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00:00Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we're looking at the best games that place players in time
00:10loops and challenge them to escape.
00:20Before we begin, we publish new content all week long, so be sure to subscribe and ring
00:25the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
00:29Grim Grimoire Inspired by the RTS mechanics of Starcraft
00:39and the world of Harry Potter, Vanillaware's Grim Grimoire is a pretty unique game.
00:43It follows Lillet, a young witch and new student at the Tower of Silver Star.
00:48Unfortunately, her fifth day of school is ruined after an evil wizard attacks, killing
00:52many in the process.
00:54After getting sent back to her first day, Lillet must train and learn as much as she
00:58can over the course of several five-day loops to save her new home away from home.
01:03With different schools of magic to perfect and different troops, or familiars, that come
01:07with them, there's a nice variety in how you pick your battles.
01:11Plus, its visuals are the utmost whimsical.
01:27On paper, a time loop of only a single minute might be a hard sell.
01:31How much can you really get done in 60 seconds?
01:33Well, if you've played this indie adventure, you know the answer is plenty.
01:38Minute has you take control of a weird little duck man, who finds a magical sword that traps
01:43him in a short loop.
01:44The game is designed in a way where your progress can be just as quick as your time restriction.
01:49The short limit actually forces you to be creative with how you spend your time, with
01:52only one minute on the clock before you revert back to a safe spot, and with naturally simplistic
01:58mechanics and visuals, you'll find your brain able to focus on each task at hand.
02:13With their random nature and focus on restarting after a death, roguelikes are a great fit
02:18for a time loop narrative.
02:20Returnal follows astronaut Selene Vassos as she explores a mysterious planet.
02:25However, when something on the planet kills her, time restarts and she's sent back to
02:29the moment she arrived.
02:30Sadly for her, that happens quite a lot for the average player because Returnal is a pretty
02:35hard game.
02:37The inhabitants of the planet Atropos are highly aggressive and fairly mighty.
02:42Combat is extremely fun, but also incredibly tense, as most enemies and bosses have varied
02:47attacks and patterns.
02:48Each one instills a desire in you to vanquish them so that Selene can finally make it out
02:53of the loop.
03:00Elsinore
03:06This one's for all the Shakespeare fans out there.
03:09Golden Glitch's point and click adventure game adapts the famous Bart's Hamlet and
03:13places players in the shoes of one of its main characters, Ophelia.
03:17Trapped in a four-day loop, Ophelia must find a way to prevent the ending of the play
03:21in which most of the characters die.
03:23While Elsinore can certainly be a bit slow, it has strong characterization and it's
03:27a great way to retell this classic story.
03:30Plus, there's a surprising variety in how its events can play out.
03:33Don't think being familiar with the play will spoil things, as there are 13 different
03:37endings to unlock.
03:42The Forgotten City
03:49Whisked away to the times of the Roman Empire, your time in the Forgotten City is a dangerous
03:54trip down history lane.
03:56Upon your character's arrival, you learn the city is under careful watch by the gods,
04:01who impose a strict no sinning policy.
04:04Whenever someone breaks it, the entire community is turned to gold forever.
04:08Luckily for you, you can restart your time there whenever this happens.
04:12Fantastical in nature, the Forgotten City is a captivating mystery at its core, having
04:17you piece together evidence to uncover the city's doom.
04:19The loop's structure is used to tremendous effect and only adds to the central mystery
04:24driving its plot.
04:29The Sexy Brutale
04:35Speaking of wonderful mysteries set inside a loop, The Sexy Brutale has plenty of intrigue
04:40and time-based shenanigans.
04:42It follows one guest of a masked party held inside a casino mansion, the remaining attendants
04:47of which are all murdered.
04:49Over the course of however many 12-hour loops it takes, you save each of them by following
04:53the enticing trails of breadcrumbs.
04:55Each saved life leads to new mechanics, items, or other forms of progression so that you
05:00can figure out who's responsible for so much death.
05:03The alluring narrative grabs you, while the time loop helps it play out in interesting
05:07ways.
05:08That's not to mention solid puzzles and a dark sense of humor.
05:14Deathloop
05:152021 was the year of time loop games.
05:21In addition to Returnal and The Forgotten City, Bethesda and Arkane released the FPS
05:26Deathloop.
05:27With 8 high-profile targets in need of assassinating, an island full of goons, and an unhinged assassin
05:33hunting you as well, players have their work cut out for them.
05:36If the 8 targets are still alive at midnight, or if player character Colt dies, the loop
05:41restarts.
05:42Figuring out how to best spend your time and the proper order in which to accomplish your
05:46goals were great hurdles to overcome.
05:48Plus, we never tired of the FPS gameplay, nor its vibrant art style.
05:56In Stars and Time
06:01In this fantasy RPG, we play as Sifrin, a member of a classic adventuring party.
06:07But after the team enters the tower of an evil king in an attempt to thwart him, Sifrin
06:11is immediately killed and trapped inside a time loop.
06:14From there, it's up to you to figure out how to make the best use of Sifrin's one
06:18day.
06:19In Stars and Time utilizes a Gameboy aesthetic and a boatload of quirky characters, both
06:23of which are extremely charming.
06:25Though its simple mechanics and gameplay might not impress some, its characters, world, and
06:30writing, all of which make great use of Sifrin's predicament, never fail to delight.
06:40Outer Wilds
06:47In Mobius Digital's Outer Wilds, players begin as an adventurer in a small solar system
06:51that's destroyed every 22 minutes when the sun goes supernova.
06:55Only by continuously exploring the other planets and talking with its kooky NPCs can you
07:00uncover what's happening so that you can try to make it out alive.
07:03The setup is enough to grab just about anybody, but with every collected piece of the puzzle,
07:08you only want to keep digging further.
07:10There are some great puzzles to wrap your brain around, and the strong art direction
07:14brings each planet to life.
07:16However, it's the use of the 22 minute loop that's the most remarkable and leads to a
07:20surprisingly powerful ending.
07:27The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask
07:32Time loop stories are becoming common in modern games, but Nintendo showed how fantastic the
07:37format could be used back on the N64.
07:40The sequel to Ocarina of Time follows Link in Termina, a strange land that will be destroyed
07:45by the Skull Kid in three days time.
07:47In order to save it, Link must travel back to the beginning of the loop as many times
07:52as it takes.
07:53Majora's Mask is usually praised for its deep emotional themes and unique transformative
07:57mask system.
07:58However, the time loop is also used beautifully in tandem with its score of interesting NPCs,
08:05who all have stories and events that play out depending on the day and your actions.
08:09This introduced a level of freedom when interacting with its world that simply wasn't commonplace
08:14at the time.
08:19What game do you think made the best use of its time loop?
08:26Share your thoughts in the comments and be sure to subscribe to Mojo Plays for more great
08:29gaming videos every day.