The Iñupiat’s voice in videogames continues with Never Alone’s upcoming DLC

Never Alone is among the few games rooted in the inter-generational values and folklore of Native Alaskans—specifically, the Iñupiat. It was developed by Upper One Games and educational games publisher E-Line Media as a means to share and preserve the stories of indigenous Alaskan peoples, letting them tell their own stories in an entirely new medium.

a whole new adventure and much more nautical than the last 

The original Never Alone is based on the story of Kunuuksaayuka, a young boy who braves a blizzard in a journey to find its source. In the game, the hero is a young girl named Nuna, accompanied by an Arctic fox. The game told Nuna and Fox’s tale across eight chapters when it launched in November of last year, and soon it’ll have three more to add with the upcoming Foxtales DLC.

Never Alone: Foxtales is a whole new adventure and much more nautical than the last. It takes Nuna and Fox up the Noatak River in a sealskin canoe, in a retelling of the “The Two Coastal Brothers” story, which will once again see the leading duo relying on each other’s distinct skills and strengths. Of which, there are new ones made specifically for this new journey: Nuna can row and steer an umiaq (a sealskin canoe) while the fox is able to interact with spirits to change the flow of underwater currents.

share, celebrate, and extend culture 

Foxtales also adds five more Cultural Insights videos to the base game’s 24; an unlockable collection of focused interviews with Iñupiat families meant to inform and inspire those unfamiliar with the culture. E-Line’s goal with Never Alone, and hopefully future projects with Upper One, is to “share, celebrate, and extend culture” through the medium of videogames. That’s always a good vision to have and one that it seems to have been successful in achieving.

You’ll be able to get the Foxtales DLC on July 28th for Steam, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Never Alone is also coming to PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.