T.I.M.E Stories is a narrative and co-operative game where players work as a team to protect humanity by preventing temporal faults and paradoxes from threatening the fabric of our universe. I find that this board game is very challenging and interesting. The game is set in the present time where players time travel using Tachyon Insertion to go into the bodies of beings from different worlds or realities to successfully complete the missions given to them.
A word of warning from me is that each mission scenario can take a long time to complete (a couple of hours depending if you fail your mission), hence the board game plastic insert is set in the order for you to save your mission as shown below, to play over multiple sessions, just like in a video game. This way, it’s possible to pause your ongoing game by preserving the state of the receptacles, the remaining TU, the discovered clues, etc.
Another great thing about this game board is that it is a base box. It contains the entirety of the T.I.M.E Stories system and allows players to play all of the scenarios. You can expand it by buying new sets of decks for a new mission. There are: Prophecy of Dragons, Under the Mask, The Marcy Case Expansion, Estrella Drive Expansion, Lumen Fidei, Expedition Endurance and many more.
You are the team members from the T.I.M.E Agency and each given a mission to complete and failure is impossible, as you will be able to go back in time as many times as required. At the beginning of the game, the players are at their home base and receive their mission briefing. The objective is then to complete it in as few attempts as possible. The actions and movements of the players will use Temporal Units (TU), the quantity of which depend on the scenario and the number of players. Each attempt is called a “run”; one run equals the use of all of the Temporal Units at the players’ disposal. When the TU reach zero, the agents are recalled to the agency, and restart the scenario from the beginning, armed with their experience. The object of the game is to make the perfect run while solving all of the puzzles and overcoming all of a scenario’s obstacles.
This game starts with the Asylum deck where you are back in the Year 1921. Players explore cards, presented most often in the form of a panorama. Access to some cards requires the possession of the proper item or items, while others present surprises, enemies, riddles, clues, and other dangers. Solve the puzzle to complete your mission.
I found this game very hard to play initially. It took us a while to get the hang of it. We had to watch a couple of video tutorials on YouTube to give us an idea of how to get started. The instructions are clear but it was quite overwhelming with all the information. We did lose a bit of attention (especially Ms C as this is not her type of game) as we were stuck at the riddles and unclear what to do next. The game is very challenging and definitely a great game to play with older children and adults. This is a game that captures your mind and requires plenty of attention. It is available to buy from good retailers, online and Amazon.
Do check out similar games like Pandemic, Stuffed Fables etc.
Disclosure: We are members of Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club. We received the sample for the purposes of writing this review, however, all thoughts and opinions remain our own. We have included an Amazon affiliate link to the product. If you click on this and buy, we may earn a small commission.
