Timespinner Reviews
With some great pixel art and a story that takes you through a variety of eras to change things up, Timespinner has its strengths...
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 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
"Any fans of Castlevania clock towers?"
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Overall, if you are a fan of Castlevania: SOTN, 2D Metroid games, or just like Metroidvanias in general, Timespinner is one you shouldn't miss.
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.
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.
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.