TimeTraveler is yet another of literally thousands of 2D retro platformers infesting Steam and lowering the average quality of all video games everywhere. The only real plus here is that they eschew the amateur developer standard of crappy pixel "art" for some average hand drawn colour pencil art. I guess that's an improvement, but the problem with indie/amateur 2D retro pixel platformers is not just the crap graphics, it's the old, dead, obsolete platformer gameplay.
This is a very low quality (so very standard) indie platformer, it's clunky and unpolished. The "time traveler" gimmick is that you can progress through the level, stop, then revert to the start of the level...but this leaves a "ghost" of your previous level attempt, which you can use as a stepping platform to solve various puzzle platformer problems. This gimmick has been done before, by better games, and adds little of value to this lacklustre experience.
There's no options to change the resolution for the game or customise the graphics settings. There's no way for gamers to ensure this is running at the native resolution of their displays... there's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision. There's no way for gamers to try improve the low quality graphics.
The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers.
The poor quality of this game is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 2 players. This is a remarkably low number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 50,000 games for gamers to choose from (over 9,000 completely free titles), the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected.
TimeTraveler is relatively cheap at $1 USD, but it's not worth it. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, this is impossible to recommend.
[b][quote][url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/profile]Profile Features Limited![/url][/quote][/b]Valve have marked this game as "Profile Features Limited" at the time of this review. This is usually caused by poor sales figures and low community acceptance for the game (to date). Until this status changes, this game will not give you +1 to your Game Collector badge count, appear in profile achievements or any other Steam meta-accomplishments, nor can it be displayed in some profile showcases. If these factors are important to you, it may be worth holding off before buying this game.
