Project Introduction

Two Falls is a narrative game that tells the story of two people from their own contrasting perspectives.
Jeanne is a 17th century Frenchwoman, crossing the Atlantic to New-France with a heart full of hope to start anew and a thirst for adventure. Unfortunately, on one stormy night, her hopes turn into her darkest nightmare when her boat runs aground leaving her alone and unequipped to face the wilderness. On the other side of the river, a colourful and bright experience awaits Maikan, a young and sharp Innu who notices a change in the background of the air. His instinct tells him that something has been disturbing his native forest and is threatening his beliefs.

From a first-person perspective, the player will experience the story by playing as each of our protagonists alternatively. They will get to explore the land, interact with objects and make meaningful dialogue choices with the NPCs of the world we're creating.

While the controls are the same for each character, their unique perspectives will be represented in their vision of the forest that surrounds them. While playing as Jeanne, the art direction showcases the forest as bleak, dark and scary since she has no knowledge of this strange new land. While playing as Maikan, the player will see bright colors, green trees and a generally lighter aesthetic; this represents Maikan's familiarity with his environment. Even elements such as a shipwreck will look different; while Jeanne will see it as such, through Maikan's eyes it takes on a weird skeletal shape, akin to the decomposing body of a whale on shore, representing his ignorance of such crafts.

Why is it special?

Two Falls not only takes place during an underrepresented period of history, but also showcases characters rarely seen in video games.

Two Falls is also a game about indigenous stories, created in collaboration with indigenous creative minds. Our game is very inclusive since its goal is to give a voice to communities that too often go unheard. Indeed, one of our two protagonists is an Innu, a native from Canada who presents his own vision of history. Very few games have told the stories of Canada's indigenous people. Moreover, even fewer have collaborated directly with First Nations to create a game that rightly depicts their culture.

The shifting art direction is also very special, letting the player experience opposing and contrasting perspectives on similar events, challenging preconceptions and in turn teaching them more about the indigenous cultures of Canada.

About Developer

Our team, Unreliable Narrators, is an independent Quebec video game studio that aimes to make narrative games that shed a brand new light on historical events. We are made up of people from all walks of life, and have as many juniors as industry veterans among our ranks. Our Cofounders helped create La Guilde du Jeu vidéo du Québec, and we are proud members of the Indie Asylum, a collective of indie studios based in Montreal.

But that's not all. For Two Falls, we really wanted to go above and beyond to give a voice to indigenous communities all across Canada, in order to give them a chance to tell their stories like never before.

The composer and sound designer, art director, actors and story writer are all members of various First Nations communities. We even collaborate with an Elder Council and other Indigenous partners to ensure we respect the Innu culture, their traditions and their legends. They advise, guide us and explain to us which versions of the story they want to put forward. They indeed have a hand in almost all of the decisions we make on this project, right up to the name itself!