On time, not on time, in time: playing with the concept of the time loop

Classic time adventures, forward and backward travel, time manipulation, and getting caught in time loops are eternal themes for science fiction books, movies, and, of course, games.

Nobody Wants to Die by Polish studio Critical Hit Games has recently been released. This noir detective game hasn’t gained huge popularity yet, but it has attracted players and critics alike with its original concept and darkly vivid atmosphere. In this game, players will have to manipulate time(in fact, it’s not really time manipulation, but rather a reconstruction of a crime scene with the ability to choose different time frames and reference points – ed.)

If you think about it, almost every video game has a time loop element, as you can always replay a level. When a game has variability, the player can choose a different path the next time they play through it. However, there are many games where the Groundhog Day effect is skillfully woven into the plot and gameplay, and they are extremely fun to play. Today, we are going to look at a small selection of such games for every taste.

 

Deathloop

Release year 2021
Genre shooter, action movie
Platforms Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S

Deathloop is a first-person shooter where you play as an assassin named Colt, stuck in a time loop on the mysterious Blackrief Island. Each new morning is a chance to correct the mistakes of the previous day without losing your head.

Colt finds himself on an island where all its inhabitants are celebrating one endless day. His task is to break this loop by destroying eight key targets in one day. But it won’t be easy: danger awaits Colt at every turn, and another assassin, Julianne, is hunting him down, not averse to repeating this day over and over again.

The gameplay of Deathloop is dynamic, each round is a new opportunity to experiment with weapons, abilities, and strategies. The player can figure out the routes of the targets, adapt to their schedules, and come up with the best ways to eliminate them. And all this in a retro-futuristic setting with appropriate music.

This game has the same drawback as almost all of the games in this selection: at some point, the constant repetition starts to get a little tiring.

 

Kraken Academy!!

Release year 2021
Genre adventure, puzzle, role-playing game
Platforms Windows, Mac, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch

Kraken Academy!! is a fun game about time loops, the end of the world, and trying to stop it in three days. The main character and his sister are transferred to a private school called Kraken. It looks a bit dilapidated, but interesting: a sort of bohemian haven for the overly creative. Something like Ukrainian creative universities, only drawn in pixel art, with a talking kraken and a broccoli girl as a guide. By the way, the game was developed by an independent studio called Happy Broccoli Games. This is hardly a coincidence.

The broccoli girl is your classmate at the music faculty, and the kraken lives in the lake and warns of the coming apocalypse. But don’t worry, because you have a magic amulet that rewinds time three days. So there will be many attempts.

There are four clubs at the school: art, music, drama, and sports (the latter seems out of place in this cheerful chaos, but it’s only at first glance). You can learn from each of them because you are in a time loop. The game also has 14 main characters, unique and quirky, with whom you can make friends.

The game is fun and interesting, but it also has some drawbacks. The game mechanics sometimes seem monotonous: collecting bottles, smashing trash cans, earning money to access clubs and furnish your room. However, there are more interesting things to do, such as participating in mini-games that vary from club to club.

Kraken Academy!! has multiple endings, depending on your actions and decisions. So if you accidentally cause the apocalypse, don’t worry, you can always try again!

 

Mars Underground

Release year 2019
Genre adventure, puzzle
Platforms Windows

The retro-styled adventure game Mars Underground visually resembles the cult Earthbound for the Super Nintendo platform. Created on the simple RPG Maker game engine with all its shortcomings and limitations, this is not an RPG, but an adventure with collecting items. The main thing in the game is an exciting story and an original game concept.

The story tells of a teenager, Mars, who has just moved to Phobos City (yes, Mars moved to Phobos) with his mom and sister because of problems in his past. The first day at the new school and a visit to an unusual therapist in a strange building turn into a space-time experiment. After taking the pills, Mars falls asleep and starts the day over. By the way, the action takes place in the springtime – every day in the game is March 15.

In the first cycles, the protagonist explores the environment, meets the characters, and collects items to solve puzzles in subsequent replay. Throughout the game, Mars reveals the secrets of the city, meets strange personalities, and finds clues about catastrophic events of the past.

Each cycle opens up new opportunities and clues. The hero’s actions can lead to discoveries or even to his death, after which he wakes up again in the morning. In the second half, the game loses a bit of momentum, because like Groundhog Day, we wake up on the same day every time, but at the end the plot picks up again. The game has several possible endings.

Although Mars Underground wasn’t a hit, it was a finalist at The Freeplay Award 2019 indie game festival in the design, narrative, and audio categories. The game costs only 40 UAH on Steam (no discounts). It’s worth a try if you’re interested in branching plots and don’t have any prejudices against indie games, pixelated retro graphics, and a somewhat clunky game engine.

 

Minit

Release year 2018
Genre puzzle, adventure, role-playing game
Platforms Windows, Linux, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS

In this adventure game, the player, who looks like a mutant duck, has only 60 seconds of life before the inevitable restart, so decisions have to be made with lightning speed. The character finds a cursed sword that makes his life renew every minute. The player’s task is to unravel the secrets of this world and break the curse. Each 60-second cycle is a new attempt to move a little further, find new items, or solve another puzzle.

Minit looks simple and elegant, although not everyone will like the “monochrome” black and white pixel image. However, thanks to it, you are not distracted by unnecessary contemplation, because you need to act quickly and rationally, since every second is worth its weight in gold. It’s not always immediately clear what to do and how to do it, so this game can be somewhat reminiscent of speed chess, where the player needs to think through all possible options in advance in order to make some progress in a fast-paced cycle. At the same time, you need to explore various locations, talk to interesting characters, and solve puzzles, trying to find a way to break the curse. Everything here is so dynamic that the game does not have time to get bored. Among the disadvantages is a sketchy plot without any interesting background.

 

Outer Wilds

Release year 2019
Genre research, adventure, puzzle
Platforms Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch

Outer Wilds is a big Adventure in the style of a small, almost indie game. We find ourselves on a small planet inhabited by four-eyed humanoids who love space exploration and playing musical instruments. The player is selected to participate in the Outer Wilds Ventures program, a research initiative that seeks to unravel the mysteries of their solar system. We could learn from these humanoids what is important and what is not.

This small planet learned how to make spacecraft from what they found under their feet, and these craft are quite capable of taking travelers anywhere in the local miniature solar system, which has eight planets. Each of the celestial bodies can be walked around in two to three minutes. But this is without immersing yourself in research: it changes everything.

Your main task is to collect as much information as possible about the planets and understand what exactly causes the world to end every 22 minutes. Yes, you only have 22 minutes to explore the galaxy before it explodes and you’re back to square one.

The gameplay is built around exploration, solving puzzles, and trying not to crash on the planet’s surface (believe me, it’s harder than it looks). The game has no guides or task markers. You decide where to go and what to explore. And it is this freedom that creates the atmosphere of the unknown. In fact, if you take a guide, you can complete the game extremely quickly. However, this game is about adventure and cognition, so you should play it that way – by feeling, using logic and imagination.

When I was playing this game, I couldn’t help but feel as if it was imbued with the spirit of the sixties, science fiction and literature in general of that time – its hopes for sustainable peace, for unlimited exploration and rapid development of space technology are heavily flavored with the romance of knowledge in general.

 

Randal’s Monday

Release year 2014
Genre adventure, puzzle
Platforms Windows, Mac, PlayStation 4

The small Spanish company Nexus Game Studios is responsible for the development of this game, but the publisher of Randal’s Monday is quite famous – Daedalic Entertainment, the authors of the point’n’click adventures of the Deponia series about the trash planet, Edna Edna & Harvey, and The Night of the Rabbit. If you are familiar with these games, then you have a rough idea of the gameplay of Randal’s Mondays.

We are looking at a classic hand-drawn quest reminiscent of the above-mentioned games, as well as similar games from the early millennium. If you’re a geek and grew up in the nineties or twenties, you’ll enjoy the game at least because it’s not just a game, it’s a complete Easter Egg, because there are a lot of references to the nerd culture of those times. You could even say “of all time”. Here you’ll find quotes from Star Trek, Space Odyssey 2001, Futurama, and Star Wars, talk to Jay and Silent Bob, and remember the Marvel Universe and Portal.

Randall, the protagonist, is a typical guy: a kleptomaniac, a sociopath, and a very bad friend. It is his kleptomania that draws him into a time loop of endless Mondays. Monday is already a hard day, and then there’s the landlord demanding to pay a debt, something terrible happening to a friend because of you, and even being imprisoned for an indefinite period. However, this is not a tragedy, but pure banter, sarcasm, and black humor. Randall’s task is to correct his kleptomaniacal mistake, survive this Monday and get to Tuesday by collecting items (they are saved for the next incarnation of Monday) and performing certain actions.

The full price of the game on Steam is 270 UAH, but the publisher often participates in sales. At the time of writing, for example, the game was available for only 27 UAH. By the way, the authors have raised money for the second part on Kickstarter and are currently developing it.

 

Returnal

Release year 2021
Genre action movie, shooter, action/adventure
Platforms PlayStation 5

Returnal, a former PlayStation 5 exclusive, has been available on Windows PC since 2023. This is a sci-fi roguelike shooter where the main character, astronaut Selena, is stuck in a time loop on a hostile planet. At one time, there was a heated debate around the game.

On the one hand, it was loved for its dynamic and interesting gameplay, beautiful graphics, and strong sci-fi storyline. Returnal even won the BAFTA Award for Best Game of 2021 and the Game Awards for Best Action Movie. On the other hand, gaming forums were full of dissatisfied comments about the main character’s far from model appearance. But that’s not what we’re talking about here.

So, Selena finds herself on the planet Atropos, and from that moment on, real hell begins. At every step, enemies await the heroine, ready to send her into oblivion. Each death is a chance to start again and try to go a little further. The game’s mechanics assume that the player is constantly discovering new weapons, abilities, and secrets of the planet. All of this, of course, until the next death, when Selena loses most of what she has collected.

The advantages of the game include an exciting gameplay that does not allow you to relax, beautiful graphics, and interesting music that creates a unique atmosphere. But not everything is so simple: the game may seem too difficult for some players, and constant deaths can cause frustration. In addition, losing most of your achievements after each restart may seem unfair.

 

The Sexy Brutale

Release year 2017
Genre adventure, puzzle
Platforms Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

Imagine yourself at the coolest party of the year in a casino with the pretentious name The Sexy Brutale. Guests are wearing masks, champagne is flowing, music is playing… and someone is systematically killing everyone present. And you are stuck in a time loop, forced to relive this bloody day over and over again. This mix of Tim Burton meets Agatha Christie at the Rio Carnival was created by the British studio Cavalier Game Studios in collaboration with the Spanish Tequila Works.

In The Sexy Brutale, you play as the priest Lafcadio Boone, and your task is to prevent a series of murders that take place during one day. But there’s a catch: you can’t directly intervene in the events. Instead, you have to observe, study each guest’s schedule, and find ways to change the course of events without being seen.

The gameplay is built around observation, deduction, and time manipulation. You will eavesdrop on conversations, study the behavior of guests and staff, look for clues, and try to understand how the murders are committed. And then you’ll find a way to prevent them without drawing attention to yourself. Because if you get noticed, the time loop will restart, and you’ll have to start all over again.

The Sexy Brutale is an interesting mix of detective puzzle, thriller, and comedy in which time is not money, but literally life. Without discounts, the game can be purchased on Steam for 189 UAH.

 

The Forgotten City

Release year 2021
Genre adventure, role-playing game, puzzle
Platforms Windows, Mac, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch

The Forgotten City was created as a mod for Skyrim, but it grew into an independent project. You play as a modern man who mysteriously finds himself in the times of the Roman Empire. But not to the Colosseum or the Forum, but to a mysterious underground city where all the inhabitants are stuck in a time loop. Your task is to investigate the mystery of the Golden Rule, which, if violated, leads to all the city’s inhabitants turning into golden statues.

The gameplay is built around dialogues, exploration, and deduction. You will talk to residents (as in life, you shouldn’t believe everyone, there are interesting surprises!), collect evidence, solve puzzles, and try to understand what is really going on in this strange city. And if something goes wrong, you can always go back in time and try again. The game has a whole gallery of colorful characters, from a philosopher who constantly doubts reality to a merchant trying to sell you “authentic” Roman souvenirs. There’s even an ancient Roman deity, and the game is full of references to ancient history and mythology.

The game has several different endings, depending on your actions. But remember: in The Forgotten City, all roads lead to… nowhere. You are simply stuck here until you solve all, or at least the main, puzzles.

 

Timeloop: Sink Again Beach

Release year 2022
Genre adventure, puzzle
Platforms Windows

You’re on a tropical island, surrounded by pirates, voodoo witches, priests with memorable quotes, and you’re trying not to run into yourself. This is how you can briefly describe the plot of the indie game Timeloop: Sink Again Beach

The game was created by Ukrainian developer Pylyp Bazdyrev from FangsLab. You play as Jack, who has come to Monkey Island to fulfill the last wish of his deceased friend – to scatter his ashes from the top of the mountain. But as often happens, everything goes wrong, and you find yourself in a time loop. Now your task is to untangle the tangle of events without meeting yourself from the past (as this will lead to a temporal collapse) and try to get out of this madness unharmed. The genre of the game is a quest with action elements and a small open world.

The game is fully dubbed in Ukrainian by professional dubbing actors. So you will hear familiar voices from your favorite movies and TV shows. The gameplay is built around time travel. You will jump from morning to night, trying to be in the right place at the right time. Collect items, solve puzzles, avoid meeting yourself (because your copy is really you from the past, not a programmed NPC), and try not to break the space-time continuum completely.

On the island you will meet colorful characters: from a priest who speaks in memes to a voodoo witch. There is also a 9 and 3/4 cave, the Schrödinger’s door, and even a Game of Thrones set (with a cup of coffee, of course). So this game is full of pop culture references.

Timeloop: Sink Again Beach is a small but heartwarming adventure. Without discounts on Steam, it costs 265 UAH (the lowest recorded price on sale is 26 UAH), and it’s a good way to support a Ukrainian developer and have a good time trying not to break the continuum. Although… maybe that’s exactly what we should do?

 

Twelve Minutes

Release year 2021
Genre puzzle, adventure
Platforms Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS

An interactive thriller where the protagonist finds himself in a 12-minute time loop. This time, the player gets stuck not somewhere in space, but in the hero’s tiny apartment, where events unfold with incredible speed and tension.

So an unnamed man returns home to spend a romantic evening with his wife. But before he can take off his shoes, a policeman knocks on the door and accuses his wife of murder. The evening did not go according to plan, and now you have to unravel this tangle of mysteries using the scientific poke method: try it, die, repeat it. The game turns into a kind of Groundhog Day for amateur detectives. In fact, we are looking at a quest with isometric graphics and interactive movie elements.

The player must explore the environment, experiment with objects, dialogs, and actions to find the right path to the solution. You will try all possible combinations of actions, for example, hiding a knife, tying up your wife, or giving her sleeping pills. But enough spoilers. In the process, you will learn more about the characters’ motivations and hidden aspects of their lives. For example, you will discover secrets of the past or hidden conflicts that will shed light on the events of this fateful evening. By the way, Netflix is responsible for the release of the game, so if you have a valid subscription to this platform, you can play Twelve Minutes for free. Moreover, the characters of the drama are voiced by famous actors James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe. The game costs 499 UAH on Steam without discounts.

 

A few more games with a time loop

A Perfect Day (2022). The player returns to a significant day in his childhood, trying to change the future for the better. The game explores the themes of choice and the consequences of our actions.

Beacon Pines (2022). An adventure game where the player “rewrites” the story by returning to key moments and changing decisions. The game combines elements of visual novels and point-and-click adventures.

Bioshock Infinite (2013). A first-person shooter with RPG elements set in the flying city of Columbia in 1912. The player explores an alternate reality, encountering themes of politics, religion, and quantum physics. We also recommend playing the Burial at Sea DLC.

Life is Strange (2015). Here we do not find ourselves in a classic time loop, but we can create small “loops” to change the recent past and its consequences.

Quantum Break (2016). A sci-fi action game that combines gameplay with elements of the TV series. The player controls a character with the ability to manipulate time, trying to prevent the end of the world.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (2000). An adventure game where the hero has three days (which are repeated) to prevent the apocalypse. The player uses masks and the Ocarina of Time to manipulate time and solve problems.

 

As always, we encourage you to add your own variants of the games in the comments.