In Between

In Between tells you right at the start that it's not going to have a happy ending. It's a clever new puzzle game that revolves around a terminally ill man who is grieving about his own mortality and what he will soon leave behind. That's not the most upbeat premise, but what it leads to is an emotionally rich journey full of memories, regrets and level after brain-busting level of gravity-defying puzzles. In Between is going to challenge you in more ways than one.

This is the story of a man who has been diagnosed with late-stage cancer. He only has a short time to live and worries about abandoning his wife and young daughter. This is a puzzle game based around the man going through the five stages of grief, starting with denial, but then moving on to anger, bargaining and depression before finally accepting his fate. He does this by playing through sixty puzzles based on these steps, most featuring memories and narration of the man's life.

In Between is a game about controlling gravity, though not in the way you might think. The man is obviously able to stand on the floor, but by using the analog stick, he'll be able to change gravity to walk on the walls and ceiling. But keep in mind that you're not changing the gravity for the man, but everything else in the level, including spikes and crates. The goal of most stages is to work your way through a complicated maze in order to find the exit door, where you'll move on to the next stage and do the exact same thing.

What I like about this game is how the different stages of grief end up playing into the puzzle designs. The man's fear of the unknown is represented in oppressive darkness, which follows in an effort to completely engulf our hero. These stages are completely different from bargaining, where the screen will be slip in half in order to simultaneously control the man's daughter. And then there's anger, where you're constantly trying to avoid triggering events.

Even with the morphing obstacles and goals, the controls never change. You manage every aspect of the man's life with the two analog sticks -- one to move and the other to change the direction of the gravity. The simplicity works in this game's favor, because the various obstacles tend to be so overbearing.

But just because the gameplay is easy doesn't mean the rest of the game is a cakewalk. From the very beginning, you'll find that In Between in punishing. All it takes is a single spike to crack the screen and send the man back to the start. The good news is that many of the harder stages will come with a checkpoint, which might give you an example of just how long some of these puzzles are. What I really like is how each death will change the background by leaving a mark or large crack. It's a great touch that works well given the themes.

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From the moment I started the game, I knew that the story was going to leave me devastated. What I didn't expect was my extremely negative reaction to the narration. It's not that the voice acting is bad, but rather that the writing is always a bit too obvious. He's constantly making the most cliché observations, which had me rolling my eyes in the first half of the game. The writing gets better towards the end, but it always felt like a distraction. It's intended to be heavy, but I found that it took me completely out of the experience. You can remove a good chuck of the dialog and not miss a thing. Or maybe just convey everything through the incredibly stylish cinemas.

It's not just the cut scenes that look good, but the game across the board. Every part of this gravity-ambivalent world is hand-drawn, and I especially like the style of the dying man. My one criticism about the presentation involves the backgrounds, which tend to look similar from one part of the game to the next. Most of the visual changes come in the form of different obstacles, but it would have been nice to see different colors and decorations used. Something that would help to set each section of the game apart.

Thankfully, the clever puzzle designs help to overshadow all of the complaints I have. These are expertly-crafted stages that often feel like they could be completed in a number of ways. It's the kind of puzzle game that reminds me a bit of Braid and Crush, only with a much more depressing story. I hope you won't let the sad themes and downbeat tone keep you from experiencing In Between, because this is a game that will continue to resonate for years to come.