Ahead of the Game – Timelie is all about twisty time travel and futuristic robot-dodging, but with a cat

• Turn back time using your cool time-travel powers
• Rebuild crumbling pathways like a boss
• Protect your fluffy feline friend at all costs

Hello and welcome to Ahead of the Game, a series where we tell you all about an upcoming game that, despite not being out yet, is available for you to play at the time of publishing. Through this series, you can grab a chance to play games well ahead of their release date, be that through Soft Launch, Open Beta, Demos, or more.

There’s no shortage of time travel adventures on mobile or otherwise, and as you can probably tell from its title alone, Timelie is no different. You’ll play as a little girl with no memory of where you are or how you got there – only that you need to get from Point A to Point B, seemingly on a quest to escape the lab-like labyrinth you’re in.

Oh, and did I mention there are evil robots out to get you for some reason? Yes, expect the typical cone-shaped vision that you’ll have to dodge as you sneak past the evil bots to get to where you need to go. The twist is that you somehow can manipulate time and travel back to a certain point if you make a mistake, and since there’s a fluffy little feline friend guiding you along the way too, your confusing predicament doesn’t seem so bad.

The story is told through wordless interactions, with a subtle score that can highlight the tension and set a melancholy tone at the same time.

I imagine it’s not the most relaxing puzzler to dive into when you’re easily pressured, especially since despite the ability to turn back time, you still need to possess quick reflexes if you don’t want yourself or your cute cat companion to get caught. 

You can also repair crumbling pathways caused by giant chess pieces falling from the sky, by the way, so that’s one more thing to add to your arsenal to keep your self-doubt at bay.

So, how do you play Timelie?

It’s been out for a while on Steam, but it’s only currently in Early Access on Google Play, with no word on an official iOS release date just yet. You can give the prologue a go before unlocking the full game with a one-time purchase at the moment to see if it’s your cup of tea. 

One thing I will say from what I’ve played is that, because you need to watch your actions play out as your time manipulations are executed, I feel like that presentation will get old really fast, and it might just get tedious in the long run. Still, whether Timelie is a play on the word “timely” or is simply a way to say that time is a lie, it’s a curious little thing that’s worth a look if you’re on Android!