Timelie (Switch) Review
Release Date: December 15, 2021
Publisher/Developer: Zordix
Platform: Switch (reviewed), PC
Price: $19.99
Awakening in a mysterious facility, a young girl finds herself pursued by deadly sentry bots. In an ordinary situation, this would spell instant death, but the girl finds that she can foresee what happens next as all possibilities fractal out before her. Much like Doctor Strange in the Marvel Universe, she sees all possibilities and can use this to find the one escape out of the millions of possibilities.
Timelie is like a YouTube Video of Endless Possibilities. With a scrub bar at the bottom of the screen, you can rewind and change your path to achieve victory. While this seems simple and perhaps even boring as you just find the “way to win,” the depth comes after the girl meets up with a mysterious cat who is either trying to help or perhaps simply escape as well. You control one of the two of them at a time, and any actions you told the opposite character to do still play out as you are rewinding and tweaking your active character. You have to determine the best way for each character to go as the changing paths overlap.
The premise and aesthetics of the game are very intriguing, though the story is told in a rather minimalistic way. I’d love to know more about the “why we are here,” but I reckon that’s part of the mystery and intrigue that keeps you coming back to play. Given that time and pacing are integral to the gameplay loop, movement is on a grid-based system with each character moving at set speeds. I understand the need for this, but sometimes I wish I had direct control of my character, as I see a “straighter line” between the two points I’m running through.
The final winning path is linear, which sometimes can lead to frustration if you, say, realize that tweaking one move back at the start would give you the quarter-second you needed to dodge a robot near the end, resulting in you having to redo the whole area. Most levels are bite-sized and manageable, so it’s not that bad of a tradeoff. Upon completion of the level, you get to see a playthrough of the winning formula. Depending on your attitude toward that, it is a nice victory lap or an annoyance to have to watch through again before you can continue playing. I also would have loved the ability to rotate the camera like Final Fantasy Tactics, as sometimes I had difficulty seeing between a glass wall robots could see through and a wall that was simply shaded down so I could see behind it.
Overall, Timelie is a wonderfully fun game, giving a chance for gamers to literally go back and fix their old mistakes. The linearity of the only solution may cause tedium if you are just a hair away and can’t find where you can shave time, or if you have to go way back and re-do everything again, but the completion of a run is very satisfying. Timelie is an easy recommendation for puzzle and strategy fans alike.
Pros:
-Unique time twisting concept
-Simple yet beautiful graphics and music
-Really exercises your brain as you twist two paths simultaneously
-Ability to use both controllers and touch functionality
Cons:
-Finding the absolute perfect run sometimes is off by a quarter step and can get frustrating
-I’d prefer a rotatable camera to understand walls and windows better
Special thanks to Zordix for providing a code for review!