History VideoGame / Timespinner

* DropTheHammer: Like the Colossal Blade above, the Colossal Hammer spell is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.

* DeadlyDodging: Some enemies can be damaged by each other's projectiles. A careful player can trick enemy formations into decimating themselves with their own grenades or arrows.

** Just before the Ravenlord and Ifrit {{Bonus Boss}}es, there will always be a chest containing a Warp Shard to let the player escape the dungeon if they find themselves unable to beat the boss.

* HealingCheckpoint: Every save point, marked on the map with a red room, fully restores HP, MP, and sand. In Nightmare Mode, as a number of these save points are broken.

* HealingCheckpoint: Every save point, marked on the map with a red room, fully restores HP as the game saves. It also restores aura and sand. This gets somewhat subverted in Nightmare Mode, as a number of the save points are broken.

* ShapeshifterGuiltTrip: [[spoiler:Genza attempts this on Lunais by fighting her in the shape of her mother Selen. Lunais is thrown off for a moment, but quickly pulls herself together for the ensuing fight.]]

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: While Lunais can travel one thousand years into the future and past, she can't get back to Winderia since the Timespinner was destroyed by Emperor Nuvius. [[spoiler:She's able to return there briefly in the normal endings, but can't stay - in order to make things better, she either needs to return to the past or return to Lachiem to rule the Empire.]]

* CastFullOfGay: Most of the primary characters are some variety of LGBT, including Lunais herself who is bisexual.

* EscortMission: The final mission for the wounded soldier requires Lunais to guide him to the waterfall. Fortunately, the enemies are relatively weak by the time the mission unlocks, and Lunais can just run forward to wipe the enemies out before the soldier gets there.

* HarderThanHard: The Nightmare mode makes enemies much more powerful, but Nightmare Lv.1 also locks your level to Lv.1 for the entirety of your playthrough.

* ImmuneToFate: Enforced by the time travel. Any Time Messenger who uses the Timespinner gets [[RetGone erased from history]]. This means they're allowed to do things that radically alter time, fate and prophecy as a result. [[HeroicSacrifice Unfortunately, it also means their original timeline is also erased, leaving them stranded in a time where they were never born and their friends and family aren't familiar with them.]]

The premise has a girl named Lunais who has just been made a Time Messenger just when the interstellar empire of Lachiem invades her home and kills her family. Determined to take them down, Lunais travels between the past and the present to destroy [[TheEmpire Lachiem]] and avenge her family. ''Timespinner'' draws inspiration from platforming action-adventure games from the 1990's as well as various Metroidvania titles, particularly from the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS era of ''Castlevania'' titles such as ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'', while featuring a visual presentation of highly-detailed sprites similar to that of the UsefulNotes/{{Super Nintendo|EntertainmentSystem}} with high-quality music of the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation}}. Throughout Lunais' journey, she obtain various orbs that can grant her weapons and magical attacks she can perform, pick up unique relics that can enhance her exploration abilities, and encounter many allies as well as enemies along the way as she travels between time to set things right.

* CreepyCrows: The Ravenlord BonusBoss is a giant group of ravens bunched together.

The game's website can be found [[https://timespinnergame.com/ here]]. A [[https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/368620/view/2971801285817024587 sequel, Timespinner 2: Unwoven Dream]], is currently under development.

The game's website can be found [[https://timespinnergame.com/ here]]. A [[https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/368620/view/2971801285817024587 sequel]] is currently under development.

* PreAssKickingOneLiner: Lunais says "This is [something]-icide" right before any of the final boss battles. [[spoiler:She says "this is patricide" when fighting Emperor Nuvius in the present, "this is regicide" when fighting the prince or the king in the past, and "this is deicide" right before fighting the Sandman.]]

* PaletteSwap / HeadSwap: Some of later enemies are just earlier ones, recolored and more powerful; justified because they are implied to be mutated versions. A boss fought late in the game as part of a quest is a recoloured version of an earlier boss, even if it's a man while the latter is a woman. On the path to the true ending you can choose to fight one of two bosses, and they are both sprite edits of the normal ending boss: [[spoiler:justified with the younger Nuvius, but Vol Terrilis is just Nuvius with a different head and mostly red armor.]]

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The game goes as far as to have [[spoiler:Vol Terrilis]] quote a slightly modified version of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Words Fourteen Words]] (a real-world neo-Nazi / white-supremacist slogan) in one of his edicts.

* {{Speedrun}}: {{Invoked}}. The v1.026 update added two unique speedrunning modes for the game via the password system.

The game originally started out life as a student project by former Bungie member Bodie Lee, which ranked highest among his class at Western Washington University, where he then decided to develop ''Timespinner'' into a full-fledged game. Bodie continued to work on the game's development over the course of 5 years during his free time while working in the video game industry until December 2013 where he decided to work on the game's development full time. The following year, Bodie turned to Website/{{Kickstarter}} to fund the game's development and launched a campaign on June 25, 2014. Within a week after the campaign's launch, it was funded and by the campaign's end it eventually raised over ''$176,667'' out of its original $50,000 funding goal, allowing for the development of a [=PlayStation=] 4, Vita, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch[[labelnote:*]](a [=3DS=] port was planned, but was ultimately canceled due to porting difficulties)[[/labelnote]] version along with various in-game extras. From there, Bodie established his own company at Lunar Ray Games.

''Timespinner'' is a {{Metroidvania}} game developed by Lunar Ray Games and published by Chucklefish released on Steam, GOG, [=PlayStation=] 4, and [=PlayStation=] Vita on September 25, 2018.

* VideoGameDashing: The Talaria Attachment, a late-game relic, gives Lunais the ability to dash through a telekinetic harness. Unlike in soem other games, the dash continues infinitely for as long as Lunais is in a solid surface. She also keeps it for NewGamePlus.

* EldritchAbomination: The last form of [[spoiler:Sandman, which takes form of a towering skeletal monstrosity as an incarnation fears from all living things]].

* SpiritualSuccessor: Its gameplay and aesthetics are unabashedly similar to those of the ''Castlevania'' games for the Nintendo DS -- especially ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia''.

* LonelyAtTheTop: Two different endings become this. [[spoiler: If she becomes the Empress, she must leave her timeline and friends in the Past behind. If she becomes the Eternal Mother, she leaves ''all existence'' behind, only able to watch and protect the universe from a distance.]]

* OfficialCouple: Seykis and Eschem will get together if their questlines are progressed. Potentially as well for Lunais and Neliste, [[spoiler: if Lunais stays in the past and has completed all of Neliste's quests]].

* PaletteSwap / HeadSwap: Some of later enemies are just earlier ones, recolored and more powerful; justified because they are implied to be mutated versions. A boss fought late in the game as part of a quest is a recolored version of an earlier boss, even if it's a man while the latter is a woman. On the path to the true eding you can choose to fight one of two bosses, and they are both sprite edits of the normal ending boss: [[spoiler:justified with the younger Nuvius, but Vol Terrilis is just Nuvius with a different head and mostly red armor.]]

** The true ending also counts. [[spoiler:After killing the prince or the king in the past, then destroying the Sandman and [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence becoming the god of time]], Lunais repairs the timeline and gives everyone a happy ending, but is unable to experience any of it herself, and knows that her mortal existence has to be erased from history.]]

The game's website can be found [[https://timespinnergame.com/ here]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Early on, Lunais is noted as being short tempered and quick to violence, [[spoiler: both of which are symptoms of the Bleakness and teases about her heritage well before the game starts dropping clues that Nuvius is her father.]]

* NoDamageRun: The “Battle Savant” achievement requires you to defeat any boss without taking damage and without stopping time. Each boss achievement is marked if you do this to them.

* PaletteSwap / HeadSwap: some later enemies are just earlier ones, recolored and more powerful; justified because they are implied to be mutated versions. A boss fought late in the game as part of a quest is a recolored version of an earlier boss, even if it's a man while the latter is a woman. On the path to the true eding you can choose to fight one of two bosses, and they are both sprite edits of the normal ending boss: [[spoiler:justified with the younger Nuvius, but Vol Terrilis is just Nuvius with a different head and mostly red armor.]]

* RegeneratingHealth: The Sun Ring restores a few points of Lunais' HP every few seconds. The amount restored depends on how high her maximum health is.

* GuideDangIt: There's a red door in the past's castle, with nothing in the game telling you how to open this door. [[spoiler:You have to be using two Plasma Orbs to open it, since it's the room of the princess who attacked Lunais earlier.]]

* ArmorPiercingAttack: The Gun Orb and Raidant Orb both ignore the shields carried by some enemies.
* ArmyOfThievesAndWhores: The ancient Lachiemi were this, the dregs of Viletian society cast off to another planet until they built up an army able to fight against their former jailers.
* AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: One of the true endings [[spoiler: if you get all the tuning gears for the Timespinner. After altering the past too much, reality breaks and Lunais is forced to fight the GreaterScopeVillain of the game. Doing so leaves an opening for a new deity of time, one which Lunais happens to be qualified to take. As the Eternal Mother, she repairs the damage done to her universe and ensures all her friends and family live a happy life [[HeroicSacrifice at the cost of her mortal existence being erased from history]].]]
* {{BFS}}: The aptly-named Colossal Blade spell summons an enormous sword that deals a large amount of damage.

** The true ending also counts. [[spoiler:After killing the prince or the king in the past, then destroying the Sandman and [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence becoming the god of time]], Lunais repairs the timeline and gives everyone a happy ending, but is unable to experience any of it herself, and knows that her mortal existence has to be erased from history as is the usual cost of using the Timespinner.]]
* BloodMagic: The Blood Orb "exsangunates enemies with orbs of cursed blood."

* DealWithTheDevil: In the past, Queen Aelana allied with demonic entities in order to gain the strength to fight back against Vilete. While this put an end to Vilete's tyranny, it gave rise to the expansionist Lachiem Empire in its place.

** A millennia later, Lachiem is an highly advanced society but the planet's environment has been completely destroyed; bizarre mechanical creatures modeled after extinct animals roam the desolate lands, and the only lifeforms that survive are underground and mutated. It's clear the population survives only thanks to resources imported from colonies. It's so bad, people know the planet with the nickname "Devastation". [[spoiler: After Lunais destroys the Maw of Asmodeus and the portal that connected Lachiem with Vilete, it gets even ''worse'', with the outdoor areas now having no oxygen at all, requiring an air tank to be found before they can be explored again]].

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: The reason why the Time Messengers exist is to travel back in time when a disaster occurs and warn the clan about it.
* ShapeshifterGuiltTrip: [[spoiler:Genza attempts this on Lunais by fighting her in the shape of her mother. Lunais is thrown off for a moment, but quickly pulls herself together for the ensuing fight.]]

* TimeStandsStill: After finding the Timespinner's wheel, Lunais can temporarily stop time and use her enemies, and some of their projectiles, as platforms as long as she has enough sand. Some enemies and obstacles are immune to this, though. [[spoiler:At least one enemy can only attack or be attacked while time is frozen.]]
* VideoGameDashing: The Talaria Attachment, a late-game relic, gives Lunais the ability to dash through a telekinetic harness.

* DevelopersForesight: Should a player start the path to the true ending but then go back and get the normal ending instead, Lunais will change her dialogue to reflect a late-game plot twist. [[spoiler:She remarks that she's aware that the past and present are just dreams of Neref's creation now, but doesn't care because it's better than facing the Sandman.]]

* GodWasMyCoPilot: [[spoiler:Neref the dragon familiar is revealed to have been a dream being, intending to guide Lunais to kill the Sandman.]]

* HulkSpeak: The dragon familiar talks this way at first, but only because he's learning how to talk. He eventually gets much more eloquent.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The first familiar you get in the game is a baby dragon that makes cat sounds.