In His Time is a new Indie puzzle game created by Tearyhand Studio and published by Kodansha that focuses on Olly, a young boy dealing with a lot going on in his life.

After losing his father and his mother becoming sick, Olly has to deal with a lot of stress around the house, such as performing chores from the moment he wakes, while still attending school where he is targetted by bullies, and after being dragged into a prank, he meets a man named Joseph who offers to help him, but in turn, he needs to help return some stolen items from the three bullies.

While Olly is the main character, you will get to have a short dive into the story of other characters and learn more about them, bringing light to the situation that others are dealing with.

Each activity in the game is a puzzle, from putting books back on the shelf to homework, it will keep players on their toes and you’ll pay attention to all the details on the screen. I found them to be a bit straightforward once I worked out which order they had to be done in, but there is a prompt at the start of the game to get a pen and paper ready, just in case you need to jot down helpful hints for the puzzles.

In His Time features very simple graphics, but even with this being the case, you can clearly see what they are meant to represent, and it works to represent the overall feeling of the game. Suspenseful music plays in the background with minimal but effective sound effects as you explore the 2D world and solve puzzles, and while the characters do “speak,” it’s mostly just sounds – instead, you’ll be reading what the characters are saying.

The controls are really simple, and while they do strongly encourage controller use as that will be one of the first prompts you will run into while loading the game, it can be played with a keyboard and mouse. I tried both and it felt a lot easier to manage on the controller, but there aren’t too many buttons you need to worry about, and there aren’t too many menus to navigate, so just pick whatever you prefer.

In His Time is a touching story about Olly and what he has to deal with each day. It features a variety of characters and a great range of fun puzzles that are not overly complicated. Having experienced similar in my life, the story captivated me early on, and it was nice to see some more favourable outcomes. It’s a fantastic game for puzzle lovers and those who just want a good story, but please be aware that there are topics in the game that may hit harder for certain people, such as alcoholism and addictions.

Written by: Shane Walsh