As the Back to the Future films tell us, time travel has rules. You’re not supposed to let your past self see you, nor should you change the past. Fortunately for Blades of Time protagonist Ayumi, those rules don’t seem to apply in her universe. On her path through this hack ’n’ slash adventure, she’ll be breaking those rules on a regular basis. 

First off, being visible to your past self is key to taking down the hordes of enemies that face off against Ayumi. Her main ability, Time Rewind, stops time and turns it back, leaving a clone of her to complete all the attacks that happened during the rewound time. While the clone is doing its thing, Ayumi can go ahead and handle whatever else needs to be done. Even without any teammates, Ayumi can take on more enemies than any single fighter should be able to. 

Perhaps the most interesting use of the power was using Ayumi’s gun to temporarily take down an opponent’s shield, rewinding, and smacking him in the face during the brief period that he’s vulnerable. Some of the strategies for taking down enemies are downright puzzle-y, which makes for an intriguing take on the action genre. 

But what if you want to go forward in time – maybe to anticipate an enemy’s future moves? Well, Ayumi can’t do that. Sorry to get your hopes up. But she can do an impressive dash that flings her across the battlefield towards her desired target. And for the times when she needs to cross super-hot sand before dying, it’s kind of like going forward in time to where she’s already across. Right? Right.

Time travel is cool and all, but it certainly doesn’t work in multiplayer. So, Blades of Time just gets rid of it and tries something else. Like an action adaptation of the popular Warcraft III mod DOTA, players are tasked with breaking their opponent’s towers, which are defended by enemy AI as well as the opposing players. It’s got three characters to choose from, each with their own fighting style, as well as a slew of abilities and items to customize them during the battle. 

At its core, Blades of Time is a straight up action title, but with its several significant tweaks of the formula, it’ll have you thinking fourth-dimensionally.

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PUBLISHER: Konami  •  DEVELOPER: Gaijin Entertainment  •  MULTIPLAYER: Yes (specifics TBD)  • RELEASE DATE: TBD 2012  •  FOR FANS OF: Swords, time, paradoxes