Beautiful hand-drawn art style, an interesting premise, and a whiff of nostalgia – that’s Kejora. Coming from Indonesian game developer Berangin Creative, Kejora follows Kejora, the titular character, as she comes to realise that her quaint and quiet village is not as it seems.

Premise

The game starts with Kejora waking up, having breakfast with her mum, then going out to play with her friends. The day ends with you tasked to find a villager in order to relay some information to him. The next day, its déjà vu as things repeat themselves with some minor differences.

However, this is where it turns from a slice-of-life into a horror-esque game. When you go to find the same villager again, you see blood where he should be, which Kejora and the gang take as a sign to go into the forest to look for him…? Kids, am I right?

The forest is where the tonal shift becomes very apparent as you’re immediately greeted by monsters. It feels crazy and somewhat hilarious, because a couple of minutes ago, you were in a cozy village just doing errands.

Gameplay

As a side-scrolling puzzle game, I don’t think I need to say more in terms of what the gameplay is like, as we’ve all played ’em. All you need to do is move side-to-side, enter or exit areas, and interact with the world. However, the most unique aspects of the game are Kejora’s friends Guntur and Jaka, who each have their own set of skills.

Guntur can destroy breakables and give you a lift to climb things, whereas Jaka can push items and throw stones to break or knock items. Overall, the gameplay is simple and the objectives are clear. If you’re stuck at a puzzle, just talk to your pals again.

The Beautiful Hand-Drawn Art

As mentioned before, everything you see in the game is beautifully hand-drawn and appears to take inspiration from good ol’ Ghibli films. The world looks gorgeous, detailed and vibrant. In contrast, the art style for the characters appears to be more reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons.

On their own, I have no issue with the art style for the characters, as they give me a sense of familiarity, having watched similar-looking cartoons growing up. However, the difference between the surroundings and character art is really apparent, making the characters appear out of place.

Verdict

Kejora provides ample amounts of entertainment. The beautiful art, the music & sound design, and the overall story are well expressed; the art being the best part of the game, personally. While it could use some more polishing animation-wise, my overall experience was fun!

However, bear in mind that everything you do in the game is solely for furthering the story. Therefore, upon completing said story, replayability isn’t an option. Unless, of course, you just really like the story; then feel free to do it all again!