Never Alone Arctic Collection

The reason that tipped the scale for me to write this review is the unbelievably ridiculous pricing for this very short game/educational material. Despite looking like a fun game for younger gamers, I would suggest parents to skip the game and rather just watch a documentary on Inuit folks etc. I only got this cause it was heavily discounted. Finished in 3 hours, but those were not quite fun. Mostly frustration about gameplay mechanics, controls and many bugs. The Positive: - Well intended for younger audience to learn while playing a game about Inuit folks and their fairy tales. The Negative: - Many Bugs: A gamebreaking bug towards the end where you have to exit to menu and start again. And I can't even access all the educational videos! Just black screen. - The Controls! Oh my! At first they were fine, but gradually it got somehow worse, especially towards the end when quick decisions were needed! Super infruriating. - Boring gameplay. Sorry, but if you make a game, at least it should be somewhat fun. But it just feels like you need to get over a hurdle all the time. There are not fun mechanics.

I'm not a fan of platformers, but if I play one, I expect at least something interesting: a gameplay twist like in FEZ or Braid, captivating visual style like in Limbo or Giana Sisters or at least some competent game design. Never Alone however provides nothing interesting. The platforming switches between painfully boring (basically nothing but jumping from platform to platform) and frustrating, when the controls don't work or the AI of the second character does something stupid and dies. The occassional puzzle is always easy to figure out but is usually hampered by the same issues. On top of that, the visuals are extremely sub-par. Look, even ice and snow can be made interesting, but this just isn't. I also take issue with the stark difference between how the game world actually looks, and the the art style that's used for cutscenes, spirits etc. The latter is pretty ugly by our standards, but at least it's unusual, so honestly I'd prefer if the whole game looked like that rather than the uninspired style it has. As for the educational part, that is handled by a series of videos. Why even bother to make a game that feels unrelated to that, I don't know. I'd rather see a 20-minute short animated movie based on this tale rather than play through the slog. It may sound harsh but I just find it really difficult to not be harsh to this game. Overall, this package feels like pretty everage edutainment for kids as the youngsters may have more patience with the sub-par controls and the overly simplistic gameplay may not be that much of an issue. But as a game for entertainment - there are way better options out there.

It's an amazing game. I bought this game because it was on sale, the game is really out of my expectation!