Chrono Trigger Time Travel Games

Though many games feature time travel in some form, true time travel games—games that use time travel not just as a plot device, but as a mechanic—aren't as common as you might think. Despite being a popular trope in books, comics, and movies, time travel tends to take a backseat to other game mechanics, as it can be hard to execute thanks to a variety of rules and restrictions in portraying it realistically.

But when time travel games do it right, they really do it right. Here are four of our favorite time travel games, in no particular order.

Day of the Tentacle Time Travel Games

Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle Features Tricky Time Travel Puzzles

Day of the Tentacle, the sequel to LucasArts' Maniac Mansion, features Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman's iconic senses of humor. It's no surprise that it's an off-the-wall adventure, as well as a clever use for time travel in a game—players switch between three characters who have been separated in time, using their different temporal locations to solve puzzles and defeat the maniacal Purple Tentacle.

Day of the Tentacle wouldn't work without time travel—its puzzles are based around tricky time thinking, such as aging an item, traveling into different futures and retrieving objects for disguises, or changing the past to alter the present. That reliance on time travel to not only tell the story but actually create it is what makes Day of the Tentacle one of the greatest time travel games, as it shows how clever time travel puzzles can be.

Majora's Mask Time Travel Games

Stop A Disaster Just in Time in Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 

Though it's certainly not the only Legend of Zelda game to use time travel, Majora's Mask uses it a little differently than some of the others in the series. Majora's Mask takes place over just three days, as Link aims to stop the moon from crashing into Clock Town and destroying the world. Using the Ocarina of Time, Link can rewind or fast-forward time to save his progress and start fresh with new items, but any people he encounters will have no memory of him and any puzzles cleared with be lost, as well as several other consequences.

The compact nature of Majora's Mask means that time really matters—you can rewind time to save and try again, but lose progress you've made on puzzles, or you can keep forging ahead and hope you can halt the impending destruction before the moon hits Clock Town. By making the player conscious of time passing, Majora's Mask is one of the greatest time travel games. 

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Next: One of the Best Time Travel Games Ever

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Braid Lets Players Meddle with Time

When you say 'time travel games,' Braid is likely one of the first to come to mind. Time travel is absolutely crucial to this game, as all of the puzzles are solved by manipulating the flow of time to reach new areas and destroy greater enemies. The twist ending also relies heavily on time travel, as the scene plays quite differently, depending on whether you're traveling forward or backward in time.

The time travel puzzles vary from level to level, sometimes changing time as Tim moves through the level, sometimes relying on objects to change the flow of time and solve the game's clever puzzles. Time also plays heavily into the game's themes of regret and desire, adding a complex layer of gameplay and story integration that makes Braid stand out among many time travel games.

Chrono Trigger Time Travel Games

Chrono Trigger Sets a High Bar for Time Travel Games

To the uninitiated, Chrono Trigger might look like standard RPG fare at first glance. But upon playing, it's no surprise that it's been included on many "Best Games of All Time" lists—while the core RPG mechanics are there, the innovation and story set it apart. As the characters travel through time to save their friend, they encounter time travel paradoxes, puzzles, and can alter the course of history in several ways.

Though many time travel games use rules to make their time travel realistic, many do so to avoid paradoxes, which raise questions and can interfere with suspension of disbelieve. Chrono Trigger dives into these head first, and that, coupled with the developer's desire to avoid the standard fetch quests and errands that typically characterize the genre, set Chrono Trigger apart from many of its contemporary RPGs.

What are your favorite time travel games?