Time Recoil Critic Reviews

Time Recoil is an outstanding top-down strategy game that gives off the appearance of a top-down shooter. It has finely-tuned melee and gun-based combat that rewards fast reflexes. It’s tough and challenging, but can be conquered with patience, skill and learning the core mechanics on a deeper level. It isn’t casual, but will pay off for anyone willing to spend the time to learn its ways. It looks great — with a simple, but elegant art style that also fits its largely chiptune-inspired soundtrack. Time Recoil is a must-buy for anyone with a Switch and a love for a hearty challenge.

Time Recoil is the perfect follow up for anyone that enjoyed Neon Chrome. It takes the structure that made Neon so great, but replaces the RPG and roguelike elements with the time mechanics, creating a whole new experience. Time Recoil is my third experience with this line of games from 10Tons and although I do still enjoy Neon Chrome more, this one comes in at a close second.

Clocks and glocks all come together in a game that makes the most of its signature idea, as Time Recoil adds a new twist to the twin-stick shooter genre with its chronal-stretching gameplay.

Time Recoil is a quick-paced, enjoyable shooter-come-puzzler, which has plenty to keep players entertained. It's not quite a unique entity in the Switch eShop, which has a number of other games from the same genre, but it's definitely worth a play if you've got the funds for it.

Time Recoil won’t be the cornerstone of your gaming sessions, but it works in providing small rations of fun in between the more major titles, and will at least briefly transport you back to the action-based gaming days of yesteryear.

Time Recoil feels like the most refined of 10tons' three top-down shooter titles on Switch, and while initial frustration and slightly unspectacular visuals are drawbacks, it is the crux of the game that makes it both more enjoyable and immediately more satisfying. Having a more fleshed out story - as well as quick missions, the time manipulation mechanic and twin stick arcade thrills - sets this game up to be a more layered take on the now familiar genre. While there are some technical drawbacks still present, progressing through Time Recoil and achieving high combos of slow motion kills makes for an enjoyable experience.

Thanks to its action elements and especially to its time mechanics, Time Recoil is an interesting game that brings an original and welcome experience to the catalog of the Nintendo Switch. While its graphics may be too simplistic and its plot not more than a motif to justify the game's action, Time Recoil brings very good action moments and it's a proposal that is very well suited to short gaming sessions.

While a majority of their games are top-down shooters, 10tons also dabble in the puzzle genre (Tennis in the Face, the Sparkle games), and Time Recoils levels are themselves puzzles, with clear paths which you’ll figure out through dying repeatedly (seriously, some of the later levels up the difficulty considerably) and experimenting with both your time based abilities and the extensive selection of weapons on hand. The Time Attack mode that you unlock after completing each level will have you replaying again and again in an attempt to get the perfect, bloodiest run.

If you want play the time trials and can stomach, or at least ignore, the half-hearted attempt at a story then you might derive some enjoyment from Time Recoil. Still, things like the randomized ammo drops, muddy visuals, and poorly designed puzzles are needlessly frustrating, and your time and money would be better spent elsewhere.

Once you realise it’s all about chaining together kills – time slows down for a while after each one, and getting a few in a row grants you special abilities – everything clicks and it becomes fun to play. On a personal level, I still reckon Jydge is my twin-stick shooter of choice on the Switch, but Time Recoil is an interesting alternative.