Kun’tewiktuk: A Mi’kmaw Adventure

The game is a little rough around the edges, some minor issues with saving, combat controls are a touch "floaty" but, ultimately, for $25 CAD, I feel like it's worth the price. This game really shines with how rooted it is in Mi'kmaq culture, it's not very often I get to play a game and see my heritage represented so prominently.

I first heard about [i]Kun'tewiktuk: A Mi'kmaw Adventure[/i] last year, when I briefly visited the Green Robot Games booth at GameCon Canada in Edmonton. I was highly impressed at the prospect of a Canadian-made video game that talks about a very Canadian subject matter, as there are not nearly enough video games out there that talk about the first peoples of my home country. I even pledged $60 to their Kickstarter campaign so that this game could finally get over the finish line. But after playing six hours of [i]Kun'tewiktuk[/i], I found myself extremely disappointed at the poor quality of this utterly mediocre video game. Keeping in mind that this is the first commercial video game that most of its developers have likely ever worked on, [i]Kun'tewiktuk[/i] suffers from not only an extremely generic creative direction with a hodgepodge of predictable design tropes, but one that still seems to have outstripped their technical capabilities for depth or polish or even focus. There are so many deficiencies in just about everything from the presentation to the gameplay to the level design to the narrative that I find it very hard for me to find any redeeming qualities about it. To name a few examples, even though the game ostensibly takes place in prehistoric times, it is somewhat ridiculous and lazy to have modern-day carnival mini-games like a mechanical shooting gallery, a ball balancing game, a Simon Says clone, and even a giant maze just to fill the "puzzle-solving" requirement of what it means to be an "action-adventure game". Each of the four levels in the game are vaguely based around the most basic gameplay scenarios, like a quasi-open world with nothing worthwhile to do or a sluggish escort mission that will stop in its tracks if you try to go faster than the NPC. The Miꞌkmawiꞌsimk voiceovers are recorded at such a low volume that I had a hard time listening to the flow of the language, and are also poorly mixed with all the other sound effects and ambience. The combat is so janky and unresponsive that melee combat is almost non-viable in favour of boring ranged combat, where spears will never physically leave your hand and running will make the spear clip through your shoulder and neck. The narrative is so straightforwardly basic and yet is so disjointed with dialogue that barely explains what is happening or why it is happening or who all these characters are. There are countless more issues and problems I had throughout the game, but this next one is what finally pushed me over the edge. Even though a pre-game disclaimer tries to excuse its fantasy violence by invoking the Mi'kmaq philosophy of [url=https://www.uinr.ca/programs/netukulimk/#:~:text=Netukulimk%20is%20the%20use%20of,or%20productivity%20of%20our%20environment.]netukulimk[/url], which is defined in part to the responsible management of natural resources, [i]Kun'tewiktuk[/i] still allows the player to wantonly destroy every single living creature you come across, regardless of whether they pose a threat to you or not. While I might be able to look the other way and pretend that destroying spirits in the spirit world ought not to count as "physical" destruction, it still doesn't excuse the opportunity you're given in the first level to kill real-life foxes, rabbits, deer, and wolves in the natural world. And even after killing them, you don't receive any items or experience points or anything useful from them, except for a meagre health or magic drop that is just a waste of your time. Their justification is that combat is a common part of fantasy adventure games and its wildlife is not meant to depict real life, which is an incredibly poor excuse for a lack of creative thinking to a narrative problem, and a missed opportunity to pursue non-violence and environmentalism in an ostensibly Indigenous video game. Further to this point, the only tangible bits of Mi'kmaq culture that I was able to learn from and grab onto were the achievement names and the (presumably outdated) design document that was only made available to Kickstarter backers of a certain tier. There was no unlockable encyclopedia like [i]Two Falls (Nishu Takuatshina)[/i] or a companion documentary like [i]Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)[/i], to help educate people who are partially or totally unfamiliar with the Mi'kmaq or the First Nations (which I imagine are most people). I'm not saying that having an encyclopedia or a documentary would've automatically solved all their problems, but just something with more effort put into emphasizing the cultural richness of the Mi'kmaq that is otherwise left unremarked upon and invisible. I'm sure even Green Robot Studious would've loved to have their players learn more about their mythology and their material culture and their pre-contact lifeways in a more comprehensive way, had they had a clearer creative vision from the start. It is bewildering as to how nobody in a leadership position did not take any inspiration to [i]Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)[/i], which surpasses [i]Kun'tewiktuk[/i] in just about every metric in creating a beautiful, responsive, fun, and educational game about the indigenous peoples of North America, and ought to be the gold standard for games like this. And to top it all off, the credits were moving so fast and the screen tearing was bad enough that I didn't have any time to properly digest the names or roles of the human beings who made this video game. It was impossible to find my name in the Kickstarter backer list speeding across the screen without a pause button, and it is currently impossible to view the credits from the main menu. It is upsetting to have my very minor contribution to this game unreadable, and it is very insulting to have the very substantial contributions of others be practically invisible to only those who even managed to finish the game. I really, really wanted [i]Kun'tewiktuk: A Mi'kmaw Adventure[/i] to be great. I wanted this to be one of those rare few Canadian-made video games that could proudly showcase the culture and identity of one of its First Nations. I wanted this to be a game where an indigenous people could go all in, and create a video game first-hand where they would be able to fully speak for themselves in a fun and interactive way that no other studio in the world could truly replicate. And its utter failure to entertain or compel or inspire or get me to feel much of anything except boredom and frustration is perhaps the worst disappointment of all.

I was excited for this game in Kickstarter. Now that I have my hands on it, the combat is clunky, the lack of music is a bit odd, and the lack of voice-overs in my native language is frustrating. Trying to save requires going in twice because the first time I click save, I see the list and I'm popped back out. There's no way to customize the controller including turning off vibrations. Collecting the life and magic spheres is ridiculously difficult as they roll away faster than you can run. So far, I'm underwhelmed and wishing I hadn't given them the $20.

About an hour in to this game and loving it so far! The world feels so alive and visually is absolutely stunning. Enjoying the games story so far too. Stand out part so far is riding with the caribou.. Wow! It is magical! I found myself filled with joy and wonder at running with them, I couldn't help but smile the whole time. Can't wait to dive back in for more! EDIT: Additional Time Played Still loving this game. It has been a lot of fun to play. Really enjoy the use of the animal powers, the caribou remains my favourite, the frog and mouse were also particularly fun. My weapon of choice has been the bow and arrow which I have found easy to use. The characters have been enjoyable, the story too. The mini games are also a fun nice way to break up the game a little. It's an indie game so it does have its issues and could do with some polishing but on the whole a very enjoyable game that I am glad to be playing. Would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves the natural world, loves magic and storytelling that is rooted in folklore and legend. The dialogue is in Mi'kmaw so expect subtitles, it really is awesome for an indigenous language to be used in game and a great way of furthering the preservation of the language. Overall a really enjoyable game.

I've been looking forward to this since I first heard about it, and my initial reactions are kind of what I expected — this is an indie game that may not have the polish one might hope for, but it has a nice variety of game play, some gorgeous visuals and provides a glimpse into an underrepresented culture. Regarding polish, I noticed quite a number of wolves glitching into the sides of mountains, chasing after health drops can be problematic, and the sound design could use work, particularly in terms of picking up when you are being chased by something. And a level of control over the camera distance would really help, although you [u]can[/u] rotate the camera. With that said, being able to pause at virtually any time is great, and while I'm not the greatest at controllers for fighting, the weapons / abilities I gathered in the early game do provide options for different play styles. There is also a mix of game mechanics beyond combat that I experienced, including puzzles, racing, [i]etc[/i]. Hearing fluent L'nu (Mi'kmaw) speakers is great too! While I don't expect to learn the language through a game like this, I [i]have[/i] been able to pick up on a number of words and phrases with my [u]very[/u] limited vocabulary. Getting used to the metre and flow of Mi'kmaw would be a bonus from playing, but for now, I'm happy to at least experience the language in this game. Wela'lioq, Green Robot Studios and Kina'matnewey for all your hard work!

I really wanted to like this game, but there are too many bugs, problems, and design issues to recommend. If there are gameplay and story improvements in a patch, I may re-evaluate it, but at this time it's not one I can recommend. Graphically it's decent, the spirit world is very pretty and colorful, and the design of the two protagonists is OK. Audio is mixed, the music is good, but the sound effects are a bit lacking. Narration is good but mixed far too quiet compared to the other in-game sounds, especially those used in minigames. I do like the story presented but felt it wasn't explained super well, and without good pacing. The first chapter is fine, the second was so ridiculously repetitive and tiring that I just wanted it to be over with. The bounce mushroom mechanic is also pretty terrible feeling to play, especially the angled ones. The third chapter's escort is very draining, and the fourth chapter's minigame collection isn't terrible but isn't great either. The final fight with the [spoiler]Spirit Eater[/spoiler] takes around 10-15 minutes to complete, and if you fail you have to restart the entire fight as there are no checkpoints like every other chapter boss fight. You and your trigger finger will be exhausted with all the spear throws or bow shots by the end. There's another good review by TheTurbanator that goes into a lot of detail on the various issues with the gameplay, story, and other aspects, please read that one too. I will only add on my issues. It's very difficult to tell what your attack hitbox for melee is, and even more difficult to tell what enemies can do. Wolves especially are ridiculous, the damage you take is extremely high and you get hit at considerable distance from them. There's also no real feedback on you getting hit, and aside from watching a health bar go down, no real feedback on you hitting foes either. You have throwable spears and a bow and arrow, both have a melee attack, both have a ranged attack, and both appear to do the same damage. The spear melee also felt a little better. I couldn't really find anything different about the ranged attacks except for spears being far more unreliable. You would sometimes hit the throw, Wasuek or U'un would appear to throw it, but the throw would never happen. Spells are pretty pointless outside of movement related ones in the small section they're present in. The game appear to have an open world, with collectibles, minigames, and other things to do but there's not much except for a shooting gallery for a very short speed buff. The length of time the speed buff last does not make up for the time spent doing the minigame. Chapters past the first also are very linear and railroaded, so there's little point in the open world. It's incredibly buggy at times. I saw animals and enemies walking through terrain, getting stuck in terrain, just vanishing, and more. I had several crashes during chapter 3, including multiple on the boss of that chapter. They seem to happen when a cutscene plays out, or during phase transitions in the boss fight. I still have the crash dumps, and offered to send them in but haven't heard anything back. In chapter 4, I had multiple cases where your camera gets fixed into a strange angle after completing a minigame and you gain control after the mini-cutscene. This appears to be close to the left side of U'n's face, and it WILL affect how your camera and movement operates. I had to save and then restart the game after each one. I also experienced loss of controller input in the save screen, multiple times. I'd have to switch over to the mouse to actually do the save. Since the game crashed repeatedly, I had to save often. There were also times where I simply couldn't save period, I'd have to go out of the menu and try to go back in and hope that it would let me save. Sometimes I ended up having to use a different save slot. Finally, for Linux or SteamDeck users, all the cutscenes are pre-rendered videos in H264 format. That's a patent encumbered codec and Valve is unable to distribute the codec to view those in the Proton compatibility layer. Valve recommends the use of VP9 or AV1 codecs that are not encumbered by software patents and licensing fees. Players can get around it by using GE-Proton, which is able to view the videos (I'm unsure of the legal issues that allow them to be distrubted in this manner). GE-Proton is not the easiest to set up on the SteamDeck however, so it's not an option for non-technical players. Overall, I wish I could have liked it, but the game part itself is just too poorly done to recommend, and the story has many issues that make it not worth the purchase. This is not anywhere close to the quality of cultural experience and game as Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) or Black Book.

Great game from a small Studio. Visuals are great. Character models could use some work. Mini games are very fun and polished. Remaining gameplay could use some additional polish but is fun to play. Solid 4/5

got a full play through in and have to say the game was pretty decent for the price point the visuals were really good i enjoyed the puzzles and was interesting to hear the mi'kmaw audio. i enjoyed the boss battles throughout the game and i would recommend this to anyone

so far i am enjoying the game, but at times it glitches, so i have to "load" my previous save, thankfully i save every chance i have, otherwise it's a good game.

Backer here. Kickstarter was promising but the game itself is not. Directional audio makes me schizophrenic. Messy combat. It was hard to give this game a try when moving around makes you "slide" while walking/running. There's sfx but not music in the open world. Most of the cinematics/cut scenes are blurry. Really sad to see this in a game I backed.