Between Horizons Developer Commentary Explores Branching Narrative & Grim Metaphors

DigiTales Interactive, the small team behind the acclaimed Lacuna, released a developer commentary about its next game, Between Horizons. This short video lays out the grim metaphor at the heart of the experience while also briefly going over its gameplay loop.

Between Horizons is a sci-fi detective game where players have to solve mysteries in a semi-open ship in space. This ship is carrying out a mission that will span 130 years, one the player’s character won’t live to see the end of. Studio Co-Founder Jasmin Pfeiffer talked about how this was a metaphor for younger people that have to “live with the decisions made by the previous generation.” She noted that it was something a lot of players could probably relate to.

Fellow Co-Founder Julian Colbus spoke more to the mechanics. As was the case in Lacuna, players can submit wrong answers to cases, which will have a rippling effect. There is also no going back since the game has a “new and improved” auto-save system that makes players live with their decisions. However, players will have more agency this time around and can explore the ship, which will force users to “think for [themselves].” The ship was also likened to a Metroidvania.

Neither Pfeiffer nor Colbus gave an updated release window, as Between Horizons is still slated to come to Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC sometime in 2023.