Never Alone Reviews
Never Alone takes a familiar game style and adds a unique sense of distinction with its well-realized atmosphere and native story.
The lack of dialogue and narration is a good connotation of how words simply do not do feelings justice. It allows us to be swallowed up by the emotions of what we are seeing without having to process words
A journey of purpose and consequence is sidelined by glitches, but is ultimately too powerful to ignore.
Though brief and beset with occasional frustrations, at its best, Never Alone a simply spellbinding experience and a true reminder of the power of games to transport us to another place.
My main experience with the game came from co-op and it is definitely the better way to play the game, which ties in nicely to the overall theme. Due to the puzzles not being too difficult it is the perfect game to play with anyone, as long as they have a basic grasp of gaming, plus they can jump into the game with the touch of a button.
Let's hear another one
It's rare to pick up a game now and actually learn from the experience. All too often we're gunning down hundreds of people in the name of some cause or another, but seldom are we asked to actually think about what we are doing, why we are doing it, and where we are. In Never Alone I felt like I'd been given a real grasp of Iñupiat culture and enough of a peek behind the curtain to understand a certain way of life. For that reason Never Alone is a wholly worthwhile tale, a chance to learn something new, but the occasionally frustrating gameplay jars slightly with the usually ethereal and dreamlike experience.
This is far from your average puzzle platformer, as its main audience is not the die-hard old-school fanbase of the genre. Never Alone is first and foremost an educational experience, and this is the standard to which you have to judge it in order to fully appreciate it.
You are not the greatest force in the world, one video tells us. And you feel it—through wind, through ice, through snow. Through the spirits bigger than you, and your dependency on the fox that keeps you alive and moving with its magic—on the backs of fish that dance across the waves, or breathing in the belly of a whale. Yet the humble hero, as fragile as a little girl, can still stop a blizzard.
While the game has its negatives, I have enjoyed it, and I hope others will too. My experience was mostly positive, and it was definitively easier with a second person on the controls.
Even though Never Alone is a brief journey with little incentive to play through more than once, it's still a journey worth taking.
While I'm in no great rush to play it again, the appreciation I gleaned for a culture I knew practically nothing about is something I really cherish. If you can patiently plod your way through the game entwined with the story of the Iñupiat people, I suspect you'll cherish them too.
Never Alone is only the first entry in an initiative by E-Line Media to create a series of world-culture games. It's an important step for a medium that's all too often stuck in its own familiar ways. Sure, Never Alone is far from perfect, but its highs are much more significant than its lows. Rarely is an experimental take flawless, and that's the case here. But, hopefully everyone involved can take what's on display with Never Alone, improve the formula next time, and continue to teach because it's a fascinating way to learn.
If you're inclined to rage-quitting or you aren't a platforming fan, Never Alone probably isn't for you. But if you're willing or able to overlook frustration—or you have a friend to ease up some of the AI issues through co-op—Never Alone is an experience worth having and sharing.
On occasion, gameplay feels stale due to the lack of depth and frustrates with frequent death inevitable, but the authenticity of the folklore tale coupled with a great art-style and engaging video docs takes you on a journey that actually feels refreshingly unique and certainly worth a look at its modest price point.
Effortlessly charming and surprising insightful, Never Alone is only hampered by some frustrating control issues and unfortunate technical hiccups.
Never Alone offers an average experience as a platformer with puzzles to solve but it's the game's narrative and tribute to the Inupiat people that makes it stand out as a unique experience. A perfect choice of artwork and use of cultural traits contribute to make Never Alone an insightful work which can also be enjoyed as a game.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Never Alone is something of a disappointment. It's by no means a terrible game, but the experience of playing doesn't live up to its gorgeous presentation, lovely atmosphere and genuinely interesting content. It's a pleasing diversion, provided you can round up a mate to play it with, and it tells a compelling story – but its drawbacks make it hard to recommend unreservedly.
Never Alone is an interesting and deceptive experiment in edutainment, or whatever you want to call it, and as such it must be evaluated in all its parts: in the face of an often limping gameplay, the title of Upper One Games gives a touching and detailed overview of the culture and folklore of the iñupiat, serving it on a dish much more attractive to gamers. A production not free from defects, but undoubtedly to be rewarded for its noble intentions.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Anyone who is transported by this timeless tale will undoubtedly forgive the various worries of youth from which the game suffers and will live an experience if not rare, in any case sufficiently striking to remember it in several months, even years, with a touch of nostalgia.
Review in French | Read full review