The Rise of World Games

Games can honor the cultures of indigenous peoples across the world, and bring them to life in a new way.

Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) is notable for interspersing gameplay with “cultural insight” videos recorded with Iñupiat community members, its aesthetics (cutscenes mimic ancient scrimshaw techniques), and its depiction of the natural world as a living force (e.g. Nuna and fox must brace against wind gusts). Publisher E-Line Media is often celebrated as the first Indigenous-owned game studio, and they have placed Never Alone in the category of “world games” (kind of like world music).