If you took the mind bending mechanics of Braid and smashed them together with the eerie, atmospheric platforming of LIMBO, you would get exactly this game. Chronology isn’t just another generic platformer where you jump on things until you reach a finish line. It is a brilliant puzzle adventure that actually makes you think, and it snagged some massive “Game of the Year” awards at Game Connection Paris for a very good reason.

BEND TIME TO FIX THE PRESENT

The core hook here is incredibly clever. You play as a grumpy Old Inventor and his surprisingly useful Snail sidekick. Your entire goal is to fix a completely ruined present by aggressively manipulating the past and the future.

Hit a literal dead end? Just freeze time completely. Need to cross a massive gap? Warp back a few decades to move an object so it sits exactly where you need it in the future. The puzzles require you to actively change the environment across different eras, and finally figuring out a brutal room always delivers a massive feeling of satisfaction.

TWO CHARACTERS, ONE WILD STORYLINE

You absolutely cannot brute force your way through these levels. You have to constantly swap between the Inventor and the Snail.

They both pack completely different abilities, meaning you have to rely on teamwork to clear the trickier physics puzzles. Without spoiling the entire plot, the story gets surprisingly deep. As things unfold, you slowly start to realize our old inventor might actually be the primary reason his entire world is falling apart. Plus, the whole thing is completely voice acted in English, which gives the dialogue an actual pulse and makes you genuinely care about the duo.

A SERIOUS STUDIO GHIBLI VIBE

Let’s talk about the visual style for a second, because it is absolutely gorgeous.

If you are a fan of Hayao Miyazaki films like My Neighbor Totoro or Howl’s Moving Castle, you are going to fall in love with this aesthetic. The universe feels vibrant and alive. It seamlessly mixes crazy mechanical machines with magical, colorful landscapes, and the character animations are insanely fluid.

You can play the first three chapters of Part I entirely for free. You literally have zero excuse not to download it and give it a spin.