There are many games that tell stories of particular cultures or people, but few can claim to be developed alongside members of these communities every step of the way.

Never Alone is that game. On the surface it evokes familiar but celebrated indie games of recent years, such as Limbo and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, as a girl and a snow fox explore harsh frozen landscapes through side-scrolling pastures and co-operative puzzles.

Cook Inlet Tribal Council



But from its conception through to research and design, this is a project that has been created in collaboration with Alaskan native storytellers and members of the wider community, young and old, as a way of telling its stories to a new, global audience.

"At a high level, people often look at video games as disconnecting youth from their heritage, from their culture, from their elders," Gloria O'Neill told Digital Spy. "Why not use this incredibly powerful medium to reconnect youth, in a really exciting fun way? That's we're trying to do here."

O'Neill is the CEO of Inlet Tribal Council, a tribal and non-profit organisation that has several long-term aims for the Alaskan native community, including self sufficiency and education.

Cook Inlet Tribal Council



She was recently tasked with bringing in new investments that would help drive these goals, and after looking at traditional avenues from real estate to funeral homes, it was video games that was seen to offer more of an impact; a progressive and modern tool that could not only relate to young Alaskan natives, but reach people around the world.

"My board said to me several years ago, 'We want to be self determined, meaning we want to raise our own funds so that we can determine our own programs and our own destiny'," O'Neill said.

"We know as a community what's best for ourselves instead of trying to always implement programs that have strings attached to them, [such as those] we get from the federal government.

"My board said be bold, seek outside of the box. We asked ourselves many questions, and we wanted to push ourselves; we wanted to be progressive, we wanted to think about how we can stay up to date and be a modern organisation with the use of technology."

Cook Inlet Tribal Council



With this in mind, O'Neill contacted E-Line Media - headed up by former Activision executive and board member of non-profit organisation Games for Change Alan Gershenfeld - to help investigate the potential in creating a game. The gaming veteran, however, was keen to stress the dangers of entering the industry.

"Alan said, 'This is really risky as an investment and its a messy industry, do you want to do this?'," O'Neill explained. "But the more and more we talked the more and more we realised our values align, and the more realised we had goals that aligned as well.

"At one point, what we realised - and this is the point I knew we needed to make the investment - is there had not been a major investment by an indigenous group in the video gaming industry in the United States.

"I said, 'That's the space we need to take. Not only in the United States, but the rest of the world."

Cook Inlet Tribal Council



With O'Neill and Gershenfeld sharing similar philosophies about the potential of games for telling stories, as well as recent changes in the landscape that could make such a project possible - the rise of digital distribution that has made independent games possible, and development tools such as Unity that make them easier to make - the council and E-Line formed Upper One Games, and began work on its debut project.

Never Alone is designed to represent the view of the world by Alaskan ancestors. It follows Nuna and her snow fox who must travel through a harsh landscape to find the source of a blizzard, and must use their respective unique abilities to crack various environmental puzzles.

The girl can climb ropes and move heavy objects, while the fox can scramble up vertical walls and crawl through tight spaces. While Never Alone can be played with two people, controlling a character each, it can also be played individually, using a button to switch between the two characters while the computer assumes control of the other.

Cook Inlet Tribal Council



Puzzles start simple - for example, the fox must scramble up a wall and knock down a rope that the girl can climb and then follow - introducing basic concepts.

Like any good puzzle game, in time there are moments where you need to stand back and evaluate the steps required to continue - the positions of the characters amd their unique strengths - and in time, employ quick reactions when sliding crate and falling rope physics come into play.

It's familiar puzzle game stuff in these areas, but there are also ideas that embody Alaskan folklore when exploring the adventure; the harsh weather that's central to both the region and the story requires the pair to time brace positions against strong gusts of wind; with animals said to be connected to a spirit world, the fox can call upon spirits to bridge the gaps between large crevices.



Later, the pair must travel through the body of a whale, and a story told to Alaskan children - that the northern lights would swoop down and knock their heads up unless their put on their warm, protective hoods to keep them safe- are actual physical threats players must avoid.

"[We've] developed a game that can honestly say comes from that world - even if it's not verbatim, something that an elder could look at and feel like it's recognisable, that it's okay that they can not only tolerate but give their full blessing - and so far, so good," native storyteller Ishmael Hope explained.

"We've been trying to do as best as we can, and try and realise the remarkable powerful voices of the elders and see them as individuals and not just anonymous representatives of a culture, but as storytellers who are really amazing."

Never Alone is a game that uses its source material in clever ways, with its culture embedded within individual obstacles and overarching themes without feeling overbearing or supplementary. It strikes an alluring atmosphere because of it.

Cook Inlet Tribal Council



It's puzzles also seem to be well crafted and challenging, but it's a game that's currently rough round the edges; there's satisfyingly heavy but slightly unresponsive controls that led to a few missed jumps, physics that sent objects falling in unpredictable ways, and a few bugs that halted progress. It was noted the game is currently in the final stages of polish and refining - it's due out in November - so hopefully these quirks will be ironed out in time.

As well as smart use of story as part of the game's puzzles and obstacles, cutscenes between stages are modelled around traditional scrimshaw (illustrations that are engraved on ivory or bone), while collectables throughout the story open up around 40 hours of additional documentary footage. This footage delves deeper into Alaskan lore for those who want to learn more.

Never Alone looks like it could effectively deliver on its premise of delivering Alaskan culture to a wider audience, and it appears this is only the start. After launching on next-gen consoles and PC this year, "a bunch of new platforms" will be announced shortly after, and from there, Upper One Games want to move onto making more games from other cultures.

Cook Inlet Tribal Council



"We're going to begin to explore some new cultures together," Gershenfeld explained. "We're in the process of exploring [them] - there's so many amazing stories and cultures around the world - so who else wants to go on this journey of inclusive development? That will be part of introducing this world game's movement."

O'Neill added: "As we've started this process and have really gotten to know E-Line, our board is committed to this world games movement.

"We recently finished a transition a couple of months ago where we merged our assets and our management teams. We're committed to this. We believe in it, and we want to do it together."

Never Alone will debut on PS4, Xbox One and PC on November 18.

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