It was Einstein who said that the definition of insanity was “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”, and yet there is an entire gaming genre that forces players to pretty much do just that: Roguelikes. Now, with the release of Out of Time, you can drag your friends along into insanity with you. 

Out of Time is a multiplayer, roguelike, dungeon-crawling, auto-battling, loot extravaganza with added time travel, exploration, and resource management. It’s a weird combination of so many different genres that it sounds like it shouldn’t work, but even for someone like me who tends to stay away from at least half of the things listed above, Out of Time somehow just… Works. 

Time hopping and aesthetic mixing

One of the most stand-out features of Out of Time is the varying worlds through which you get to explore, each set at a different time, either pre- or post-Shattering. The past, present, and future are all accessible, allowing you to explore different regions and unlock new areas to explore and harvest for materials, all while gaining the satisfaction of taking out swathes of enemies. 

Completing one Tangle in each era will unlock a new Tangle to explore, each with its own specific drops to farm for. Gear isn’t locked to specific classes in Out of Time, and you’re free to mix and match items regardless of what they’re designed to do. For instance, my current build is a complete mix and match combination of all three different specialities. It’s a mess, truly, but it works for me at the moment. 

Because of this ability to combine any items you want, every single player that you see in Infinitopia is entirely different from the last. 

Resources, gold, and rewards

While you’re running around the Tangles and steamrolling through the mobs of enemies, you’ll also need to keep an eye out for resource nodes, which you’ll automatically attack once you get close enough to them. The resources you gain can then be spent on upgrading your gear, which boosts your stats and makes each run of the Tangles easier to complete. 

Gold is also a valuable resource, used both in upgrading and within the Mastery system. Masteries are dedicated upgrades for stats and loot drops. Each Mastery starts out at 2,000 Coins, doubling in cost with each one you purchase, so it’s an expensive but worthwhile endeavor to try and max them all out. By the time you’ve done that, you’ll be an absolute tank and be able to take on each Tangle at the hardest level. 

On top of all that, there are some really worthwhile rewards available to unlock in return for completing certain objectives. Various bizarre mounts are available to unlock through completing specific Tangles at a certain level, with mounts being used in the main hub of Infinitopia and in Tangles as long as you’re not in combat.  

Designed for multiplayer, fun solo

At a base level, Out of Time is designed to be played multiplayer, either with friends or people you meet up with in Infinitopia, the main lobby. The perks you unlock as you progress through Tangles are geared towards helping the party rather than yourself at least half of the time, and many of the challenges within the Tangles are harder with less people. 

However, as a perpetually solo gamer, I decided to take this multiplayer game and make it a solo experience, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had along the way. I did, of course, see other players wandering around the main hub between runs, but I ran into those Tangles headfirst and without backup. 

And it really was fun. Admittedly, Out of Time suffers from the same early-stage brutality that all roguelikes suffer from. Going into the first Tangle felt like masochism, willingly allowing myself to get battered just to gain the money and resources that I needed to upgrade and purchase the next level of each mastery, but it never became frustrating. Every run was fun, and I kept going back for more.

I quickly learned that basic solo dungeon running etiquette applies in Out of Time as it does in other meant-to-be-multiplayer games (FFXIV springs to mind): You’ll want to gear up with as much healing as you can while still balancing your damage output and armor stats, because there’s nobody around to heal you, so you need to do it yourself. 

If this is insanity, I don’t mind

As with any roguelike, there’s an awful lot of mindless repetition in Out of Time. You’re unlikely to defeat the boss of any Tangle on your first run through it, and you might even end up going to a Tangle multiple times before you’re strong enough or get lucky enough to overpower that final overpowered enemy. 

However, with so much to do in between Tangles and the added aspect of resource farming while you’re inside, it never feels like this repetition gets boring, and that’s from someone playing entirely solo in a game that’s not designed to be played that way. I can imagine that having your friends along for the ride only makes things more interesting and chaotic. 

So if doing the same thing repeatedly means I’m insane, then I’ll happily admit that I might be a little bit mad for Out of Time. 

Out of Time is out now and available for purchase exclusively through Epic Games Store, however Manticore Games have hinted that it will likely come to PC through other platforms and even console at some point in the future.