In a distant spaceship with an important mission in mind, Between Horizons showcases that even in serene conditions, a mystery is sure to arise.
If an indie game developer’s previous work is always praised, I can assure you that their latest release will be another banger. I mean, there isn’t an exact rule that states it’s one hundred percent true, but we surely haven’t seen any that left us disappointed.
Between Horizons is the latest proof of the charm of indie game developers and their intent to bring the best quality of work. Known for their previous mystery/detective title, Lacuna, DigiTales Interactive has brought another mystery-solving game that takes place in space.
To cut to the chase, Between Horizons talks about the events that occur in Zepyhr, a spaceship that was launched for a certain mission by the folks over Earth. According to the lore included in the game, there are 1300 inhabitants in-game and it forms a small planet.
This planet has its own ecosystem of democracy and leadership included, therefore the rules of the Zephyr are quite formal from not wasting any resources to keeping the spaceship secure with guardians roaming the place.
We play through the story of the head security’s daughter, Stella. She is tasked with helping her dad with daily troubles that are found in Zephyr, but unfortunately, one day, a scandalous act is done to sabotage the system and steer the whole community from the mission. We start to learn about the whole underground part of Zephyr, where collective amounts of people are there to overthrow the established system and get back to Earth instead.
Due to an unforeseen turn in the events, Stella takes the head of security status and starts gathering information about the unknown, yet intriguing people of Zepyhr. Since the developers aren’t far from their detective-focused games, we can expect Between Horizons to turn into a game where you interrogate and question everyone about everything to make a bold assumption about everything. Sounds tedious at work, but believe me, the way you approach your cases and clues are extremely well-sorted that you never feel confused while trying your best.
Most of the info gathering happens via Captain or other characters giving you their fair share of information regarding the cases. The first case is given to us by the captain of the ship, where she asks us if there is any trouble with people after finding a letter about changing the plans. Being confused, we started talking to people about the incident, where a letter was found to be including fraudulent acts to be discussed.
Between Horizons starts opening to you lots of different mechanics from the start for you to learn. After all, you are going to be the detective for the upcoming cases from now on. The game includes about 10 or so cases to solve and with the choices you give out through the campaign, the story unfolds in the way you chose.
From the start, you might be a strict officer where you do not take any remorse from anyone, but as the big picture starts to appear, your actions might change into a better, understanding person.
The mechanics, yes, I was talking about that. The overworld is the structure of the Zephyr and simply walking to the desired destinations. Bunkers, cafeterias, and education centers are filled with lots of people to talk about the current cases.
By progressing through the story, Stella can wander through the other parts of the ship too. But for the first hour or two, your job is to gather enough information and solid pieces of evidence to report to the captain about the people who want to interfere with the main mission and complain about the system.
Just like a traditional detective game, first, you must talk to people and learn a few things from them. By pressing the select button on your controller, you open up a page with tabs, showing information about yourself, people you have spoken to, gathered clues, and so forth. One of the best parts of this menu is being able to re-read the chats you have had with the people around.
So you can properly understand what your next step is going to be about. I usually have problems remembering places and names during playthroughs of certain games, so the inclusion of the previous chats tab was a lifesaver for me in many situations.
Once you find enough pieces of evidence that will be useful in your research, you can use them as an item while talking to other people. If the character is somewhat related to the evidence in any sort, they will respond with other useful information that helps strengthen the credibility of your resolution.
Sometimes there were times when I happened upon a conversation that supported my evidence without adding too much to the table, so there must be a way to settle interactions in a certain order to get the best outcome.
After collecting adequate evidence, all you have to do is submit the case with your most reasonable option- or the one you think is the ultimate culprit in the scenario. Usually, submitting a case leads to the continuation of the story, but you might have to get rid of all the available cases to continue your main case, which is to find the main person who is trying to cause damage to all habitants of Zephyr.
The control scheme is very simple and understandable, both the gamepad and keyboard/mouse combo would fit the gameplay of Between Horizons so it does not really matter which peripheral you want to use to enjoy it.
Since I used a gamepad, let me tell you that I had to use only a few buttons for initiating conversations, sprinting, and Stella’s scan ability. Between Horizons is a rather simple game, but it requires a lot of brainstorming to reach a good ending.
I mentioned the scan ability of Stella, right? It is a mechanic that becomes very useful in our research, as it can mark important bits in a room. By simply pressing the button for scan, we can find who to talk to, items that can help with the case, or possible hints that we might miss on our adventure. Once the outlined item is searched, the information gathered from it is added to your PDA, which can be read for further inspection.
We are now turning our attention to how the game looks from how it plays. Lacuna, the previous game, was totally set on a 2D theme, but in Between Horizons, we can see the mix between the pixel art and 3D detailing in the background.
The game advertises itself as a 2.5D title, and they are right at that, there is no doubt. Some of the map elements, such as doors and elevators, can be reached by pressing on the keyboard or the gamepad and using the action key.
Stairs also use the same function, but you can go up and down between flats, ceasing the need to use the elevators all the time. What I do not understand is the fast travel button on the map, which clearly does not give you fast travel at all. You see, the ship is split into different categories, one being the living quarters, the other being the school, etc.
If you want to travel between different parts of the ship, you can use the train option that can be found in the middle of the sections. However, by using the fast travel option, you still end up getting out of the train station, you might be still far off from the office on the fifth floor regardless.
Still, it shouldn’t be bad. Sprinting with Stella is quite fast and since the ship is easy to traverse through, you can always get to the point in time. Talking about time, there are some mechanics that remind me of quick-time events, but even more disorienting. As you might know, certain detective games can employ quick thinking.
A character might approach with a question and you have to answer within a time span, Stella sometimes gets into these situations and your responses always have a consequence no matter what. Since Between Horizons is completely a non-linear game, depending on your answer, you can ultimately change the faith of other characters involved as well.
The isolation that occurs in the Zephyr is ultimately mirrored in Stella’s own thoughts during the gameplay sequences and does a great job of pushing players to think twice before making their decision. You’d think that the major plot would be just talking around characters and seeing them change over time.
But we are living the incidents through Stella’s point of view, she too becomes a different person as she realizes not everything has to be formal, which is a nice touch on character development. She is what we call in literature, a “dynamic character”, who learns from their mistakes and changes with time to be a better person or vice versa.
Now we have to talk about the representation in Between Horizons because the background images found in places are absolutely gorgeous. We already knew DigiTales is pretty solid on their pixel art, but the inclusion of the 3D work in the background fits well with the sci-fi aesthetic the game provides.
The holograms, automatic doors, the gritty nature of being isolated, and a bunch of small details are included in the overworld of Between Horizons. Although the looks aren’t important in the game, it has to support the well-thought-out plot line with a fitting atmosphere.
You might ask if there is anything noticeably bad with Between Horizons, and I would say there isn’t that I am aware of. The voice given to the protagonist did an excellent job, but sometimes the text given didn’t match up with what she was saying, or even some writing/grammatical errors would occasionally appear in the dialogue boxes.
At some point, I came across an out-of-bounds glitch too, but these are not exactly game-breaking or huge problems, I am sure the developers are taking feedback from people as I write this review and will be shipping fixes with the next update.
Between Horizons ends up being a nice proof of the “It isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” mentality, where the developers expanded what they knew about the detective genre. The game does not punish you for skipping some of the important bits while researching and rewards you for being right about your suspicions, which creates an even ground for both experienced and inexperienced players. If you are looking for a detective game with lots of in-depth and happen to have a fair share of clues to follow, then you should definitely check out Between Horizons‘ detailed adventure.
