Chrono Gear: Warden of Time

“The controls feel really good, there's a lot of level variety, the dialogue is funny even though I don't get the in-jokes half the time, and the music is great.”

“The music is absolutely incredible; I need all of the tracks uploaded to YouTube ASAP.”

“The soundtrack is made up of 86 tracks, some of which are remixes of existing Hololive songs and some are fully original, all of which are fantastic.”

“From the very first minutes, the game feels good to control—movement is responsive, timing is consistent, and the mechanics are introduced in a way that makes you want to experiment rather than just 'get through' a level.”

“The platforming mechanics were very solid, jumping and running felt fluid and natural, and the actual attacks (while simple, with only a single attack button) still felt they had tactical depth to them both due to the game's at will speed-up and slow down mechanics, and how parrying projectiles is your primary HP recovery method; do you switch to slow-mo to guarantee the parry to recover HP, save it for when you get in close so the enemy can't touch you, or switch to high-speed mode and unleash attacks fast enough to parry an entire barrage?”

“The gameplay is absolutely fantastic, between really fluid and fun to control movement, mechanics being introduced and expanded upon incredible well as the game progresses, and the way it all ties in to the characters and story just made it a joy to play from start to finish.”

“The controls are smooth and snappy, the combat is satisfying and quick, the enemy and boss variety is amazing, the level and environment design is breathtaking, the artstyle is beautiful, and the music... ohhhh the music... there's 86 tracks in this game, most of which I would gladly be listening to outside the context of Hololive... not a single track feels out of place, and the production quality is out of this world.”

“Most of the game's graphics are beautiful pixel art, with tons of expressive sprites and fun, creative designs, interspaced with some old anime style cutscenes.”

“The graphics and pixel art are wonderful to look at; some of the backgrounds are real lookers, the amount of small details in not only the levels but also the character sprites and animations are great.”

“The writing clearly showed a love for the talents and a desire to share a heartwarming story about regret and self-acceptance.”

“Both parties have lost people dear to them and where the game could have explained a way for the titular chrono gear to bring these people back, they chose to respect the growth of the plot and its characters throughout the game and go for a somewhat sad, but more heartfelt ending.”

“While I expected the many endearing and whimsical interactions from our favourite hololive members, what I did not expect was an emotionally devastating but beautiful tale, hints of which are sprinkled throughout the story from the very moment you begin the game.”

“The dialogue is a perfect blend of goofy humor and self-aware VTuber references with enough serious moments to give the characters depth, and I thoroughly loved this cast—I'm only familiar with a few of the hololive talents outside of this game, and never felt out of my depth!”

“Something I want to praise especially is the writing: for those unaware, this game is based on the talents of hololive and their personalities have been captured brilliantly but of course fiction'd up to tell a fantasy story, and while there are lots of references that fans will get a kick out of, I think the writing is so witty, funny, and heartwarming that anyone can enjoy it.”

“The gameplay was fun and heart pumping, the music is kickass and filled with various nods to hololive songs, the writing got multiple laughs out of me in the funny moments and got me invested in the dramatic moments, the animation for both the cutscenes and the game is a spectacle to witness for yourself, and the game is filled with so many references, easter eggs and so much love for hololive.”

“There is quite a bit of replayability as well, for those who enjoy speedrunning stages for faster clear times, chasing higher scores, and hunting down all the collectables.”

“The gameplay is pretty tight, difficulty is adjustable, and there's definitely replay value with the collectibles and improving your times across each stage.”

“Something else I was shocked by was the length of the game. Fan games are often short, and considering how polished and high effort it is, I was expecting it to be something like 2-3 hours. I'm just over 8 hours in on normal difficulty, with another hour or two to go. There's a lot to see, and decent replay value in other difficulties and some Sonic-inspired alternate paths through parts of the levels. This ain't no fan game; it's a full indie release.”

“The music and visuals are also really good, offering great spectacles during boss fights and levels, and being very atmospheric.”

“Every level comes at you with something new, the soundtrack and atmosphere are indescribable and the story gets intense.”

“Performance is very smooth too, no bugs, no lag, just pure temporal bliss.”

“You're better off playing on desktop, preferably Linux desktop, as the performance there is excellent.”

“Framerate dips to single digits (9fps) during boss battles and FMVs.”

“I love Kronii's character development.”

“I completely stopped caring about who is doing what and why around the midway mark and just focused on enjoying the levels that I liked and enjoying the character designs.”