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Never Alone, Jackbox Party Pack discounted on Xbox Live
Co-op puzzle platformer Never Alone and the five-game Jackbox Party Pack headline this week's Deals With Gold lineup on Xbox Live, as publishers Capcom and 2K offer steep price drops for several featured Xbox 360 games. Xbox 360 owners can pick up cheap Games On Demand versions of featured games like Borderlands 2, Spec Ops: The Line, and the original Dead Rising, along with discounted add-on content for BioShock Infinite, SSX, and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. The Xbox One versions of the 2D Minecraft-like Terraria and WWE 2K15 are also on sale this week for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Listed prices are active through January 19. [Image: Upper One Games]
Joystiq Weekly: Final Fantasy 15, The Crew review, readers' favorite PS1 games and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. The Final Fantasy series has had a fun couple of weeks lately, but between the PC version of Final Fantasy 7 coming to the PS4 and Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster's incoming port, most of its news is focused on the past. Leave it to the spring release of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, a take on an old PSP game, to bring things into the present – those that grab a copy from Type-0's first run will get an exclusive demo of Final Fantasy 15. So, Final Fantasy fans: Is it going to work? Are you going for Type-0 HD solely because of the demo, or do you kind of want to play the game anyway? Don't worry if it's the former – plenty of people only bought Crackdown to get into the Halo 3 beta before even realizing developer Realtime Worlds' superhero sandbox had its own merits. Demos and ports weren't the only thing that happened this week – The internet seemingly frustrated Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada enough to keep a character out of the North American release, we reviewed The Crew and Never Alone, and we highlighted our readers' favorite PS1 games. Those stories and more are all waiting for you after the break!
Never Alone review: Into the storm
Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC Never Alone has a message – but first and foremost it is a truly beautiful game. It turns an ancient legend from Alaska Natives, the Iñupiat, into a harrowing yet enlightening journey through ice and fire. It's a platformer set in the harsh, frozen landscape of rural Alaska, starring a young girl and an Arctic Fox that calls upon spirits to guide her to the source of a foul blizzard ravaging her community. The game also features a series of short documentaries about the Iñupiat: These bits of reality are scattered throughout, between chapters and at checkpoints, and players can choose to watch or ignore them. Never Alone is beautiful on multiple levels. The art is gorgeous, an exaggerated 3D style that seems to reference Scrimshaw and the cartoonishness of Majora's Mask in one fell swoop. The platforming action is harrowing and satisfying, for the most part, especially if you can bring a friend. The environments are elegant, filled with icy blues and deep, dark waters. The messages contained in the game's mini documentaries are enlightening and educational, inviting players into a world they may otherwise never see.
Explore Alaska Native stories with Never Alone's ice climbers
In a week stuffed with all-guns-blazing, triple-A new releases, something like Never Alone is a distinct anomaly. Out now on PS4, Xbox One and PC, it combines challenging puzzle-platforming with a story infused with Iñupiat folklore that comes direct from the source. Co-developers Upper One Games and E-Line Media collaborated with "nearly 40 members" of the Alaska Native community, including elders and storytellers, and the project was funded by the Cook Inlet Tribal Council to ensure its cultural authenticity. The end result is a 2D platformer in which an Iñupiat girl and an Arctic fox struggle against an immense, eternal blizzard as they climb and clamber together through the harsh Alaskan landscape.
Risk of Rain, Jazzpunk among IndieCade 2014 finalists
Juried game event IndieCade has announced its 2014 finalist picks, revealing a lineup of standout independent works that will be featured at this year's festival in Culver City. Featured picks include recent releases like Jazzpunk, Hack 'n' Slash, Risk of Rain, and Mountain, along with upcoming games such as Elegy for a Dead World, Classroom Aquatic, Hyper Light Drifter, and Never Alone. All finalists will compete for a spot in the Closing Awards ceremony on the event's final day for the Festival Audience, Developer, and Media Choice Awards. IndieCade kicks off this year on October 9, and runs through October 14. [Image: IndieCade]
Joystiq Weekly: Free upgrades for Destiny, Hatoful Boyfriend review, PAX Prime and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. PAX Prime 2014 ended on Monday, but we're still recovering. Not from the marathon of appointments or swimming through an ocean of people – we've got those parts down pat. If you've ever heard of the PAX Pox though, just know that it's ... definitely a thing. It seemed every morning of this week brought news of another staff member falling to Prime's crowdsourced super virus. Laptops still work on death beds, of course, so we kept churning out content from Prime while we tried to remember what clear airways and normal body temperatures feel like. You can dig through our featured content after the break worry-free though – we slathered it in hand sanitizer, so you shouldn't catch anything from going near it. There's always the rest of this week's content that wasn't staged in a biological hazard, of course. We've got good news for Destiny fans planning on upgrading hardware at a later date, release dates for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and Mortal Kombat X, a review of pigeon-on-human dating simulator Hatoful Boyfriend and much more after the break!
Never Alone blends clever platforming with cultural insight
I like to think of Never Alone as a less depressing version of 2011's indie hit, Limbo. It features similar environment-based puzzle-platforming in an unforgiving world, but its buddy-system mechanics give an encouraging sense of optimism throughout. This isn't to say that you won't be challenged in Never Alone. You'll fail its platforming sequences frequently, and its puzzles are suitably vexing. It's a clever and solid entry in the genre, and its focus on Alaska Native culture gives it a weight and purpose beyond its inventive gameplay.
Nuna and her cute Arctic fox are 'Never Alone' in Alaska
Never Alone tells the tales passed down among Alaska Native storytellers in a mystical, frostbitten, platforming world, and it's on its way to PS4, Xbox One and PC in the fall, priced at $15. Never Alone puts players in the shoes of Nuna, a young Iñupiaq girl, and an adorable Arctic fox. Nuna and her fox friend work with the environment to traverse icy landscapes and outrun big beasties. The game has one- and two-player modes, both cooperative – in solo play, you can switch between Nuna and the fox. Never Alone comes from Upper One Games, an initiative of the Cook Inlet Tribal Council in Anchorage, Alaska, and publisher E-Line Media in New York. "Featuring imagery and themes drawn directly from Iñupiat and other Alaska Native cultures, Never Alone features striking visuals, emphasizes the sensibilities and perspective of these indigenous Arctic people and requires players to work cooperatively to succeed in challenging and harsh environments," Upper One Games said in a press release. [Image: E-Line Media]
Sharing legends with the world in Never Alone, a game inspired by Alaskan Native communities
While museums and organizations lock the industry's most important works behind glass to preserve their memory, development and publishing partners Upper One Games and E-Line Media are using video games to help preserve the legends of a people. In the upcoming "atmospheric puzzle platformer" Never Alone, players live out the legends and stories passed down for generations on the Alaskan Native community. Though the companies want their game to help educate the world about native culture while being entertained, Never Alone is also being positioned to help reignite passion and preserve the legends within the native communities throughout Alaska.
