In Between review

Death is life's greatest mystery - which is pretty ironic when you think about it. What happens to us when we pass on? Do we move on to an afterlife? Do we utterly blink out of existence and leave no trace of ourselves whatsoever?

Gentlymad offers one possibility: when we die -- or at least when we teeter on the edge of death -- we must go through a gauntlet of gravity-based puzzles.

Okay, that's simplifying things - which really isn't fair to Gentlymad or its game, In Between. Though it's a platformer that revolves around flipping gravity - not a unique idea as far as puzzle games are concerned - its presentation is really something special.

You play through the game as a man who's terminally sick. Teetering at the end of his life, he reminisces over what he's been through and ponders what comes next.

You must guide the man to each level's exit by swiping the screen to switch the level's gravitational pull. It's not easy: you need to navigate around spikes, falling blocks, and other traps.

As you progress, you gain insight into the man's life via seamless story sequences. These are touching interludes, and keep you going even when things get frustrating.

And, yeah, they get frustrating. When you mess up a puzzle, you're sent back to the start which can get repetitive pretty quickly if you're only stuck on how to navigate the last bit of a level.

Speaking of navigation, In Between does a poor job of explaining how the controls work. The left side of screen moves the man, while swiping the right flips the gravity.

Once you figure that out, the setup works well but it takes some guesswork to get to that point.

In Between is a well-done action game with a compelling narrative. If you're keen on gravity-based puzzles, it's definitely one to check out.