Ah, Time Hollow (TH), yet another obscure and quirky game that could have only been released for the Nintendo DS. The late 2000’s seemed to be a grand time for unique, creative, and just plain weird games. And there was no better platform for those games than the DS (and to some extent, the Wii, as well). I can still remember going to a local EB Games shop on the day this game was released and asking the clerk for a copy. Only to get a dumbfounded stare in return, asking what I was talking about. Even though the clerk had no idea what the game was, they did have a copy, of which I was glad, because I very much enjoyed the game. That’s not to say it’s not without its faults of course. So, let’s get to the analysis already.
TH is very much a point-and-click/visual novel/adventure style of game. It follows the story of Ethan Kairos, an average 17-year-old student living in what would appear to be a modern day (or I guess slightly less modern as it’s set in 2008, when the game initially released) Japanese suburban town (the game’s style is very much anime, which would normally turn me off [I don’t care for anime TV shows], but in certain games like this, it works). Ethan’s life seems typical, but not really ideal. In the beginning section of the game, the player is introduced to Ethan’s parents, Timothy, a brusque father. And Pamela, a quiet, non-confrontational mother. Ethan doesn’t seem to get along with them terribly well, but it could just be depicted as a scene of teen angst, because he clearly cares about them. The game also introduces Ethan’s uncle, Derek. Timothy’s hot-headed, deadbeat of a younger brother, who is always trying to borrow money from Ethan’s parents.
After a few scenes of arguing, Ethan decides to head to bed, just to get away from all the confrontation. During the night, Ethan has a terrible nightmare of his parents (who are much younger in the dream) being trapped in a burning building. Their only escape is a strange portal that appears out of nowhere. Upon their escape, Ethan wakes up, only to find things are not right. His room’s decor has completely changed. He also finds his cat, Sox, is carrying some items on his collar. One is a strange green pen (or stylus, because it’s the DS, get it? haha…), and the other is a cryptic note from his father. The note explains that this pen (known as the Hollow Pen) is able to open holes in time. Speaking of holes, there is one in his room now, just like the one he saw in his dream. Touching the hole with the pen causes it to close, however. Upon closing, though, Ethan receives a series of images (called flashbacks).
Completely confused by everything, Ethan leaves his room to find his parents. Except he soon learns that his room’s decor isn’t the only thing different. He now lives with his Uncle Derek (whose personality has completely changed), and he finds that his parents have been missing for twelve years now. Ethan can’t quite figure out what is real and what isn’t. Was the memory of him living with his parents real? Or is this life of living with his uncle actually reality? He has memories of both. And he’s determined to get to the bottom of it all.
As the game progresses, Ethan learns that someone is altering history, in an attempt to ruin the life of the Kairos family. With the newfound power of the Hollow Pen, only Ethan can fix things to get them back to the way they were. But Ethan soon learns that changing the past can have unforeseen consequences. And the mysterious villain behind his parents’ disappearance isn’t nearly finished with Ethan yet.
Mechanically, TH is a fairly simple game, at first. It very much presents itself as a point-and-click/visual novel/adventure style game. The tutorial section of the game is pretty simple. It establishes that all dialogue is displayed on the top screen, accompanied by the speaker’s portrait(s). And the bottom screen provides the scene. Displaying the area you’re able to interact with. It’s all taught through simple text boxes. Not anything groundbreaking, but it does the job. Thankfully the game is pretty simple, mechanically, so there’s not a ton of this stuff interrupting the game. Just a few bits here and there in the first chapter or so.
Clicking different things on the screen will result in different actions. If the player clicks an inanimate object, Ethan will usually describe or comment on it. Clicking on other people will result in a dialogue. Clicking certain areas that result in the cursor changing into a stick figure with a walking animation means that if you click on it again, you will travel to a different area. You can exit that new area or any area by pressing the “Back” button, which is almost always present on the top right of the bottom screen. It’s also worth noting that by pressing the back button enough times will result in the player leaving the area completely, going to the over world map, allowing travel to other locations.
As I said, pretty simple. Of course, if this was all the game was, it’d be pretty dang dull. What makes TH unique, is the titular Hollow Pen. Soon after Ethan’s life is turned upside down, he discovers how exactly he can use this strange pen. While the note he received explained that the pen could open holes in time, it didn’t explain how. Through a little sleuthing and experimentation, Ethan discovers that by going to the scenes that he saw in the flashbacks he received earlier, he can use the pen to open a hole in time, allowing him to access the scene at the time of the flashback.
However, flashbacks are only usable when Ethan has all the information available. Mainly where and when exactly that flashback took place. For instance, an early flashback that Ethan has is of the local cafe. He knows where it is, but until he figures out what time exactly that flashback occurred, he can’t open a hole in time.
Getting the details for a flashback can be done in a variety of ways, depending on the situation. Sometimes Ethan will need to ask people about the incident, other times he’ll need to research it by finding newspaper articles at the library, and so on. Once he does figure it all out, the player needs simply to travel to that location, and they are allowed to start what’s known as a “digging session.”
Starting a digging session means opening a hole in time. During a digging session, the flashback is displayed on the top screen, for reference, while the bottom screen displays the scene in the present. By drawing a circle on the bottom screen, the player opens a “hole” revealing a section of the past. Ethan can only interact with the past in the area of the hole drawn. And he can only do a certain number of things while digging:
- Look – pretty self explanatory, this just gives the player a description of what can be seen through the hole to the past.
- Examine – a poor choice of words, in my opinion, because it sounds just like “Look,” but what it means is interacting with the scene in a variety of ways. Such as taking an item from the past so it’s no longer there to cause the issue that Ethan is trying to fix.
- Talk – again, self explanatory. But not used as much as you might think. When Ethan digs a hole, time freezes, both in the past and present. So most people can’t be talked to, because they’re frozen in time. There are exceptions to the rule, however.
- Item – This option allows Ethan to use an item in his inventory to interact with the past. For example, Ethan can use pliers to cut a rope. Or he can place an item, such as a note, in the hole, leaving it for someone in the past to read.
I’ve always found this a rather clever use of the “time travel” mechanic, because Ethan never actually travels through time, he simply manipulates it, in an attempt to fix the present.
Of course, there’s a catch to all of this. The player needs to be careful where they dig. They can only dig in certain scenes, but the scenes are rather large (and can be panned left or right to reveal more, which I found frustrating and mostly pointless). Ethan can only draw so big of a circle. So if the point of interaction isn’t within the circle drawn on screen, the player will need to close that hole, and try again. This is where the only real danger in the game comes into play, and I honestly found it to be more of an annoyance more than anything. Each time Ethan digs a hole, he uses up a portion of a meter. Narratively, this meter is explained as Ethan’s “time.” Each time he uses the pen, the pen takes a small portion of Ethan’s lifespan (which ages him at an unnatural pace). Gameplay-wise, this just means that if you keep screwing up and drawing circles in the wrong places, then once you’re out of meter, you can’t use the pen anymore.
The meter can be refilled in two ways. The first way is simply by playing the game. Once the player reaches a new chapter, the meter will automatically fill back up. The second way is by mere chance. The player is usually free to explore Ethan’s town as he sees fit. While exploring, if the player goes to an area that is completely unrelated area that has nothing to do with the current objectives, they might run into Sox. During these times, Sox will be seen playing with a strange ball of energy known as a Chron. The Chron will be absorbed into the Hollow Pen, restoring one portion of meter.
I get that this is the developer’s attempt at “gamifying” their visual novel-heavy game. But it’s a rather lazy and annoying attempt. Most of the time, the meter was never an issue for me when I played, and just seemed rather pointless overall.
While I’m on the topic of annoying issues, there are a couple more that I feel I should address. As I said before, the player is usually free to explore the town as they see fit, but this is a detriment in some cases. The game is very linear (and I have no qualms about that whatsoever), however, it’s also very vague. Ethan will have a goal in mind. Such as, he needs to find his friend Vin, and ask him a certain question relating to a flashback or some change in history. But the game will give you no indication where Vin might be. So you could easily wander aimlessly to all locations on the map until you finally find him. This led to me wandering aimlessly more than once. And on one specific occasion, I completely missed what I was trying to find because I failed to pan the screen far enough to the right to find the thing I was looking for, hiding in plain sight. I found that to be just needlessly bad design.
Another issue I had was with the dialogue options in the game. Talking with and questioning NPC’s is a huge part of the game. And I’ve got no issue with that either. I like visual novels, I don’t mind reading. But there were times when I would need to ask the same question to the same person, twice or more, in order to get all the information I needed in order to progress. It’s like they would only give half the answer, and would just wait for you to ask them again to finish their thought. I can’t think of a worse way to handle questioning someone in a game.
On a final note, I’d like to mention one more thing. In a rather fun bit of meta, since this game is all about time manipulation and recovering lost memories, if you start a new game over the save file of a finished game, the intro starts out slightly different, giving you a new option. If you choose this option, Ethan is able to remember the events of your last game, resulting in a very quick alternate ending, bypassing everything, and fixing the past to make a better present for everyone. Kind of pointless sure, but it was a clever little bit of juice, and I appreciated it.
So, in spite of a few very odd design choices, I do still enjoy this game. It tells a fantastic story, it puts a fun twist on the time travelling trope, and digging holes in time is a pretty unique game mechanic as far as I’m concerned. Of course, if you’re not a reader (i.e. 90% of the gaming population) then this game won’t appeal to you. But for those that enjoy a good visual novel/point-and-click game, this is definitely one worth playing.
