Adventure Gamers - Forums

I know there are some fans of The Longing on here, and since there are so few games that combine adventure game and idle mechanics, I thought I’d share what I’ve been working on. Like The Longing, Time Bandit is an adventure game that experiments with many real-time waiting mechanics. I recently posted a quick video where I explain how those mechanics were originally inspired by Animal Crossing and also give an overview of the game’s darkly comic premise, in which you arrive in a new city to work at a seemingly wholesome new job only to discover that the company you work for is involved in a conspiracy to take control of time and make you work for them forever.

I designed the real-time mechanics to invite players to make as much or as little progress as they like, to make playing it a kind of habit or meaningful ritual, to welcome addictive gameplay loops or instead explore how to break them while watching the real-time sunsets. And as you begin to uncover the conspiracy and steal back from the company, it tells a story of how our time doesn’t belong to us and how we can take it back.

There’s a prologue chapter available now for free on Steam, and in the spirit of the game’s retro lowpoly aesthetic, the prologue is designed to be like something you’d find on an old demo disc. Of course, if you’re familiar with idle adventure games like The Longing, then you’ll know the kind of game it is and that you can’t get very far along in a demo but it should still give you a taste of the mechanics and story. I’m aiming to release the first full part of the game on PC/Mac later this year. If you find it interesting, every wishlist helps a lot to support development! Thanks for taking a look

Time Bandit on Steam