It’s time to blow stuff up yet again, and really, who doesn’t enjoy doing that? In this case, there’s a puzzle-ish twist in place though: time doesn’t move until you do, ever. While this does slow the pace down a bit, at the same time, it does make for an interesting experience. Oh and do watch out for bad guys, as they too enjoy setting off bombs, with no regard as to who gets caught in the explosion!
As the nameless protagonist of Time runner, there’s only one thing on your mind, and that is to escape. Escape by any means necessary. You do have to collect time fragments along the way though, and potentially blow up a ton of walls, to activate and then reach the portal. But exiting through one doesn’t end the game. Not in the slightest. It simply begins the next level, with more fragments to collect, and – sooner or later – there’ll also be bad guys to avoid. It isn’t easy being this fella, whoever he/she is.
Now, even though each level is randomly generated, meaning you’ll never know what lies ahead, there isn’t really much here in terms of genuine challenge. Whether that’s a bad thing is a matter of personal preference though, as I enjoyed the game for what it is, relaxing pace and all. I mean, it is a somewhat turn-based dot gobbler, in which you get to blow up walls to open up paths previously blocked; highly doubt many would get into such a game with expectations of getting their you-know-what kicked at every corner.
Dying is entirely possible, however, at which point you’ll simply lose one of three hearts and be sent back to where you entered the current level, with no progress lost. As far as I could tell, walls weren’t repaired either and enemy positions were not reset.
All in all, an interesting game for sure, if a tad on the casual side. But Time runner was after all made for Mini Ludum Dare 57, meaning it’s a freeware creation. As such, I’d say take it for a spin, mess with time and… blow stuff up! Explosions!
