Time Bandit – Part 1: Appendages of the Machine

So good

Un mélange des genres fascinant. On me l'avait vendu comme Animal Crossing + Metal Gear Solid et c'est vrai qu'il y a pas mal de ca.

Got my forklift trapped and Alt F4ed out of the game. Remembered that I could buy another forklift, only to boot the game back up and be put in jail for 12 hours. I also realized I would have had to wait for 4/5 days of daily wages anyways to be able to afford a new forklift. I was almost getting into a flow with it, logging in periodically while I was working from home in real life. But I was excited at the thought of me softlocking the game, so I took that as a sign that I shouldn't play this. This is where the story would have ended had I not continued playing the game to completion after this. I waited the 5 days to get my forklift unstuck and continued, with the strong desire to see where this game went, and I'm glad I did. The music grew on me. I like how it changes depending on time of day. The dystopic capitalist town also grew on me over time. I enjoyed coming back to it every day, to steal more time crystals. There was a nice sense of community and solidarity with the few characters you interact with. Though, sometimes people would just call you and talk a novel at you about this or that. I ended up skipping most of these towards the end. I generally understood what they were trying to say. The kinda rough Unity-looking artstyle grew on me, too. It felt as detailed as it needed to be given the drab tone of the whole town. I wasn't sure about the slow sokoban gameplay at first, but it's a nice change of pace to think about the puzzles 2 3 steps ahead because of the pace in which you solve them. Also, it probably helped that they weren't too challenging. I had actually took my gaming laptop with me to my parents for the holidays and played off my Steam Cloud save to continue to log in at least once a day. When I got back home, the saves somehow duplicated a forklift and trash compactor, so I got 2 extras for free. I felt like I cheated the system to benefit the greater good. Though, the same day I discovered this glitch, I got crushed by a mine cart and got sent to the hospital with a big medical bill, so I guess it all equalizes in the end. There was a part of the game where you have to push these mine carts to a finish line. I couldn't figure out how to do this until the last cart. Before then, I somehow glitched the mine carts into the finish line, which I take as a win. I do really vibe with the overall anti-capitalist message, though. It is quite well designed around the mundanity of work and the slow but inevitable progress of change. It was not always fun to play this game, but overall I quite enjoyed it. It did help that there were some light stealth mechanics, which I'm a sucker for. I await the sequel.

It's like Animal Crossing but you're overthrowing immortal Time Vampire capitalists in a dystopian nightmare world with a retro low-poly vibe. You play the game in 20-30 minute stints, fulfilling the tasks you're able to complete with your limited stamina, then you return home and sleep for the next "shift". The writing sometimes comes off as preachy (the radio is literally a talking head simulator) and there's very little foreshadowing for the game's one boss, but it does tell an interesting story with unique gameplay to frame it. It's an enjoyable coffee-break style game.

Weird, interesting, janky, worth meeting halfway for a unique little puzzle-over-long-time-frame experience. Was nice to get into the rhythm of planning out moves and coming back to execute them little by little, looking forward to more in the future.

I've been playing Time Bandit for a couple of hundred hours now, most of that time has been spent at my actual real life job, or asleep. Some of that time has been spent moving a block into a position that I realized when viewing from another angle will eventually impede my progress. When I realized what I had done I entered a xen state of acceptance that has yet to wear off. It will take 3 discrete 30 minute tasks to fix this. In the meantime, I am spending my wages to plant trees, waiting for better oil prices, and occasionally stealing from my boss, an act that is as exhilarating as it is effortless. Time Bandit is a good time. It reminds me of sleep deprived shoplifting from service stations as a kid on a ♥♥♥♥ caravaning holiday. Very nostalgic.

Played this originally when it was a demo and I loved the potential. The new additions since were a nice surprise. I mean even just the game achknowledging your actual time via an in-game clock is enough for me but the whole game revolving around it, just love it. One tip: make use of the esc menu, might save some time Anyway I might go into a bit more detail since I've only just finished it. One thing I'll say is a lot of the dialogue can be a bit to take on since I'd say maybe 1/4 of characters dialogue is to progress the plot or flesh out backstories. When it isn't they're usually outlining their beliefs or discussion of particular ideals, maybe it's a bit much to ask to not minimise those dialogues but to introduce some characters to the roster that are a bit more simple-minded and concise like your boss to even it out.

nothing like it. incredible

Absolute peak

Edit: finished the game at 10.6 hours. May not seem like much, but that's over many days and a few weeks of consistent gameplay. It takes a great game to hold someone's attention for that long imo, and this is that game! I enjoyed it throughout and more people need to play it. --- This game runs well on Steam Deck via Proton! I haven't finished the game yet, I've just enjoyed it so damn much I needed to leave a review early. Time Bandit is a game you can play in any number of ways. Clock in during real time hours, do your job, clock out. Go back to your hellhole bed in your work provided [strike]cell[/strike] room and repeat the cycle. Again and again. Or... get stealthy. Lighten your boss's wallet and deepen your own instead. Engage with the Marxist theories the game talks about and seize the means of production, comrade! Spend a while working out the most efficient way to maximise your limited resources with the least number of moves. Or don't, and just move boxes at a chill pace while you bop along to the cute music. Actions are time-gated, but it never becomes annoying. Smaller actions like moving a box can take 30 mins. But planting a tree can take 24 hours. This is the perfect game to play in between others. Do an action and take a break. Decompress whilst sticking it to the bourgeoisie! There's so much more to this game. The radio calls are brilliant, I really enjoy seeing what characters have to say [spoiler]try calling people from your bed![/spoiler] Sneaking past cameras is great fun, and so is [spoiler]dodging their bullet hell attacks[/spoiler] if you screw up like I did. In terms of progression and without major spoilers, [spoiler]the starting area will expand somewhat as you progress, and you will find helpful items.[/spoiler] Time Bandit may have hints of other games, but I can't think of a single game just like it. I mean sneaking around as a protagonist with t-rex arms and one facial expression, all with a low poly PS1 aesthetic? Beautiful. I mean it, I love everything about it. If you want something truly *different* that doesn't demand too much of your time or with reams of text, this game is for you. There is no hint of pretention here, just a game that takes the best of several genres and packages them in a brilliant way. Stop reading reviews and just buy it already!