Out of Time – A time-bending Co-op experiment that almost works.
Out of Time is one of those rare projects that feels like it went off in a few different directions before it found its way. At first, the game was planned to be a full-fledged massive multiplayer online game (MMO). However, it finally gave up on that goal and became known as a cooperative roguelike adventure with time travel at its core.
The big change was that there were fewer people on screen, the controls were tighter, and the focus was on moment-to-moment survival instead of long-term online persistence. The game we have now is a mix of different ideas: it’s part dungeon crawler, part puzzle game, part chaotic battle simulator, and part story experiment. It’s messy, sometimes clever, and definitely different from anything else coming out this year.
Out of Time is based on a simple idea: you and your team are “out of sync” travelers who are being pulled through holes in time to fix problems before reality falls apart. There aren’t a lot of cutscenes or history dumps that break up the story. Instead, the story is told through holograms that are spread out, strange artifacts that were left behind in each era, and murky conversations that happen during tasks. There are rumors of a once-powerful organization trying to take back control of time, rogue agents who have gone their separate ways, and mysterious beings that live on contradictions.
Less what is described and more what is left to guess is what makes the story interesting. Why are scorpions moving across a desert in the future? Why do heroes from the Middle Ages appear and disappear during the same scene as neon-lit mechs? Even though the mix-up of events is confusing, it adds to the feeling that the world is falling apart and you’re racing against forces you don’t fully understand. Some people who really like clear stories might find the uncertainty annoying, but players who like putting together stories like puzzles will find it interesting.
The main type of game that Out of Time is is a co-op action roguelike. Procedural generation lets up to four people dive into environments that change over time, making each session feel a little different. Usually, missions start with simple goals like “retrieve a relic,” “stabilize a time rift,” or “defeat a boss.” But how you get there depends on the strange mix of enemies and dangers that appear.
Exploration, fighting, and managing resources are all mixed together in moment-to-moment gameplay. Players go back and forth between fighting waves of enemies, setting off old gadgets, and working out how to make the environment work for them. The twist comes from the fact that each individual has the ability to change time.
One person might go back a few seconds to avoid taking damage, while another might slow down enemies in a small area. These mechanics don’t just make fighting more interesting; they also change how you move around and solve puzzles, making the transition between action and strategy smooth. There aren’t many breaks in the game, which is part of its attraction. You have to adapt all the time to both your enemies’ and your friends’ choices. Yes, it’s crazy, but that’s on purpose.
When it comes to battle, Out of Time both shines and fails. The main loop is fun: enemies come in groups, and each has its own attack pattern. To win, you have to use both long and close-quarters strategies. Some monsters will explode when they touch you, making you move around a lot, while others will keep attacking you and reducing your health. When you fight a boss, you’ll often see huge creatures that change the area as they fight.
The puzzle pieces are mixed in with all of this chaos. At times, you’ll have to figure out a light-based puzzle while monsters attack you. Sometimes you have to switch between platforms while your friends fight off swarms. On paper, it sounds exciting—having to work together quickly and under pressure is different from most games in this genre. In real life, though, the game can get frustrating at times. One wrong move can reset a puzzle, and respawn timers in the middle of a fight can leave your team helpless for a long time.
When fighting and puzzles work together well is when the game is at its best. It feels good to use a time-slow bubble to keep enemies from moving while a teammate starts a puzzle routine. But the worst parts are when different game features don’t work well together. That’s when you get punished not for not being careful, but because the game has too many systems going at once. It’s a fine line that Out of Time doesn’t always walk.
It is possible to move forward by collecting both XP and relics. You get fragments of knowledge for every run, which you can use to buy new powers, shorten cooldowns, or improve your basic stats. It’s not unbearable, but you can feel the grind, especially in the early hours when dying means repeating whole stretches with only small gains to show for it.
The good news is that the XP system really changes how you play the game. Getting time-based skills can help you come up with new strategies, like chaining rewinds to almost never die or freezing enemies long enough to finish a task without interruptions. Damage upgrades are available for players who like to use brute force, but it’s clear that the game wants players to try out more artistic builds as well. This method of progression makes each run feel like it’s moving forward, even if you fail.
On the other hand, grinding can sometimes feel like it’s required. Bosses get harder as you level up, and you almost have to have better powers for later tasks to have a chance. This keeps veterans involved, but it could turn off newbies who can’t stand losing over and over again.
Out of Time looks great, but it’s not quite even. The art direction plays with the idea of different time periods rubbing against each other: bright cities rise up from the deserts full of huge scorpions, and holographic anomalies bend the air. It’s an odd mix of images that makes each task look different.
The styles of the characters are bold, if a bit too much. The heroes look like they came from completely different games. One might look like a cyberpunk mercenary, and another might look like a knight from a Saturday morning show.
This mix-up adds to the theme of broken timelines, but it can also make things feel disconnected. When it comes to performance, the game mostly runs smoothly. However, particle effects during big fights can slow things down. You can still play, but it’s noticeable enough to take away from the experience.
Out of Time does a great job with its sound design. The music jumps from one genre to another, just like the timelines are broken up. Tribal drums give way to synthetic beats, and orchestral swells crash into glitchy electronic pulses. The sound design keeps you on edge, just like the crazy things happening on the screen.
There is also weight to sound impacts. The speakers shake when enemies explode, rewinds sound good when they’re distorted, and even simple sword swings have a strong effect. Voice acting is pretty minimal but works well; it’s mostly used for short bits of dialogue during tasks. It’s more mysterious because these lines aren’t clear, leaving you with just enough to guess about the bigger story.
There’s no denying that Out of Time is a one-of-a-kind work. It’s a game that loves being unpredictable, with roguelike elements mixed in with time-bending mechanics, chaotic fighting, and strange events. It’s thrilling when it works—few games capture the thrill of working together with friends under pressure as well as this one. When it fails, though, it can feel too much, unfair, and sometimes worn out.
The progression method makes sure that you always move forward, even if you fail, but some players may not want to do the grind. The graphics are creative, even if they aren’t always smooth, and the sound design is one of the best parts. Fans of narratives may want more clarity, but fans of putting together bits of stories will have a lot to think about.
In the end, Out of Time feels like the start of a big new journey. It’s not perfect in every way, but it’s the kind of broken gem that stays with you. You should try this if you want a joint adventure that isn’t afraid to mess with time. Just don’t expect the ride to be smooth.
Even though the game has some problems, it does have some truly thrilling moments that not many games do: those last few seconds when teamwork, time manipulation, and pure luck all come together to give you a win you didn’t think was possible. These moments of brilliance show that Out of Time could become something truly special in the future, as long as the developers keep working on making it better.
