Never Alone is unique in its unequaled ability to represent Indigenous culture and identity, while also giving the player liberty to interactively tell their own story by participating. As Clara Fernández-Vara explains in Introduction to Game Analysis, “the game is not a complete text without a player that interprets its rules and interacts with it” (Fernández-Vara, 7). In Never Alone, we see how this relationship between context and participation is crucial to understanding its importance and, as a result, being successful in game play. Never Alone is essential in the sphere of Indigenous representation because it is a form of education through experience that is like no other and demonstrates Indigenous identity with beautiful clarity and emotional impact.
Fernández-Vara explains how the disconnect between the academic conversation surrounding traditional literature and video games is slowly closing, and how video games are becoming “paratexts” for elements of diversity and historical representation. While video games were generally discussed only through economic and consumer lenses, they are now beginning to have a larger effect based on their content with games like Never Alone, which actively work to inform people of Indigenous culture. While playing the game, I found myself internalizing much more than the actual game. The ways in which myth, folklore, and spiritual themes were presented drew attention to the historical contexts of the game and how they relate to present day Indigenous culture (Fernández-Vara, 3).
These historical contexts, which define the player’s perception, are unlike those in games such as Red Dead Redemption, as discussed in Esther Wright’s “Rockstar Games.” While Red Dead Redemption has a much more violent perspective based on a “morality” system of points, which can at times be harmful to Indigenous identity through the ways which these points are centered around white colonial efforts, the game does provide some latitude of historical representation of Indigenous people (Wright). Never Alone is also in this genre of historically inspired games, however this game has much more “sovereign self-representation,” which make its impact especially important because players are able to immerse themselves in Indigenous culture specifically through the lens of Indigenous people, as discussed in Elizabeth LaPensée’s “Toward Sovereign Games.” “[A] game is sovereign,” she argues, “when self- determination is a respected practice throughout all phases of development from conceptualization to distribution.” This makes Never Alone essential to demonstrating how Indigenous representation can successfully be executed and effectively used to educate (LaPensée, 1).
Among the aspects of the game that especially draws attention to the historical context of its composition are the elements of “fictive” versus “realist simulation” time frames. I found myself wondering as I played the game, especially when the characters would die and be resurrected in unrealistic timing, are these based on actual tales of folklore? If so, is it a historical foundation of Indigenous culture? These questions emphasize the importance of this game in terms of its accurate representations and Indigenous design. The realms of elusive time, especially in the preplanned intermissions where the narrator discusses aspects of the characters’ journey, create an ethereal quality which adds layers of interest to the way in which the game is perceived as history, or the way which players can control the two “narrative gardens,” or characters, that dictate the course of the tale which is being told (Chapman, 98).
The ability to have “space as canvas” is also a tactic which serves to provide context for the player along with the interesting aspects of the structural layout of the game. By not only having the ability to observe but also to alter the “conceptual simulation” of the game, players learn by experience about Indigenous culture. Players are not just simply completing tasks within a preordained world, but their ability to change and alter the world and the spirits within it creates a perspective for understanding Indigenous life and culture which few other games rival. The interactive nature of Never Alone helps to establish its importance as a tool to educate gamers and students in both academic conversations and everyday life (Chapman, 101).
The relationship between the mystical elements of the game, the inclusion of cultural explanation which players can earn as they advance throughout the game, and the somewhat ambiguous ending of the game all not only draw players in as they actively learn while playing the game, but also call on the reader to ask questions and further educate themselves. In this way, Never Alone reaches audiences in ways which traditional academic texts typically cannot.
WORKS CITED
Chapman, A. Digital Games as History: How Videogames Represent the Past and Offer Access to Historical Practice. New York: Routledge, 2018.
Fernández-Vara, C. Introduction to Game Analysis. New York: Routledge, 2019.
LaPensée, E. A., Laiti, O., & Longboat, M. (2021). “Towards Sovereign Games.” Games and Culture, 155541202110291. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120211029195
Wright, E. (2021). Rockstar Games, “Red Dead Redemption, and Narratives of ‘Progress.’” European Journal of American Studies, 16, no. 3 (2021). https://doi.org/10.4000/ejas.17300