We reviewed Never Alone

Driftwood
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 | 3:00 AM
13 comments

GSY Review PC PS4 Xbox One

Never Alone is an independent title whose particularity is to have been developed by the first ever Native American studio. It tells the story of a young Iñupiaq girl named Nuna and her faithful arctic fox and it makes a very good use of all the folklore of the Iñupiat tribe. Considering how busy we've been lately, the short review is only available in French for now, but you'll find the verdict and the +/- section inside with videos of the PC and PS4 versions.

Verdict

Never Alone is a pedagogical experience you have to try if you're the kind of person that thinks that the value of games does not have anything to do with their length. The adventure is short indeed, but it would probably not have benefited from more hours of gameplay. We've loved every single aspect of Never Alone, the way it narrates the story, the way it sounds, the way it looks and its overall atmosphere. What's more, Upper One Games have also managed to deliver a game that is interesting to play, with solid and rather original gameplay mechanics that get harder as you get closer to the end. The game is never difficult though, mostly thanks to the high number of checkpoints, but it's really not the point anyway. Never Alone is a very nice tribute to a people that does not hesitate to share its roots with other games like Limbo, Child of Light and even Shadow of the Colossus. If what you've seen/read has kept you intrigued, join us and you'll never be alone anymore.

On the up side
Beautiful
Mesmerizing
Play and learn things
Single player or co-op
Nuna and Fox
The narrator
The short documentaries you can unlock
Never frustrating

On the down side
Short (2h30/3h)

High quality stream and download

Commented on 2014-11-18 07:13:47

Wow...I want this and nice review. Thanks.

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GeRaLTo

Commented on 2014-11-18 10:44:30

Thanks for the review Drift ! Can't wait to grab the game later today.

Driftwood

Commented on 2014-11-18 11:27:51

I haven't encountered the slightest bug personally. Bad game design really? I probably didn't get the same game as they did. I never got frustrated, never had any problems with jumps. Maybe these people should simply learn how to play video games. :p

Commented on 2014-11-18 12:43:55

We got it a few days ago thanks to a PR team so I can't help you with that I'm afraid. :)

digi_matrix

Commented on 2014-11-19 02:23:48

Played an hour of it with my sister and it's absolutely wonderful. Challenging and intense with the chases. Gorgeous is an understatement, the wind and snow is some of the best I've seen. The narration during gameplay reminds me of Bastion.

Commented on 2014-11-19 10:18:36

Finished it, that was fantastic and epic. Crazy plot twist that changes the gameplay significantly. Definitely challenging and beautiful. Nice tale of courage to restore peace against a harsh world. I like that the protagonist is a girl while the original tale was meant to be a boy, she's tough and sweet.

Commented on 2014-11-19 18:03:02

Delayed in Europe till 26th :(

VegaMan

Commented on 2014-11-20 01:29:47

Turned out being shallow on most aspects. Aside from documentals (which is probably the best part of the game and the only thing to remember about it) and being sort of cultural legacy of Iñupiat people (another reason to appreciate the effort) the game is... and I'm sorry to say it... well, it's disappoinitng and forgettable. Sure it has some unique aesthatics to it (which is the very reason I bought it on release) but it's pretty much nothing special on emotional and gameplay levels. It's a linear platformer (which also feels scripted as hell most of the time) with clunky controls and zero originality (gameplaywise). The fox is cute. The story... I don't know.