In Between

It’s just wonderful when you stumble onto a game that looks really interesting and you find out that it’s entirely handcrafted. The fact that it’s a puzzle platformer with a narrative also pushes the interest meter. But how great it is to see that it’s much much (voluntary repetition) much better than you expected. This happened with In Between.

In Between starts off mildly intense as the main character pushes himself out of the hospital while in a wheelchair. His face has no traces of a smile and once he’s out of the gloomy medical facility, that doesn’t change.

The game, or at least the demo, has no loud or soft spoken voice to narrate what’s happening, you just have to make sense of things as you go along. Almost nothing is joyful yet the mood of the game quickly grabs a hold of you and makes you push forward. In Between explains itself in total silence and shortly after you begin the journey you’ll have your own thoughts to speak loudly of what’s going on.

All of the above sounds kind of profound but the game actually has a whole lot of depth to it.

The concept behind the puzzles of the game is very simple. Your character is left in a maze-like dungeon that has several obstacles and traps which prevent him from reaching a teleporter. You will have to use a 4-way gravity-shift mechanic to guide him through the perils ahead and make sure he gets to the destination in one piece.

At first the puzzles will seem easy but in the spirit of great puzzle games, they get tougher as you advance into the game. A wonderful feature is the way in which the story unfolds right before you. Some of the levels have murals hidden inside and at certain key moments, they appear, slightly overwhelming you as you make the connections between them.

In Between manages to do something that not all games can. It actually triggers certain emotions that can connect you to it on a personal level. It’s also a very well crafted puzzle game that doesn’t hold your hand at all. It leaves you to struggle a bit more as you push through the game, and the main character through a harsh life.