10 Times Video Game Heroes Messed With Time Travel

Changing the future, one game at a time.

By David Irwin /

Time is a fragile thing. The theory has always been that if something is changed in the past, then it has dramatic and often devastating consequences in the future.

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Games explore this phenomenon more often than you might think. Occasionally it's through happenstance rather than purposeful manipulation, but the use of time travel can sometimes make a game that's already quite good, into a game that's great.

We should explain a major caveat, in that the Assassin's Creed series will not appear in this list.

Technically speaking, the series uses the Animus machine to access remnants of memories to simulate the past and take on the role of one of a protagonist's ancestor. This is not the same as having the hero themselves jump through the ages.

We're also not limiting entries to those that jump back and forth through time. If a character can use a device to rapidly age their surroundings, they can appear on this list. Though not all of these entries obey the laws of time travel, these are ten that stand out the most.

10. Clock Tower 3

To be fair to Alyssa from Clock Tower 3, she merely stumbled into London during the blitz by complete accident while reading a book in her ancestral family home. Alyssa must now try to find out how to get back to her timeline, all while being pursued by one of the many stalkers.

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She must also use clues hidden in the world to work out what happened to several murder victims, and exorcise their spirits by returning their cherished possessions.

Clues that Alyssa gathers in both 1940s and 1960s London are then used to solve the mystery about her family's herritage. It soon becomes apparent that dark forces are at work and are sending her across time and space, all trying to scare Alyssa to her breaking point.

Time travel does take a bit of a backseat after the first two stalkers are slain. At the very least though, it makes for an interesting backdrop in a rather unique survival horror game.

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