Brazil has created a new video game aiming to preserve and promote the country's indigenous culture.

The game, titled "Huni Kuin: The Way of the Snake," was made with the help of the Kaxinawá people and anthropologists.

"We decided the script and stories with them [the indigenous]," Guilherme Meneses, the game's lead developer and an anthropologist from the University of São Paulo, told Brazilian news outlet Agencia Brasil. "They designed the prototypes, recorded the music and sound effects. Shamans narrated the stories."

The title's "Huni Kuin" phrase is used by the tribe to refer to themselves in their language and translates to "real people." The game, which is for PC and Mac, used around 30 members of the Kaxinawá tribe from the country's western Acre state to create the game.

Gameplay

The horizontally scrolling platform game showcases a pair of indigenous twins (a young hunter and artisan) with special powers as they go through a chain of challenges in their quest to become a healer (mukaya) and a master of drawings (kene), according to the game's website. As the game progresses, players are immersed in the Kaxinawá culture involving their animals, ancestors and spirits of the forest (yuxibu).

"Gamers would gain a new perspective of the village, the indigenous world, and the myths," Meneses said, adding that the game hopes to help break the preconception against the Brazilian indigenous people, "as there remains a lack of public information about them."

Mashable reported that the Kaxinawá language is used as the main narration, although subtitles to translate are provided as well. The game's completion took six months of research and three years of development.

"Huni Kuin" can be downloaded starting in April, the game's website noted.

Discrimination Against Indigenous Tribes

About 7,500 Kaxinawá people lived in Brazil as of 2010, while an additional 2,400 are living in Peru, according to Instituto Socioambiental. Indigenous advocacy organization Survival International stated there are around 240 tribal groups currently living in Brazil, covering an estimated number of 900,000 people.

Brazil's indigenous groups suffer from grave discrimination, violence and injustice, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay wrote in 2011.

"The situation of indigenous people is astonishingly invisible," Pillay said. "I did not see a single indigenous person among all the state and federal officials I met during my visit. That is very indicative of their continued marginalization."

In 2014, Brazil's indigenous people protested against a new legislation that would slash reserves and weaken the protection of ancestral lands. That same year, it was also reported that indigenous tribes have higher risks of developing serious illnesses from simple ones because they are not vaccinated and don't have natural immunity from diseases.