Two Falls (Nishu Takuatshina)

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “player enrichment”? If you are as, *ehem*, seasoned as me, your mind might go back to 80s-90s games like Math Blasters, Carmen San Diego, or Treasure Mountain. It is rare to come across a modern game that uses its platform to educate the player on real-world subjects. Even rarer still, to find a game that both adults and children will find stimulating. Thus, you must understand my enthusiasm when I heard about a game called Two Falls (Nishu Takuatshina) that aimed to teach me, an adult in my 30s, something about North American history that I had not yet considered. 

Two Falls is developed by Unreliable Narrators, a Canadian studio out of Quebec that aims to “give a voice to those that too often go unheard.” They do this by revisiting historical moments from contrasting perspectives, which, in the case of Two Falls, puts the player in the shoes of both a 17th-century Innu hunter and a French settler. The game is made by a team that consists of Indigenous creators, and the story is validated by community leaders who aim to preserve the rich heritage of the native people. The representation in this game truly stood out to me and deepened my appreciation for the confluence of cultures in this particular setting.

The story follows the parallel adventures of Jeanne, a shipwrecked Frenchwoman who attempts to bushwhack her way to Quebec, and Maïkan, an Innu hunter looking for a way to pacify a spirit troubled by the colonizers. The player will bounce back-and-forth between Jeanne and Maikan through the game, demonstrating unique perspectives on both divergent events as well as intertwining experiences.

Given the narrative focus of Two Falls, all other elements of the design are in service to the script. Gameplay, though rudimentary, is enough to carry the player from one story beat to the next. Players will be traversing a linear path with only a handful of moments to explore outside those confines and will have the opportunity to interact with certain objects in the environment. I couldn’t help but feel like there was a missed opportunity for more player exploration in the Canadian terrain because the wilderness is gorgeously rendered, but the tight pacing did benefit from a more focused path, ultimately. 

Besides these on-rails “walking sim” gameplay mechanics, there are branching dialogue choices that shape each character’s personality. I loved this system because it meant that the overall plot kept a consistent, authored direction while still allowing player choice to influence the character traits of the cast. By the time credits roll, will Maïkan be contemplative or instinctual? Will Jeanne hold dogmatic or liberating spiritual convictions? These polarities, among a few others, allowed me to shape the type of people Maikan and Jeanne became throughout my 5-hour journey with them, even if the destination was fixed from the start. 

The promotional material I read for Two Falls also foreshadowed some detective-like gameplay, but it did not amount to much. There are a few scenes where you are interacting with objectives in a very small sandbox before you can advance to the next scene, but that is about it. Nonetheless, this is such a minor gripe, and I am burying the lead here as I work my way to the strongest elements of the game.

The visual and audio design are top-notch. The soundtrack is memorable, thanks to the indigenous vocal talent and inspired composition that added authenticity to the mood throughout. The music punched in at all the right moments of tension throughout the game, adding to the unfolding drama. The environment design, using Unreal Engine 5, was stunning. The changing of colour for each season, the day and night lighting, and the dynamic movement of foliage were all here—a splendid treat for the eyes. With that said, I did have slight performance issues running this game on my gaming laptop and Steam Deck (which is understandable for the hardware), so I had to dial things back to a performance mode in order to prevent frame rates from dropping.

Perhaps in the most daring artistic decision, Two Falls employs a distinct audio/visual identity for both Jeanne vs. Maikan point-of-view. Jeanne’s scenes are a bit darker, with subdued colours, more foreboding soundscapes, and narrower player-pathways to express how hostile the wilds of Canada must feel to her as a foreigner. By contrast, Maikan’s scenes employ bright colours, airy musical tones, and a bit more openness in the environments to showcase his comfort in his homeland. These are subtle differences that took some intentionality on my part to notice, which goes to show how well they are weaved into the atmospheric experience.

Last, but certainly not least, I must give my standing ovation to the writing and voice acting in Two Falls. This game is a masterclass in the Fichtean Curve, a narrative mechanic that leverages a series of crises to build up to a climax, followed by a relatively short resolution. It is the same narrative structure that makes certain TV shows binge-worthy, full of chapter cliffhangers and consistent doses of adrenaline to keep viewers engaged. The choice to have so many of the heavier dialogue moments also be moments where the player is in transit, such as hiking through the forest, was brilliant. Instead of static scenery, conversations took place among a dynamic landscape with various points of interest that did wonders for the narrative pacing. Speaking of dialogue, the voice acting was flawless among the leads: Jeanne, Maikan, Pierre, Tehon, and Augustin. Each actor/actress was highly convincing when it came to character backstory, motives, and disposition.

I can’t speak highly enough about the decision to let the player embody two very different characters as their worlds converged. My understanding of overlapping factions widened as I played, rather than narrowing to only one central perspective. The game is radiant with empathy in every facet; even the various collectibles assert the significance of the people, places, and things that made this era what it was. Unfortunately, towards the end of the game, there were a few heavy-handed moments in the script where the message of open-mindedness felt a bit preachy, but this didn’t spoil the overall effectiveness of the writing for me. By the time I hit credits, the challenge to reconcile my beliefs with my compassion for those who think differently was primarily achieved by the “show don’t tell” methodology instead of vice versa.