will immediately die if they touch the water – which makes sense in the frigid waters of the Arctic – but then at other times you have to dive in and swim under the water. This kind of inconsistency has always bothered me and is something of a ghost of gaming’s past.
There are sections where the partner who you aren’t controlling follows you automatically, but other times where you have to manually switch to pilot them across the level. The companion is at least more useful and less suicidal than other vulpine sidekicks I could mention, but this one actually matters to the story, and you will die if their AI bugs out and they fall to their death!
They could have been more generous with checkpoints during certain sequences. Others – particularly ones where you have to switch between Nuna and the fox to manipulate platforms and then jump between them – could have been more forgiving. Maybe they work better in co-op? But the point I guess I’m making is that, if you want a game to be educational and to teach people about your culture, then you probably don’t want to make it too challenging or frustrating. Otherwise, players won’t get to experience the whole story! I’m not saying it should be so easy that it’s boring, but it feels like they didn’t quite get the balance right in some places.
But these are minor annoyances in an otherwise great experience. I never threw my controller down in annoyance, despite getting close at one point, and kept going all the way to the story’s end.
The Stats
(I may not have time to finish a game within the month, so I will always let you know how far through the game I got and whether I plan to continue playing if I didn’t finish.)
- The game was bought for me from my Steam wishlist as a gift. It currently costs £11.99.
- I finished it in 3 roughly 1-hour sessions, completing all the main levels and finding all but 2 of the cultural insights.
- I don’t feel particularly motivated to go back and look for the secrets I missed; I feel like I’ve seen most of what there is to see.
Final Thoughts
As someone who enjoys exploring stories from other cultures, I enjoyed Never Alone. There were times when it was frustrating, but it’s beautiful, generally well-crafted and incredibly atmospheric. I also enjoyed watching the insight videos and learning more about a culture that I previously knew very little about.
It’s pretty short, but I think it will leave a lasting impression. And I’m keeping an eager eye out for the sequel, which is apparently ‘coming soon’.