JKaiya Between Horizons Review

At the time of review it has 91% positive reviews on steam, but this would've been lower if not for the demo to try the game, as steam does not let you review on demo plays. If you are interested in playing this game at all, please try the demo as it is free. Between Horizons is a bit iffy on whether you would like or dislike the game. It is a somewhat niche genre which may turn away potential gamers unless they enjoy the story and the gameplay interactions. Unlike traditional story games, this game is set in a mostly beautiful 2.5d worldscape with amazing pixel art backgrounds and settings. The player is essentially a mystery detective with a hardcore save setting, where there are no going back on consequences. The game mostly consists of spamming the space bar to constantly scan everything for potential evidence, examining evidence, exploring the limited semi open world map, conversing with people, making story choices/decisions, and solving things ones you have came with an answer, which may or may not bring consequences or rewards. The voice acting was great, and one of the stories strongest points, however, many parts of the dialogue were lacking in depth, especially with the story choices. It could be said that the voice acting carried the soullessly written story. It felt if taken more time, the story would've been better written and more engaging. In many points, as I state later, the game is rushed, it was an overly ambitious project for a small developer who did not wish to take the required time necessary to polish it up all the way. Although the art was great for the most part, there were still things that needed polish from an artist standpoint. A lot of the character, especially the player animations, needed patch ups. This is somewhat understandable though, as making animations for 2.5d environments, are extremely tough, especially the more higher definition a character is. To make up for this, the developer made the player character have a disproportionate body to emphasize her big mounds... to prob try to target the male audience more where story games have a bigger female audience than most game genres. All the main character's animations were very wonky, and it really bugged me off as an animator who had to keep repeatedly watching her run stupidly, and especially the walk animation where she walks towards you directly. More polish was definitely needed, together with occasional bugs which may have been patched (saw on other gameplays not mine), the devs just rushed out the "finished" product. Due to the 2.5d semi open world mish mash with the multiple story choice / endings genre, it takes a slower pacing than traditional story games. Which some may enjoy, and others won't like I. Again, there is a free demo, so even with my negative review, I would give it a try, as it wasn't a horrible game, and I am just picky.