Never Alone

Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) is a puzzle platformer created in collaboration with elders of the Alaskan Iñupiat community, telling a traditional story about a girl named Nuna and her companion, an arctic fox, who together search for the source of an endless snowstorm threatening their village. The game arrived on Wii U as a digital eShop title and is among the less common productions where authentic indigenous storytelling is placed at the center of the entire game experience, thanks to the development studio's direct collaboration with elders and storytellers of the Iñupiat community.

Gameplay is built on alternating and simultaneous control of two characters — the girl can manipulate objects and throw a spear, while the fox is agile and can climb icy walls and reveal invisible platforms. In single-player mode, the player switches between characters as needed, but the game also offers two-player co-op, where each player takes charge of one character, naturally underscoring the theme of mutual dependence and cooperation on which the entire story is built. Between chapters, the game inserts short documentary videos with real storytellers who explain the cultural context of the story, its connection to actual legends, and to the harsh conditions of life in northern Alaska.

The visual side relies on a muted, snow-white palette and silhouette animations of spirits and animals from Iñupiat mythology, flickering behind the girl and fox in the background of the snowy tundra, while the music uses traditional instruments and singing recorded directly by community members. Contemporary reviews praised above all the cultural authenticity and sensitive handling of the subject, with mild criticism aimed at the technical execution and occasional physics-control quirks. Even years later, Never Alone remains an exceptional example of how a video game can serve as a tool for cultural storytelling, and on Wii U it's one of the most distinctive eShop titles, offering, with its calm pace, a counterweight to the faster platformers of the same era.

Why play: For its cultural authenticity and sensitive retelling of Iñupiat mythology, accompanied by traditional music and singing from the community, this is one of Wii U's most distinctive eShop titles, with a calm pace that stands apart from its peers.