Ludography
71/100
Players6 ratings
76/100
Critics4 reviews

Where to get it

Timelie cover

2020 · Urnique Studio · Puzzle · Strategy

Timelie

Nintendo console exclusive

Timelie is a stealth puzzle adventure, where you control time like a media player. Perceive future events to plan your escape strategy from the past, sneak an enemy, and manipulate time through this companionship journey of a mysterious cat and a little girl with a precognitive power.

Released
21 May 2020
Platforms
AndroidNintendo SwitchWindowsiOSmacOS
Genres
PuzzleStrategyAdventureIndie
Developers
Urnique Studio
Publishers
Urnique StudioZordix PublishingMilk Bottle Studio
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Third personBird view / Isometric
Themes
Stealth
Engine
Unity

About

Timelie is a 2020 single-player stealth puzzle adventure game developed by Urnique Studio. The story follows a young woman who awakens in an unfamiliar dimension and is threatened by hostile robots. The player can control time in the form of a media player, which can be used to defeat enemies. The game was released for Windows and macOS in May 2020 and went on to sell over thirty thousand copies, being nominated for multiple accolades and awards.

Thai gaming publications and conventions listed Timelie as Game of the Year. The first free DLC Hell Loop Puzzle Pack was released in October 2020.

›Story

Control both the girl and the cat simultaneously, timing their movements and actions to complement each other, escape detection, distract enemies, and ultimately escape the world they’re trapped in. Experience cooperative play for a single player like never before.

Lose yourself in a vibrant world filled with colorful abstractions and surreal visuals. Explore strange realms filled with danger…but also discovery.

Keywords

  • cats
  • time manipulation
  • female protagonist
  • cute

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Timelie is a top-down stealth puzzle adventure game with time-manipulation mechanics. Players are able to freely progress or reverse time in order to predict the movements of enemies and other characters, and redo actions which lead to unfavorable outcomes. In order to reach the exit of each level, players will have to avoid capture by enemy patrol bots, interact with keypads and pressure plates to open and close doors, and collect purple orbs which permanently repair broken pathways and change the layout of a level.

As the game progresses, players unlock the ability to bend the time of specific objects by picking up white charge orbs. At the cost of a charge, they can use this ability to reverse and repair the damage to broken areas of the floor, or destroy enemies by forcing them to rust. Players also gain access to a second character, the orange cat, as a companion or standalone character. The cat can lure in nearby enemies by meowing, which recharges over time, and avoid detection by traveling through vents in the walls.

Story

A little girl and her companion cat, lost in nowhere, trying to overcome obstacles to find a way out of this mysterious abstract realm using their power to control time.

When a child awakes in the middle of a mysterious facility full of hostile robots, she begins looking for a quick exit. Along the way, the innocent girl discovers she has precognitive powers that allow her to explore future timelines until she discovers the optimal route to safety.

Development

Timelie started from a senior project before going to the contest and winning the "Best Game" in the National Software Contest, and also representing Thailand to win the "Best Game" award in the international Microsoft Imagine Cup Competition.

Thai indie game created by Urnique Studio from Thailand. In the beginning development team had only a group of five students in the Faculty of Computer Engineering, Chulalongkorn University. The project (Timelie) happened the day they had to finish the project with more people than any other group. Advisor wants their work to be more special than others. Therefore, aiming to reach the national program competition which in the end their work has finally caught up with Microsoft Thailand.

Reception

The development team Urnique Studio has announced that the PC version of Timelie will be released via Steam in spring 2020, along with the first gameplay clip. Currently, the game was released through Steam, Epic Games and GOGcom channels. In addition, the game also revealed that there may be plans to develop more DLC, including porting the game to the Nintendo Switch.

The first version of the game uses the Unity Engine to develop and has won national and international awards include:

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
macOS21 May 2020Worldwide
Windows21 May 2020Worldwide
Nintendo Switch14 December 2021Europe · Worldwide 15 December 2021
Android12 November 2025Worldwide
iOS12 November 2025Worldwide

Editions and related releases

Downloadable content
Timelie: Hell Loop

Games like this

Collections1 collection

Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.