A game made with a lot of love, but not that much talent. Note that I played slightly over two hours, on steam deck.

The story is nice and beautifully told by a combination of live narration and animated drawings between chapters. In addition, the player regularly unlocks short documentaries on Alaska, which can be viewed in game at any time and are truly enriching. It felt like an authentic cultural sharing.

However, the gameplay is indeed rather simple (not an issue for such a short and story-driven game imo), the platforming is often awkward (controls not very responsive, overly sticky ledges, etc.), the AI of the second character is often frustrating (waiting for nothing, going in weird directions, running to its death), I experienced multiple glitches forcing me to restart at the nearest checkpoint (easily broken collision detection), and the cherry on top : after a first 2h long session I quit, rest, restart, and now the game won't recognize my controller's inputs (steam deck); this latter issue has been identified 10 years ago (cf the steam discussion channel) but I was not able to fix it, so I won't see the game's end...

One of the worst games I've ever played, so far. Has zero value except for telling some small local legend. There are many and many of these in any nation's folklore, and even though it's nice to "play" one of them, it was truly one of the most frustrating platforming experiences I ever had in my life. It was fist-clinchingly annoying at some points.
I've played it solo. Companion has no AI at all and tends to un-alive itself quite often and refuse to jump by its own into the right place to activate script to proceed forward in one place and proactive act in another.
There is no clear indicator for a blizzard, which makes some fragments overfly frustrating as you jump on one place and just fall down and die as wind pushes you back. Also, there is a very "fun" moment where you need to aim with this clunky mess of a weapon while wind tosses you back and forth.
Character feels clunky; weapon controls are awful.
It is not worth $15, nor is it worth your time. I can't see co-op experience improving it in any meaningful way. There are simply way better games if you want to enjoy co-op, for example.
Hazelight Studios developer and their games: It Takes Two, A Way Out and Split Fiction

Never Alone didn’t evoke any strong emotions in me, but I wouldn’t say I disliked it either.
If you’re considering playing it, think of it as a folklore-based story game that offers insight into Inuit culture, and don’t expect much more than that.
At its core, it’s a platformer, but the mechanics are quite simple and unsophisticated. The controls can feel a bit clunky and buggy at times, though I didn’t encounter any major issues.

You can play it in co-op (which I did), and I recommend doing so - it makes the gameplay more engaging, as you’ll need to help each other.

What I appreciated most were the video insights about Inuit culture and history. They taught me a lot about Alaska and added depth to the overall experience.