Never Alone 2 revealed - still an Alaskan Native folklore adventure, but now designed for co-op
Sequel to 2014's BAFTA winner, Never Alone 2 looks to have a lot of the same themes
Never Alone, a quiet, snowy adventure set in the Alaskan arctic wilderness, won a Bafta in 2014, and at the Triple-I Initiative stream last night we got a glimpse of the upcoming sequel, Never Alone 2. It's still the tale of Nuna and Fox journeying through aforementioned cold tundra, and like the first game is inspired by Indigenous Iñupiaq storytelling traditions, but this time the story unfolds in co-op. No release date, but we have a teaser trailer for your viewing pleasure.
It's a short tease, but you can see that Nuna is a bit older, and the world is a dreamy, peaceful, and magical place to explore. Never Alone 2 is designed to be played in couch or online co-op, which is appropriate for the name of the series, and I'm told it will feature landscapes beyond the icy tundra - like, for example, 'forest valleys filled with ancient willows'. As in Never Alone, Nuna and Fox are hunting down a mystery that threatens their community.
The focus is still very much on the Iñupiaq Native community, being developed with an 'Inclusive Development process' (capital I and D the press release's own). The story is from an award-winning Iñupiaq writer, and is drawing from Native traditional storytelling. The themes around our relationship with the land we live in, each other, and folkloric traditions seem to be making a strong return, and I like this - it's always cool seeing the traditions of cultures other than Vikings and Greco-Roman classics being celebrated in games.
This comes after the devs E-Line Media launched a sort of Robloxlike called The Endless Mission into early access back in 2019, which wasn't a rip-roaring success, and 2020's more-in-their-wheelhouse-you'd-assume Beyond Blue, a single player undersea explore 'em up that was well-recieved. Stand by for more info on release timing for Never Alone 2, although the Steam store page is up. Interested in other annoucements from the Triple-I stream? We've got them all rounded up here.