Trigger of Time

I don't know whether or not to recommend this game. It definitely belongs in the recommended tier, but at this price it is astoundingly short and missing a full chunk of ideas which never made it to paper. Most of this game lingers in the negative space of gameplay for atmospheric effect, and once I expect a full throttle of the game it ends, as if there were no resources put into the product of the game but into lighting. In that case it functions as a technical demo or a candy game -- one that has the price and longevity of a Butterfingers bar. Yet the price is high to bring someone looking for an actual puzzle. Puzzles, I surmise, should take multiple hours to ponder over. Sixty minutes is not enough. Even then, I would accept enthusiastically a mostly non-puzzle game if the design were tailored to using the mechanics further than what it did. (A mixture of puzzle and action sounds interesting.) The end product does not elucidate on any front other than the surface level.

It's short, took me about an hour. An excellent showcase of a unique puzzle mechanic. The puzzles don't require help, you just have to think for a minute while exploring. Movement carries momentum too much for the platforming at the beginning, and that was probably the hardest part. But the story is to the point and sincere, and I thought it was very well done. Congrats on releasing the game!

Divertente, forse un po' corto. I puzzle sono difficili il giusto, le musiche sono carine, la grafica un po' meno (le texture sono un pugno in un occhio)

Rather okay first-person puzzler game that takes a little while to get started and is over way too quickly. Core concept is interesting, but the game ends before it really gets a chance to shine and too much time is spent doing kinda tedious platforming that tends to feel more precise than it should (maybe give player greater air control? just make some of the platforms bigger? or take a clue from The Talos Principle and let players do certain pre-set jumps easily?). Seems to be a bit better with extended coyote time in patches. Graphics are oftentimes beautiful, but some effects more or less require you to use TAA to look good (the game also offers FXAA and MSAA, which is nice by itself); this includes shadows, which will sometimes look kind of grainy with other methods. It would be nice to have an option to mitigate that if possible (crank up shadow filtering?). A couple of places are too dark, but it isn't much of a gameplay problem in practice. Other pain points include elevators demanding multiple button presses to get to your destination (ancient civilization must have been quite Zen to endure these) and the effect when you get hit by an energy ball - the latter obscures your vision so that you're sure to have a harder time dodging the next projectile sent flying at you. All in all... it's an alright game with some inherent indie jank that can be completed in a single play session, but for a debut title I'd say it's a solid accomplishment. It just mostly leaves me wishing for a sequel that pushes the core mechanic further with more complex setups and more puzzles while making platforming less frustrating (and maybe removes fall damage while we're at it). Story is there but didn't do much for me, sadly. Update: the game now has a native Linux version, which is much appreciated!

Great mechanics, challenging but not hard puzzles, graphics are mostly good even though I did not like all that flashy lights. A short and good experience 👌

It was fun (and very short - finished in one sitting). I got this because I played the game jam version of it from GMTK and it was cool. I expected there to be more puzzles and less parkour, though. Especially since I'm a fan of Portal, The Entropy Centre, Talos Principle, etc, the puzzles were pretty easy. The movement felt a bit annoying at times, like I'd carefully inch off a ledge only to slip way too far off of it and fall to my death instead. Also when the time dilation bubbles were introduced, I expected it to introduce another ability for the gun to create time bubbles too, but there was no mechanic like that. Anyway, I had fun and enjoyed the game, but I think there was potential for cooler puzzles. edit because I remembered something else: also, at the end, the music got way too repetitive and I had to turn it off.