Time Master

This is a fun good puzzle game. I enjoyed it. I liked the characters and the time mechanics. Wish there was more trials with Zeno :3

Puzzle are good, but platform could some easing (used xbox controller), as puzzle challenges are fun to solve, but massive pain to execute (dropped the game on level 34, was not a fun challenge). Still decent for cost.

Very nice puzzler. It wasn't too ambitious, which means it had just the right length before the puzzles were becoming repetetive. The premise itself isn't new, basically you create a copy of yourself to solve parallel tasks you couldn't solve in time or at all, if you were alone. And tasks mean collecting crystals on a diorama and then reaching the exit. Many such games I played allowed you to create several copies, but this one allows you always just one, it's designed for 2 parallel tasks which results in not too complex, rather short puzzles, with still some nooks and cranies, as you have to think at least one cycle ahead. There are often times signals, like crystals in an dead end, which help you to rule out beforehand on which cycle you have to do what. My favourite levels were actually those where tricks were involved where you had to stop time. Some levels have a very short first cycle, but a much longer second cycle, that means they were designed with buffer time in mind and most of the time these result in setups where both timelines interact with eachother, like pushing a crate to block an projectile that was required in the first cycle, but destroys something you need for a task later on in the second cycle. There were not many elements but it felt like they were utilized to their fullest potential in the course of the 61 trials. (well besides the seesaw perhaps as it wasn't used in many levels) Towards the end there were a few trials where I had the feeling the creator was running out of ideas, but they were really just a few where I thought "what's the point?" My favourite element were the crystal proxys, who collect the most nearby crystal, so by changing the order how you collect these crystal you might be able to collect those who are in dead ends. This was the most innovative element in my opinion and it keeps the puzzles interesting if you can't always rule out every dead end. I didn't need any guides. Not even for the achievement where you had to break an level with mad plattformer skills. I would say in terms of difficulty the game is towards the center of an scale, which was probably intended. It's also comfortable to play, as you can decide to reset only the the second cycle, so you never have too much to repeat because you slipped up later on. Time is also freezed until you start to move. So while there is a time limit it never feels stresful the levels were perfectly catered to that aspect. The only thing which can be a bit wonky is pushing crates, as they aren't pushed in a grid. There are fully voiced cutscenes that narrate a cute little story about a young clumsy mage trying to rescue his cheeky little sister, which he exiled without his knowing. The story is a good motivator to keep you going between puzzle sessions, even though it's nothing special. I expected some sort of twist to be honest as you can't see the sister and only have to trust her voice. Something you've already done with the villain of the story. I mean she didn't need to be evil, perhaps she could've been not your real sister or something along the way, but it's fine I wasn't here for the story and am surprised how much effort was flowing into the cutscenes, so I didn't expect that much narration from begin with. I can fully recommend the game to any puzzle-game lover. It has really a nice pace and shows how well it executes its few elements.