Manticore Games recently gave us an early look at Out of Time, a new multiplayer roguelike that lets players fight their way through different eras of history, from medieval times to futuristic cyberpunk utopias.
The game is heading to PC this autumn and will initially be an Epic Games Store exclusive. Here’s everything that we learned about the game after seeing it live in action and following a Q&A session with the devs.
What is Out of Time?
As mentioned, Out of Time is a multiplayer roguelike where past, present, and future eras collide. With the world left in a tangled mess, it’s up to players to venture out alone, or team up in co-op missions to reclaim reality. Players are given just 15-minutes to eliminate enemies and clear at least 75% of the pink fog that covers each map.
When it comes to the action, your basic attacks are auto-generated, similar to games in the survivors-like genre. Your special abilities you’ll need to time and trigger yourself, and each of these has its own quirky mechanics. The mini-gun, for example, can’t be used whilst moving, which transforms it into more of a tower defense game.
A unique aspect of the gameplay is its tethering system. Whilst players remain tethered together, they share each other’s core stats and abilities. The downside to this is that they move more slowly as a group and have a ticking time limit to clear their way through the aforementioned fog. The devs also teased that this tether will be used in other fun ways during combat, but we will have to wait and see what that means exactly.
Another neat touch I noticed is that players level up together, and when they level up, all players can see each other’s upgrade cards. With the game’s built-in voice chat, they can then easily discuss what upgrades they want to select to best synergise abilities as a group.
Out of Time doesn’t feature a traditional class system. Instead, players can change up their characters’ abilities on the fly by equipping different loot. There are supposedly a whopping 190 million gear combinations to choose between, and these also span a variety of eras. As mentioned by the devs, players are free to go wild and play with combinations such as stacking a rocket launcher on top of healing powers and tank armour.
There’s no place like Infinitopia
Outside of runs, players will gather at Infinitopia, a hub world where they can equip gear, meet up with friends and strangers, and apply permanent meta upgrades to their character. The developers were largely inspired by WoW and wanted to create a place for players to socialise and meet together outside of its multiplayer raids.
At this last bastion of civilisation, players can also start runs across the game’s many eras and time periods. Some of the eras teased in the hands-off demo were a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a futuristic cyberpunk utopia, and a Three Kingdoms China-inspired era.
Out of Time on Steam?
During the Q&A session, Manticore Games teased plans for the game post-launch. They noted that different eras will be hitting Out of Time in the future in the form of new seasons. Other modes such as PvP will also be coming to the game in due course, helping to keep its player base engaged.
They also noted that whilst it’s currently an Epic Games Store exclusive, it will be coming to other PC platforms and even consoles later down the road. So, if you’re waiting for a Steam release, it certainly sounds like one might be coming, they just can talk about specifics right now.
Out of Time is now available for pre-purchase on the Epic Games Store, and this includes the Temporal Disaster Pack. Exclusive content contained in the pack includes three time-twisted mounts, three hero emotes, and four avatars from alternate timelines.
Check out the game’s announcement trailer below:
