Timespinner
Lunar Ray Games
Action, Platformer, 2D
PlayStation 4, PC, PlayStation Vita
The simplest way to communicate my feelings about Timespinner is to say this: I played through the game in its entirety, twice, in just over 24 hours even around other things. This was in part possible because it’s not a long game, but what I’m trying to get at is that I enjoyed it enough to immediately start it up again after I beat it the first time.
Timespinner is a Metroidvania about a young woman named Lunais on a quest for revenge against the oppressive interplanetary empire which murdered her family and much of the rest of her clan. Her main apparatus for achieving this revenge is the titular device, The Timespinner, which allows her to travel through time. The Timespinner is broken in the game’s introduction, however, so mechanically the player’s time travel abilities are limited to jumping between the past and present and freezing time for a limited duration. These two mechanics are simple but implemented in some creative ways that make using them a real treat. There perhaps could have been a little more variety in the ways they were used but I never got tired of what did exist, which is part of the upside of a game like this being short – even after playing through twice the mechanics didn’t have a chance to overstay their welcome, and indeed stopping time to avoid a barrage of attacks was still immensely satisfying even as I was finishing up my second run.
As good as the gameplay is I still can’t decide if it I found it more or less compelling than the story-line, which was also a big factor in why I rushed through Timespinner as quickly as I did. All of the characters felt believable and the ones that were supposed to be likable came across as likable, while the ones that weren’t were unlikable in recognizable ways. One collectible lore fragment, in particular, shows a scene between a woman and a man who had known each other years prior and engaged in a fling. The man in this scene makes advances on the woman, and when she rebuffs him his response is to immediately switch his attitude, calling her a bitch and making threats against her. While despicable, I recognized this behavior from real-world encounters, and it helped to ground me in the story and make it feel real despite the science fiction elements. Another aspect of the characters and their portrayal I enjoyed was that almost every character who wasn’t a villain was explicitly LGBT+ in some way, with several of the characters embodying intersections between a few of those letters. I recognize that this isn’t an important thing for everyone, but seeing representation in games always does my heart good.
In addition to the characterization, Timespinner’s story is compelling because the entire game exudes an atmosphere of melancholy, from the somewhat muted color palette even in the more lush areas of the game to the soundtrack. The effect these things have in conveying the initial hopelessness and despair of Lunais is immense, which makes the subsequent story beats that show a glimmer of hope all the more poignant. All that said, if I had to make one complaint about the game it would be that the ending that feels like the “true ending” mechanically didn’t feel like the “true ending” from a story standpoint. At the very least it didn’t feel more definitively true to the characters, and there’s no reason to favor it over the more “standard” ending in terms of which is more canon. While perhaps not a bad thing it is counter-intuitive for a game to have extra requirements for an ending that isn’t more clearly canon.
In any case, Timespinner is a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It is emotional to watch unfold, thought-provoking, and downright fun when it comes to exploration and combat. If you’ll allow me to indulge in one extremely obvious pun, it’s definitely worth your time.