10 GENIUS Time Travel Levels In Video Games
Standing the test of time.
Time travel is tricky. Most TV shows out there can’t handle the concept without stumbling into a myriad of wibbly-wobbly time paradoxes and inconsistencies within their own plot.
Video games are guilty of poor use of time travel as well, but luckily, there are plenty that have done the trope justice.
Not only do these titles handle time travel in a logical and consistent way, but they also use it to make the best and most creative levels you'll ever play. Here, time travel is not just some kind of convenient and/or confusing plot device. It's a feature that integrates itself with the rest of the game and provides the player with a means to experiment with the concept of controlling time. Sometimes it's used as a weapon, sometimes as a storytelling device, and sometimes as a challenge posed to the player.
It’s not easy to time travel, and it’s just as hard to make it make sense, but the following titles get the job done. However, the following levels are the best examples of the power that took real genius from their creators to get just right.
10. A Crack In The Slab - Dishonored 2
The Dishonored series loves to explore interesting concepts with the help of your character’s supernatural abilities. The first game features abilities like teleportation and freezing time, and its sequel kicks things up a notch with an entire level designed around the premise of time travel.
The mission “A Crack in the Slab” takes your character to the abandoned manor of a missing baron, Aramis Stilton, in order to investigate the circumstances behind his mysterious disappearance.
To help you with your investigation, Dishonored 2 provides you with a special device called the Timepiece, which allows you to instantly travel back and forth between the past and the present, giving you the opportunity to explore the manor both when it was still filled with life and extravagance and when it has become a dilapidated ruin.
The time-travel mechanic is done seamlessly and plays an important role in the level’s design. You can use the changes between the past and the present to your advantage to slip past guards and gain access to areas that were locked or destroyed in the other time period.
The mission is an absolute blast, which is why it’s a bit of a shame that the timepiece doesn’t make a reappearance afterward.