It's impossible to not compare any time loop game to Outer Wilds and, well, this game is kind of like Outer Wilds with Mandatory Temporal Accessibility Features. It has quest markers, a very good but also very linear journal for each major objective, and a very nicely organized "knowledge" section which contains toggleable location markers. In some sense, it "spoils" some of the puzzle solving and loop exploration, but it also is just REALLY nice to not have to remember every single thing or remember how to get back to every location of interest. And also most of those objective markers don't actually solve the problems for you. You still have to do a good amount of the work.

The journal makes this the least frustrating time loop game I've played, which is good because the difficulty curve can be frustrating. There is a bit in the middle where you are too underpowered to get anywhere, but then once you get one or two powers or items that lets you plow through that challenging bit the action of the game becomes more annoying and interestingly challenging.

The story and vibe of the game is good, with platforming being nice with relevant powers, and honestly I prefer stealth and FPS over flying a crappy spaceship, so overall I enjoyed this game a lot more than Outer Wilds. I don't think it makes it a better game than Outer Wilds, but I definitely find that it provides both a good power fantasy in the mastery over shooting people and mastery over the time loop itself, and that's cool.

Reviewed on Jan 01, 2023


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