I am a sucker for point-and-click puzzle games. They tell a story while forcing you to think outside of the box. But what catches me even more is when you can pull in some strong story elements to such a game. I always ramble about this, but PAX East 2025 was one of the first years in which I went as more of a media role. In my top five from the convention, one title that made its way on the list was a small game from Berangin Creative called Kejora.

Kejora came to PC (Steam) on January 15th and was published by the amazing folks over at Soft Source (shout out to Natalyn). And I’ll be honest – ever since I tried that demo at PAX East, I was looking forward to Kejora. Full transparency – I was planning to pick this up on my own for reviewing purposes if Gamer Social Club didn’t get an early access copy. I was looking that forward to it. But we did receive early access, so without further ado – let’s dive into our review of Kejora.

The World & The Story

The World

Kejora focuses on a small village in Indonesia, which you will spend a minimal amount of time in. Most of your adventures will take place in the dark, magic-ridden forest that surrounds your village. And what happens to roam in this forest? Why monsters, of course!

And of course, with magic, comes…other problems in the world. Problems like…time loops.

The Story

The story of Kejora focuses around….a young girl named Kejora! Kejora, along with her friends Guntur and Jaka, have a penchant for playing in the woods (despite numerous warnings). And, as a surprise to no one, they encounter one of those scary monsters. Thus ensues Kejora and her friends discovering that their village is stuck in a time loop. Repeating the same day again and again and again. Kejora, with her friends and the mysterious Adhitya, venture further into the forest, with the ultimate goal: break the loop.

Despite rumors of a cult that lived in the forest, the cause of the time loops goes deeper. But rest assured – it does not take the path that you think it will. That being said though, that is where I will conclude the coverage of the story. Only because of how brief Kejora is. Additionally, the story is an integral component of the whole game. Going further into what the game covers, I feel, ruins what the game offers.

The Gameplay

As I noted, Kejora is a point-and-click game. A majority of the gameplay will focus around Kejora locating items around the “levels” to manipulate the environment. If you’ve played a game in this genre before, you know how it goes.

But there’s an added component in this game – your friends! Both Guntur and Jaka have their own unique “abilities” that Kejora can utilize to move around the map. Guntur’s speciality: punching objects that act as barriers, as well as providing a boost to Kejora to reach out-of-reach ledges. Jaka, on the other hand, throws rocks to break objects on high, as well as moves large rocks and boxes.

There will be times where Kejora and her friends must sneak by the monsters lurking in the woods. It’s pretty straight forward – hide behind cover when the monsters are close and move when they’re further away. It never gets too challenging – you actively have to make a point to get caught, in my opinion.

There is a kind of cute fishing mini-game that takes place halfway through the game (I love that this is a standard in so many games now). Is it relevant to the story? Not really. But is it a nice little thing to add? Yes! But again, I was that person seeking out the rare Fishing Achievements in World of Warcraft.

There is a boss fight too. I won’t get into what it actually entails, or who is involved in it, but you’ll need to rely on Guntur and Jaka’s skills to make your way to the game’s end. I’ll get into this when we discuss The Good and The Bad.

That being said – let’s take a look at The Good!

The Good

Visual Design

Kejora’s style is gorgeous and really channels some Studio Ghibli vibes, in my opinion. It’s a peaceful and serene style that just…relaxes you (despite some of the more ominous overtones of the game). And Berangin Creative, to their credit, touts their hand-drawn landscapes and animations.

That being said, if you’re looking for a relaxing design to solve puzzles in, look no further than this game.

Puzzle Designs

Point-and-click puzzle games, by their nature, are not meant for you to bang your head against the wall in frustration. Kejora, while providing a little more of a challenge than baby’s first point-and-click, definitely provided some instances where I was scratching my head as to where to go with the puzzle. But, and here’s the key – I didn’t get stuck.

That being said though, if you’re looking for a high-density puzzle game a la Blue Prince, than your search might be better fulfilled elsewhere.

Captivating Story

While, as I mentioned earlier, Kejora might be on the shorter side (my full run of the game clocked in at around three and a half hours, it does not lack for story. The development team truly managed to get a lot of various story points into a tight and satisfying package. Fear, anger, vengeance, ambition, and resolve – these and more get showcased throughout the story’s progression.

I truly was not expecting this from the short demo that I had tried out just under a year ago at PAX East. And in a current world where some games just…keep going, it’s refreshing to see a more brief and concise story be told.

The Bad

Where’s the Light in This Forest?

OK, so one of the more aggravating things that I ran into in Kejora was the lighting. While I do understand that a majority of the game takes place in a dense, tropical forest and labyrinthine cave systems, there needs to be a level of being able to actually see what’s happening on the screen. There were several instances where I needed to turn off all the lighting in my office to get a sense of what was happening on screen and where certain things were, else it would look like black on slightly darker black.

Coupled with this was not always being able to discern what was and was not interactable within the environments, which definitely extended the amount of time I was spending on puzzles at points. A slight bump in the lighting or the ability to adjust the in-game lighting would be a welcome addition to this game.

Cut Scene Transitions

Not a major nit to pick, but it is something that in 2025 can be avoided. You know what happens. You inadvertently die/need to restart a sequence in the game…and the whole prior segment of dialogue runs again with no option to skip. The first time that I “encounter” this dialogue, absolutely fine – I will read along with anticipation. But when I need to do it for the third time…it grows tiresome. And while this didn’t happen extensively in the game, it was just enough to notice and make an inner complaint about it.

Boss Fight Mechanics

I don’t know what it is, but there definitely sometimes seems like there is a need to add a “boss” sequence into all video games. Kejora falls in line with other games in this respect, with a final showdown between Kejora and her friends and the “Big Bad”.

Now, here’s where I start to take umbrage – when you ask for precision and rapid movement of Guntur and Jaka on screen. What do I actually mean? The first phase of the boss fight involves you and Jaka avoiding falling rocks to allow for Jaka to throw a bottle at the boss (just run with it). Here’s the thing – Jaka does not move unless you make a point to actively “summon” him to where you are. And if he gets crushed by a rock because he’s just standing there, you’re starting that fight sequence again.

We got past it, but it was definitely frustrating to constantly watch Jaka get crushed by falling rocks because he didn’t respond to our summon (as the game is on controller, if you’re not spot on with the directions, Jaka won’t move). If an element of more rapid calling of your friends would have been implemented earlier, I would probably not have as much to gripe about in that respect.

The Overall

To bring this all home, Kejora, despite the occasional flaws that I noted, was a pleasure to experience. The story spoke to matters of protecting those around you and what you would do to ensure the safety of others, and did so in a nice, concise few hour package. And in a world of video games that ask upwards of 100 hours of gameplay to finish (yes, I play JRPG’s if you weren’t aware), a brief tale like Kejora is a welcome experience.

Gamer Social Club was provided an early-access code by Soft Source for the purposes of this review. This review was played on PC (Steam).