Treasures of the Aegean

The game lost me. I wasn't interested in the story and the loops didn't have any gameplay effect other than removing your puzzles progress, and showing the story and characters. The other aspects of the game were good, but nothing that makes me stay after getting bored of it.

Outer Wilds + Fate of Atlantis + Tomb Raider + Prince of Persia short and sweet

This is a really neat little game. I wouldn't call it a metroidvania; it's really more a platformer puzzler with a time loop mechanic. You run through a massive, open environment within a time limit, solving small puzzles and navigation challenges. Any items you collect either permanently add to your time limit, or add to some of the game's lore. You're working towards solving some of the game's biggest puzzles, and the final challenge is to unlock them all in the same run. Graphics-wise the game is modest, but the environment design is pleasant. The character portraits are clearly hand-drawn and nice, though they aren't very consistent. Your main character, Marie, can look like a different person from panel to panel. The only other criticism I have is the game's English translation has some occasional issues. Nothing that would stop you from playing through it though. Overall just a really neat idea for a game that is well-executed and doesn't last longer than it feels like it should. I beat it in about 6 hours with only a few optional collectibles missed.

Treasures of the Aegean is a stylish and thoughtfully designed 2D action-adventure that combines fluid parkour movement, open-ended exploration, and a narrative built around mystery and repetition. Developed and published by Undercoders, the game places players on a remote volcanic island inspired by ancient Greek and Minoan history, where time itself is unstable. You take control of Marie Taylor, an agile explorer skilled in free-running, alongside her partner James Andrew, whose role as a researcher and narrator helps frame the unfolding mystery. Together, they seek to uncover the truth behind a lost civilization and the strange temporal anomaly trapping the island in an endless cycle. The game’s structure revolves around a time loop that resets the island after a limited period, encouraging players to treat each run as a scouting expedition rather than a complete journey. At first, this constraint can feel restrictive, but it quickly becomes clear that repetition is part of the design rather than a punishment. Each loop allows you to explore further, uncover new relics, and piece together fragments of the island’s past. Discovering treasures permanently extends future runs, cre…

A time loop game in a 2D exploration platformer shell. The movement feels good, allowing you to build momentum when you find the right line, and you're rewarded for navigating the environment swiftly by being able to get more out of each loop. I liked bringing everything together in the end. A pleasant surprise.

I'm glad the developers recently launched a game that landed successfull (the train Tony Hawk game). This game was introduced to me as a 2d Outer Wilds alternative. In essence it's a platformer with no other game mechanics but to dive deep into a map that's just an empty hole. The controls feel weightless and unfun, and animations don't look good. The loop mechanic is just there because? I don't know, I loved Outer Wilds and I can't quite articulate why this game doesn't work for me, but it just doesn't.