Chrono Gear: Warden of Time review – Right on time

Ever since Hololive set up its indie publishing studio, Holo Indie, it’s been outputting some fantastic titles, massively bolstering the scene that already existed around fan content. It’s given fan creators access to more resources in an official capacity to develop projects well beyond the scope of what you’d normally expect from a fan-made game, and Chrono Gear: Warden of Time is the shining example of what this sort of approach to supporting creators can achieve.

Perhaps most importantly, it understands exactly what Hololive fans want from a game like this and absolutely nails the tone. It’s a story about the fate of the world centered around HoloPromise, six primordial beings who govern the fundamental forces of the universe…who are also the most unserious anime streamer girls you’ll ever meet.

This ridiculous juxtaposition between deep lore and silly streamer girls is exactly the weird appeal that makes Hololive and VTubing so appealing. It has that same strange mix as pro-wrestling, where these people are simultaneously fictional characters with fantastical backstories as well as ordinary people who play video games and sing on the internet.

The result is a plot with an epic scope, but you still get to spend most of your time hanging around with the expansive cast of Hololive members as you go about your quest, with genuinely funny writing that captures the essence of each member’s personality, as well as plenty of inside jokes and memes that fans will appreciate.

You play as Kronii, the warden of time, as she explores the various realms to gather the golden gears of the shattered Chrono Gear, a device that enhances her time manipulation powers. In doing so, you’ll go through a wide variety of 2D action platforming levels that mix arcadey combat and platforming with time manipulation mechanics. You can slow down time in an area around yourself to make enemies vulnerable, or speed yourself up to enhance your platforming abilities and strike a lot faster.

These mix well, as you have a limited amount of health, and the main way that you restore it is by parrying projectiles, so you have to carefully balance speeding yourself up for faster damage at the cost of being more easily hit, while occasionally slowing things down so you can easily parry incoming attacks. While it starts out quite easy, by the time you’re facing the late-game bosses, you really have to pay attention to when the right time to unleash each power.

Each level runs around 5-10 minutes, and almost all of them feature unique platforming mechanics that are surprisingly creative, to the point where I think some of the gimmicks could carry an entire puzzle-platforming experience on their own. You’ll be rotating the world, bouncing on bubbles, balancing see-saws, and in the later levels, freezing and unfreezing time to progress. 

It reminds me of the design philosophy in 2D Mario games, where each level focuses on one central mechanic, plays around with it in a variety of ways, then moves right along to the next before you get bored with it. It keeps helping the game maintain a breezy pace as each level gives you something new to discover, keeping you on your toes every time you drop into a new environment.

Something that can’t go unmentioned is the soundtrack. Hololive has an extensive library of original songs from all of its talent, and the composers for Chrono Gear went all-out in creating remixes for so many of these songs that turn it into the perfect video game soundtrack. Starting a level and immediately recognizing the song was something that never ceased to thrill me, as I then got to enjoy what the composers did with the remix. Somber songs were turned into epic boss music, energetic pop hits became smooth low-fi beats, and even powerful rock ballads became jaunty little leitmotifs.

Chrono Gear: Warden of Time is a fantastic love letter to Hololive and platformers alike. While non-Hololive fans will have a lot of the fun go over their heads, the 2D platforming gameplay is still creative and refined enough to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience. That said, it is definitely made for fans, with references, in-jokes, and loving tributes stuffed into every corner, which makes it a simply joyous ride.

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