Review: Kejora

A small man casting a big shadow has never been more relevant in the video game industry these days, as it's no secret that indie games and the teams behind them are currently having a massive moment. With so many memorable indie gems dropped in our laps in the past year or two alone, it's left players like myself insatiable for even more amazing adventures from all these under-the-radar developers who are wielding the most magic.

That appeal inevitably brought me to Kejora, the debut IP of Indonesian developer Berangin Creative. It's a charming project years in the making that finally touched down in early 2026 after a handful of delays (including one likely due to Hollow Knight: Silksong's atomic-level release). This beautifully-drawn, side-scrolling puzzle platformer drew me in with not only its artistic, Ghibli-inspired style, but also its story that assures that there's more to this remote village than meets the eye.

After spending quality time in the shoes of young Kejora and her companions throughout their twist-filled adventure, I found myself wholeheartedly appreciating what the creatives at Berangin Creative have accomplished. That said, there are some aspects that could use yet more polishing, and I found myself yearning for more depth to Kejora's world and all the supernatural elements at play throughout the story.

Kejora is a short-and-sweet adventure that may not necessarily appeal to every indie fan, especially those who seek more innovative gameplay elements, but it undeniably still radiates with ambition and possibility, and proves that this studio has that special magic up their sleeve.

Charming Hand-drawn Animation Left Me Wanting More

It's hard to argue that one of the biggest elements of Kejora that drew me in was its hand-drawn animation and intricately painted backdrops. That feat alone is enthusiastically commendable, as the sheer amount of talent, time, and dedication it takes to quite literally hand-craft an entire video game is exceptional on every level.

That's also specifically what makes it so difficult for me to critique that aspect of this game as, on the whole, that's where Kejora truly shines. However, I can't deny that I found myself perhaps selfishly wishing that there could be even more to that craft.

The personalized animations of little Kejora and those around her do remarkably well to meaningfully convey both objective and emotional information where we otherwise don't get it with voiced dialogue. Still, the animations themselves sometimes feel a bit too short-lived or static to truly capture the gravitas of the game's heavier moments. I couldn't help but wish that certain scenes played out more thoroughly, or that Kejora and her friends had more variety of animated expression, given their big personalities.

Ultimately, it makes the experience feel more like a moving picture book, which works in some ways but not so much others.

Sound Can Tell as Much Story (Where Is It?)

One especially important storytelling element that seemed surprisingly lackluster in an otherwise beautiful game was audible ambience. While many of the settings in the game are visually stunning, unfortunately, there's a noticeable lack of sound effects. There's the pitter-patter of Kejora's footsteps, the muted stomps of the shadowy monsters in the forest, or the brief scrape of objects when her friends use their push or punch mechanics.

However, this minimal use of sound effects is just not sufficient enough when the experience takes you through various unique, often vibrant areas full of aesthetic details and, furthermore, when the hand-drawn animation employed is fairly limited and voice acting is entirely absent.

Sound is an incredibly powerful and versatile tool that can help a gaming experience come full circle when certain, higher-end elements (like paid voice actors) are realistically out of reach, or simply not part of the vision.

Instead, Kejora's village and the forests surrounding it feel audibly muted. No birds chirping, no rushing waters or gusts of wind, or background chatter of her neighbors. When the story progresses into its more supernatural settings, those feel even more muted, which inevitably takes some of the weight away from the story's most important moments. The short music tracks that play throughout the game are forced to bridge that gap much of the time, and it just isn't enough.

Character Mechanics Still Need Polish

Kejora's adventure to save her village is shared with her two closest friends, Jaka and Guntur. Along the way, they help provide different means to overcome physical obstacles and put together traps for enemies. However, rather than having each character perform these actions on their own, Kejora serves as the catalyst for every mechanic.

To be more specific, if Kejora needs a boost from Jaka to get to a higher ledge, you first have to position Kejora in the correct spot for the boost, then press a button to bring up a mini-menu that allows you to briefly "switch" to Jaka and essentially teleport him to Kejora's spot for the action.

Rather than allow you to fully switch to a character and gain control of their movement, even if just to move around, it's a somewhat awkward teleport mini-game that's very much trial and error. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get one of the characters to actually perform their designated action, which makes progression through areas feel a bit haggard at times.

The game also features stealth sections, particularly where you have to evade the mysterious shadowy monsters lurking in one area or another. It works well enough for the most part, but when it comes to employing stealth mechanics in a two-dimensional side-scroller setting, providing players with reliable cues for where safety is and an understandable hostility meter for the enemy being avoided is pivotal.

Thankfully, these sections were kept simple enough to where intricate cues weren't necessarily needed, so it's more of a personal nitpick than anything.

Where the Game Saves is Anyone's Guess

One other particular UI-related issue I found while playing is that you don't exactly know when and where the game saves. As of this writing, there's no manual save option available for players to use, or any in-game save points. It seems to work entirely on an auto-save system, which is fine though not always ideal.

However, what makes it truly confusing in this instance is that there's no auto-save notification whatsoever that helps inform the player when their progress is actually saved (which seems to be at the end and/or beginning of each act in the story, and occasionally checkpoints). Traditionally, upon booting up, a game will provide a notice of how its auto-save system works, and an animated icon that serves as its notification for whenever an auto-save occurs.

That isn't the case with this game, and no auto-save icons are ever visible, even when one act in the story ends and the next one begins. It creates a sense of constant unease about where you can pause the game, as life will inevitably make you do that, and I was initially nervous to test where saves actually happened.

Again, this is something that can be fixed in a future update, but such a simple UI oversight like that honestly shouldn't happen in the first place.

A Darkness Both Supernatural and Unbearably Human

Despite shortcomings with its gameplay, Kejora's other strong point comes in its story. It starts almost deceivingly on the whimsical side, with Kejora living happily in her village surrounded by caring neighbors, friends, and her mother. However, the cracks start to form soon enough, as Kejora's mother is sick with an unnamed illness and needs to travel to a nearby city hospital the next day for treatment.

As the day passes and midnight peaks over the village, a mysterious clock rewinds time all the way back to the previous morning you just experienced. The day transpires in much the same way, leaving Kejora and the other villagers none the wiser but the player with certain unease. This occurrence belies a supernatural curse that has taken hold of the village and trapped it in a never-ending time loop for a long, long time.

As Kejora and her friends work to unravel this curse and its source, their journey takes them to some otherworldly places and manifestations of surprisingly dark themes that add even more depth to the story as a whole. A darkness that doesn't just stem from the curse's machinations, but from the dark influences of humanity's worst sides. On that front, I almost couldn't help but feel that the studio's Ghibli inspiration not only feeds into the game's animation, but its storytelling elements as well.

Kejora is an absolutely charming and ambitious indie platformer adventure that has all the necessary narrative bones for a visually compelling experience. In terms of story, it largely hits the mark. However, the shortfalls in its awkward gameplay, lackluster sound design, and noticeable UI blips stagger that experience to a degree, and it probably could have used more time in the oven on those fronts. Nevertheless, if you're a fan of hand-drawn animation in games, especially of the Ghibli variety, I would say to give it the chance it deserves.