timespinner

Timespinner is an indie Metroidvania released by Chucklefish Games. That’s about 80% of what you need to know.

The main hook is your ability to temporarily freeze time. Its primary function is using frozen enemies (or projectiles) as platforms to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Beyond that there isn’t much to do. Stopping time can come in handy to dodge boss attacks, but it still isn’t an essential tactic. This becomes Timespinner’s main problem – it has very little to distinguish itself from the glut of ‘Vania games already out there, and succumbs to many pitfalls of the subgenre. The RPG elements feel insubstantial, non-boss encounters are trivial at best, and the idea of level design is pretty much nonexistent.

You attack using orbs, which function as different kinds of weapons. The beginning set is a straightforward melee attack but you end up unlocking more options. Your equipment slots allow for some customization options but none of it feels significant. There was one point earlier on in the game where I switched from the sword orb to the fire orb because the boss had resistance to slash attacks, but that’s the only time I really had to change the way I played. Even then it’s really hard to call it a change because it was essentially the same type of attack, just reskinned and stronger. You get a variety of orbs to attack with (some others include wind, leech life, and gun) but for 90% of the game I stuck with the “iron” orb, which just summoned a large hammer. I switched weapons mostly out of curiosity but I never felt compelled to stray far from my trusty hammer. You also have the option of choosing a magic attack, but I only ever used the one that fills up half the screen with a huge fucking sword. Maybe that’s on me for not being creative enough, but any attempt at customization felt moot since most combat involved hacking through rooms full of mindless experience fodder. On the other hand, the boss fights were pretty neat. They weren’t very innovative compared to what you would normally find in these types of games, but dodging attacks by freezing time felt fun to perform.

As I mentioned before, there wasn’t much thought put into level design. Some areas were corridors, some areas were more vertical-based, and some were a mixture of both. That’s really all I can say. There are staples of the ‘Vania subgenre like getting a double jump ability halfway to access new areas and the like, but it all feels pretty trivial. The ability to jump on top of enemies when you freeze time could lead to some potentially fun platforming challenges, but they’re nowhere to be found. In fact, most times I used enemies as platforms it was just giving access to a “secret” area with an HP/MP upgrade. There were maybe three areas in the entire 6 hours of gameplay that required you to use the time stop ability to actually progress through the game. It’s a shame too, because there’s a lot of potential with such a mechanic. It feels as if the developers added in time freezing and thought that alone was enough to make the game interesting. It’s not.

So yeah, Timespinner kind of sucks. To its credit, it’s a competently made game. The sprites look good and animate fluidly, there’s a pretty nice atmosphere, and the soundtrack is one of the highlights (even if it echos Michiru Yamane’s work a bit too closely at times.) I would only recommend it if you’re really itching for a Metroidvania and you’ve exhausted most of your options, but there are so many games in the subgenre I don’t think that’s very likely.

Also, allow me to use this opportunity to plug the excellent Pharaoh Rebirth+ if you’re looking for a better game.