Wednesday, September 9, 2020

TimeLock VR

I was just browsing games on Steam and came across TimeLock VR. After reading the description it seemed that it could be a promising game. After reading the reviews below I learned that the game may not be good at all but I was still willing to give it a try. It couldn't be that bad, right?

I launched the game and stared at gray/black grid for a while until I realized that I have to actually select some settings on the monitor. I set it to Beautiful graphics settings because that's the FIRST time ever I saw that as any kind of setting.

After that I showed up in darkness staring at several bright flags that didn't really light the scene. I looked at the English flag and tried to point at it. Nothing really happened so I stepped forward and tried to reach it. And yes, being small is even less cool than in real world. After standing on my toes and reaching with the controller as far as I could I choose English even though I was rather to play the game in German.

English was set and I wondered what would happen next. I heard a rather unpleasant sound which was probably trying to tell me that I should look down at my controllers and press a certain button. I pressed it and a screen showed up. It was all red which I wasn't a fan of. It's rather aggressive color and maybe good for getting someone's attention but certainly not good for reading any kind of text. White letters on a bright red background, still in total darkness showed: 'Time travel succeeded. Check laser module'.

I looked around and the only thing standing out was this cube screaming 'Unity'.

I pointed at it and pressed trigger and something happened. Well, anyway I went through the time tutorial already knowing that I wouldn't need it in the game and then I wondered how does one actually move. I accidentally switched from controllers to bow and an arrow and I had no idea how to get rid of it.

When I ran out of ideas I just tried to walk around but my play area is 1.6 m times 1.8 m and that was not enough for the room. So I decided to use google and see how the game can be actually played.

I learned that pressing and holding one button I can actually move around the Unity teleportation grid. I didn't know how limited the teleportation was but well it did its job. My hand was soon in pain from teleporting too much around. Compared to Half-Life or The Room VR this was really bad but at least I got to move around. There also does not seem to be the possibility to turn around with a controller so I had to turn in real life and that resulted in me bumping into everything around me. After hitting my shin because I kicked a chair's leg and a loud metal noise I made while my controller collided with a heater I moved on and went to a desk.

I moved around the computer and suddenly this screen showed up. I noticed that the texturing was not great on the objects around me, the red console was meh but this took it to another level. This is a message from the future on a present time laptop? I heard another annoying beep and I was told that I'm looking for this vase.

I started looking for a purple key then since there was similarly colored key icon. Since no puzzle was in sight I switched to 'ransack everything' mode. I made a pretty mess out of the room and eventually found the key. I opened the drawer to find an indenture I couldn't read but there was another beep and I learned about the importantant parts. I was supposed to time travel to steal a priceless artwork.

I traveled into the past. I was still in the same room and I saw icons of items I needed which were white key and red key (I'm not sure). There was also a box on the table with a 4 digit inputs. So it was time to find the code. Well, again I ransacked everything and eventually got the code, entered it and got the white key. And this pretty much describes the whole game.

You are an agent sent to the past to retrieve an object and you have the ability to time travel or rewind time. The time travel is actually a nice feature that allows you to find a solution to a problem you can't deal with in the time you currently are. If you need something to get open, you can find a way in the past and then return back to the present. You can also bring objects from the past to the present and vice-versa. Rewinding time is not needed anywhere in the game and I'm not sure if it would have actually added anything to the game in its current form. I tried to use that ability when I left an item in the past but had a prompt to teleport with it into the past and I couldn't (and had to start all over again).

The next feature is what actually gave the game its name - time lock. When you time travel at a specific time you will end up in a time lock. In order to get out of there you need to do something. In the first time lock you are told to bring some kind of a device which is nowhere in sight. I was running around like crazy until I realized that teleporting is not limited to where one can possibly physically get in a human form. In general physics doesn't work the way a human being would expect it to work. After that I managed to find the device and bring it back. While I was running around there I was attacked by some creatures looking like they just ran away from Minecraft (and Minecraft-y critters would probably look better). I was supposed to have a weapon ready so I was running around with a bow and the arrow. You can just wonder why, you are a super secret agent from the future have access only to a bow... Shooting felt natural though compared to the rest of controls.

You return to the house from the time lock and can continue in your mission. Eventually after finding more items and using them on the colored icons you'll be able to open a safe which holds the vase. The game ends with this message and that's about it.

The game allows the player to explore the house and play with the time. Unfortunately the controls are really bad (I practically was running around with two controllers in my left hand because my right hand just didn't have enough accuracy) and the graphics is not great either. This is something I'd expect to be better even in a game I'd rate badly. Creating something coherently looking even with not much detail is something I'd expect from game creators. Games are often works of art. The ever present Unity grid is not something that helps the matter. The sounds weren't helping with the feeling of being immersed. They felt artificial and incorrect for most part. Game play doesn't offer much. We have to complete basic tasks of finding one item and using it. Jumping through time is a nice touch and has actually a nice potential for puzzle games but in this game all you have to do is go to the past or present and find the item there and go back with it. Since time travel usually leads to bad things happening you will also end up in a time lock where in order to complete the time travel you need to do something - that something is yet again find this item and put it somewhere. Enemies attack in a time lock and you have to (not sure if you actually have to) take them down with bow and arrows. It doesn't make sense to me but I don't have anything against it either. It just feels totally out of place. And then after you retrieve the vase the game just ends and you don't even have the option to quit.

I'd give this game 2 out of 5. There's no way this game can be above average but it is playable. Maybe I should note that this game is totally not worth the money it sells for. So unless this costs less than 1 USD, stay away from it (my opinion).

Thanks for reading
S'Tsung (stsungjp on Twitter)

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