Time loop games that are actually good?

[DerKryptid]

One of the worst and most misunderstood tropes in fiction is the idea of the time paradox. Most pieces of media butcher this idea to high hell, although some are able to put on much better than others.

Discuss games where time loops add to the game instead of subtracting from it

 

[FrogMinutes]

Majora's mask is definitely a easy answer to getting the time loop to add an uneasy atmosphere. Being constantly on the clock and knowing that all the work you've done to help someone will be undone by your own hands in order to give yourself more time really adds to the already hopeless atmosphere.

Plus it's pretty cool that doing everything in one go is possible.

 

[Kabuki Actor]

E.Y.E isn't about time travel at all, however, Chronotron is nothing else.

 

[DerKryptid]

E.Y.E isn't about time travel at all, however, Chronotron is nothing else.

It absolutely is a time loop

Also your link broke

 

[Medulseur]

Outer Wilds is a good example. Sexy Brutale is another (and a pretty underrated game in my opinion). Final Fantasy XIII - Lightning Returns is also in a time loop (It's the best of the three FFXIII games imo). Shadow of Memories is a janky old PS2 game but it has an interesting time loop related story. Those are the main ones I know offhand that I have actually played.

Edit: Shit how did I forget Majora's Mask?

 

[Kyria the Great]

Well how about one of the most famous examples in Majora's Mask? You are perceptually stuck in a three day time loop until the evil within the mask can be destroyed and the land saved by Link.

 

[Captain Chromosome]

Oracle of Ages/Seasons

 

[BlueSpark]

Mario Bros

 

[Articles and Nudes]

Mario Bros

View attachment 2629393

This was literally the concept for Prey 2's ending.

 

[themotherflippin480]

Timesplitters

 

[Epic Fail Man]

Chrono Trigger, Tales of Phantasia, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Sonic CD

 

[Marissa Moira]

Every game where it's possible to create a save state and reload.

Morrowind was supposed to teach you this.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Bravely Default?



(sort of)

 

[CreamyHerman’s]

Singularity is pretty good, you travel back in forth in time fighting commies and using pretty cool weapons. I would consider it a time loop as you are trying to escape from alternate history and back and failing to correct the timeline

 

[totallyrandomusername]

I think it's because most people, with game developers included in that group, have an exceptionally poor understanding of the actual nitty-gritty of temporal mechanics. You'd think if you want to make a game on a subject, you'd make damn sure you understood it, but apparently not. If a big game developer is working on a game that involves a complex topic in physics, they'd be smart just to contract with a physicist to tell them where they fuck up as they go. I'm sure most hardcore physical scientists would enjoy a contract consulting for a game. It would be a nice break.

Bravely Default?



(sort of)

"Sort of" is a good classification for BD. It's technically two concepts at once, temporal mechanics and multiverse/transdimensional physics. Their journey is less of a loop, and more of a transdimensional spatio-temporal coil. With transdimensional space along the Z-axis, and time along the x and y axis.

Squenix's take on it was very solid, from a physics perspective. It would be difficult to top their take on the matter as far as respecting the physics of the situation.

Chrono Trigger, Tales of Phantasia

While these involve temporal mechanics, calling them a "loop" would be difficult.

Chrono trigger is more of a closed series of temporally kinetic wormholes with relative fixed temporal distances that follow Fermi's theory of temporal continuity/correction.

Tales of Phantasia is very similar to the temporal theories that are at work in Chrono Trigger, but even more linear.

For anyone interested in a 'spergtastic post on temporal theory that also touches on transdimensional/multiverse theory, you can check out my previous post: here that discussed them in the context of mastrubation and fucking one-self in the ass (yes, those were the topics of discussion for that thread)

 

[Goyslop Muncher]

Life is Strange, of course :^)

 

[totallyrandomusername]

The problem with time-travel, time loops, etc... in temporal mechanics, is that it requires multidimensional time. As far as anyone is aware, time is a universal constant, and only flows in one direction, as a vectoral force. This would be our typical experience/understanding of linear time. Thinking of time as a two dimensional force is difficult. Humans can easily understand a single temporal dimension, but the problem becomes, what is the value of the second dimension? Or, even thinking of linear time represented in a 2-dimensional space, would require all time-loops to be self-erasing, thus, never existing. I don't think it's possible to have a non-erasing temporal loop. If one thought of time as 3 dimensional, allowing for a "overlapping" point in time, expressing the linear experience of time as a 1-dimensonal vector, the point of overlap would create a parallel point in time, rather than intersecting with the original temporal point where the "loop" started.

All of the above is void if the transition between temporal points occurred extra-temporally. If that was to occur, one could still respect a 1-dimensional vectoral force since it would be like disappearing at one point along a line and appearing at another point along the same line. Of course, one couldn't call a temporal "loop" an actual loop since it involves moving through a non-temporal space, not involving a continuity of the temporal space. It would be the equivalent of a 2 dimensional being moving through the 3rd dimension to another point in two dimensional space. One wouldn't need to violate the integrity of the 2 dimensional continuity, since the movement was not within that space.

Temporal "loops", utilizing non-temporal space for the transition between temporal points, would work with the temporal multiverse theory of self-consistent time correction. It also works for the "loop" being self-erasing, since a "loop" can't exist as it involves a non-temporal transition. It also can't be a "loop" in the true sense since each transition to a previous point in time would necessarily be independent of any others. Since humans perceive time as strictly linear, it would seem like a loop, but it couldn't be, since the transitions aren't predicated upon one another.

 

[Poison Apple]

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective uses time loops excellently, helping you prevent deaths and learn more about the main character's life before death. It's one of the better games on the DS but you can play it on iOS too.

 

[Kabuki Actor]

It absolutely is a time loop

The game loops for being someone's spiritual nightmare, recalling their immutable past mistakes. There is no time travel in the plot or mechanics.

Also your link broke

Dumb phoneposter.

 

[Dojima's Dragon]

Prince of persia the sands of time trilogy is unironically kino would recommend