Never Alone
Platforms: Android, Mac, Nintendo Wii U, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and iOS
Genres: Action, Adventure, Narrative and Platform
Released: December 2014. Added to this library 7 weeks ago, last updated 5 weeks ago.
Overview
Never Alone is a running, jumping and exploring game based on the traditional Iñupiaq tale, "Kunuuksaayuka". You swap between controlling an Iñupiaq girl named Nuna and her Arctic fox companion as you complete puzzles and move the story forwards.
You race to discover the source of the blizzard that has ravaged your village and hope to restore balance to nature. While the fox is fast, Nuna can pick up things and open new areas using her bola. Using the right character for each situation is part of the puzzle. As you do this the story is told in the form of an oral tale through vignettes of Iñupiaq elders, storytellers, and community members sharing their wisdom.
This game is good if you want to escape life's storms for a while, reconsider your body or walk in someone else's shoes.
Commitment
Costs
Foxtales is an expansion to the story and provides new levels.
Ratings
This game has been rated ESRB EVERYONE 10+.
Accessibility
System settings: Android has accessibility settings including ways to navigate and interact, although not all games support this. The Wii U has some limited settings, such as disabling rumble and selecting mono audio. Windows has extensive accessibility features. Some, like colour correction, work with games. Lots of accessibility software can be used with PC games, from voice recognition to input device emulators. PlayStation 4 has a range of accessibility settings. Some are system only, some work in games (invert colours and button mapping). Xbox One has a wide range of system features including some that can be used on all games, like the excellent co-pilot mode. iOS has a very extensive suite of accessibility settings including ways to navigate with voice and comprehensive screen reading, though most of the features don't work with games... read more.
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Never Alone is in These Lists
In addition to the similar games listed above, which have been linked to this game specifically in the database, you may find games with a similar theme to Never Alone in the following lists:
Find Calm From The Storm
Walk in Someone Else's Shoes
In contrast to films or books, characters and relationships in video games need to be discovered by the player. Some of my favourite relational moments in games happen amidst other action. Often these other actions – whether shooting, puzzle-solving, or fetching and carrying – serve to underline the difficult, awkward and snatched nature of interpersonal interactions.
Know Your Body
This is not only an enjoyable way to escape the reality of daily life but a chance to reflect on and understand ourselves, and our bodies, better. Stepping into the shoes of a vulnerable, small or endangered character can help us understand for a short while some of what it is like to be someone else.
Whether this is into the awkward teenage years of Mord and Ben in Wide Ocean Big Jacket, the grandparent-escaping Tiger and Bee in Kissy Kissy, the fractured heartbroken body in Gris or the haphazard movement of Octodad we have a chance to reassess our own physicality and how we respond to and treat other people's physicality.
More specifically, to use body therapy language, games offer us a chance to discover the inviolability of our bodies, personal autonomy, self-ownership, and self-determination. In travel, as Andrew Soloman says, we go somewhere else to see properly the place where we have come from. In video games, we step into other bodies so we can better understand our own and those of the people around us.
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