Timespinner Reviews
All those years of effort paid off in the creation of an excellent entry in the metroidvania canon, and I hope it pays off in the form of a successful game as well. Timespinner exudes an aura of, "so much effort went into this, dang!" And making my way through it was a joy, both in terms of the look and feel of the world, the inherent appeal of filling in that map, and of course the smoothness and responsiveness of the combat.
Even though Timespinner set out to imitate SOTN, it managed to find its own identity during its long development. It's not quite as deep as its inspiration and it won't take as long to finish, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute I was playing.
Aside from a few mishaps in dialogue, Timespinner distinguishes itself with an absorbing story with interesting underlying themes. It stands out with a refreshing time travelling spin on combat that reflects the diversity of the level designs. Exploration, sans the tiny map, is enjoyable, with the past and present boasting unique music and mechanics to keep things fresh. Overall, this solid adventure is a great use of your time.
Timespinner opens a portal in our room and automatically takes us back to the 1990s. An adventure with a vintage flavour in which almost everything has been designed with great care. A must for any Castlevania lover.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Timespinner looks great, plays great, and feels like what a modern take on Metrovania should be, spiced up with some time manipulation mechanics that feel a bit underutilized in the grand scheme of things.
Beautifully trim, transcendently polished, and unexpectedly inclusive, Timespinner is among the most capable endeavours to spring from Castlevania's picked-over carcass.
Though the map is too constrained at first, Timespinner's characters, traversal, and avenues for exploration make it worth checking out
At first, Timespinner feels like a splendid new contender in the Metroidvania genre. It has some trong visuals and music, combat feels good, it offers maps we definitely want to explore and its story and characters are great. But this game feels a bit too easy, should have pushed the time manipulation idea and lacks epicness in its boss fights, among other things.
Review in French | Read full review
The shortcomings of Timespinner revolve heavily around the fact that the game is so short. It creates beautiful environments and combat systems, but by the time we've gotten into a solid groove the game is already over.
Even if the power of time is not so well used, Timespinner stands out for its story and the amount of things that it's possible to do. Bringing all the best that the Metroidvania style has to offer, it becomes one of those games you'll love playing twice: first to enjoy it, and then once again to earn the trophies.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
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An homage to Metroidvania’s and an excellent example of the genre. While it’s been four years since it’s kickstarter, the final product lived up to the promises and is well worth checking out.
The pixel-art is faultless and the gameplay is pleasingly reminiscent of the classics, but Timespinner doesn't offer much that feels new.
In the end, Lunar Ray Games didn't reinvent the genre with Timespinner, but they've done a truly enjoyable game that's likable from start to finish. If you're a fan of retro metroidvania, you'll enjoy it even more for its incredible art style and soundtrack. If it wasn't for the amazing Guacamelee! 2 that came out not too long ago, this would've been the best Metroidvania I've played this year!
Timespinner wears its influences on its sleeve, but it wears them proudly and manages to pay tribute to the 2D RPG Castlevania games and other great metroidvanias. It crafts a unique and often engrossing new world, and by the end, I felt like I had really relived the classics, and not in a bad way.
Displaying a mish-mash of influences, Timespinner's action and controls make up for its occasionally bland time travel story and game features, both of which could have done with a bit more polish.
Though I only spent 7 hours with Timespinner, there are features to keep players coming back for more. One is that there are 4 different endings in the game. Towards the climax you can make a choice, and depending on it, you will unlock different paths towards the final battle. The catch is that doing so locks you out of the other choices in the same save file, which provides good incentive to try out the New Game+. Another reason to keep playing is that there’s a super dungeon called the Temporal Gyre. It’s totally optional to tackle, but after beating the game once, I am very tempted to play again. If you truly want to challenge yourself, there’s also the unlockable Nightmare Mode, which is sure to make those less difficult boss fights much more of a struggle. This is one of those Metroidvanias that does many things right, and it inspired me enough that I’ll keep on playing til I get 100%. I really want to get all those achievements as well, since after beating it I only had about half of them. Overall, I was quite pleased with Timespinner. It’s hard to go wrong for $19.99, especially if you’re a fan of the genre. It wasn’t perfect, but it satisfied this longtime Metroidvania fan. I find myself eagerly looking forward to what else Lunar Ray Games has up their sleeves with future projects.
Timespinner is a fantastic example of an excellent Metroidvania that mixes great character upgrades, a fun and diverse overworld, and a beautiful 16-bit look. The story not only combines the personal tragedy of a chosen one but adds grey to what's normally a black and white debate.
Timespinner has a great art style and the music is excellent, but a five-hour crawl through relatively bland maps isn't enough in a year with incredible games such as Guacamelee 2, Dead Cells, and Celeste. I spent another hour with Timespinner after finishing the story but didn't quite get 100% and felt no desire to finish it off. Timespinner is decent, but when compared to other titles that came out this year it comes up lacking. It needed more abilities and more interesting ways to use them in puzzles. Doubling the length would have also helped because it felt over way too soon.