The Temporal Invasion

Temporal Invasion certainly is worth getting if you are into sleuth, riddle-solving, and mind-boggling puzzles; as long as you can bear with the overly present grammar errors--which is ironic given that the game is text-driven, you would think that the studio would have allotted more resources to this aspect of the game. While the concept and premise of the game is great, it falls short on delivery. The game provides a nagging vibe of being an upgraded--or simpy ported--flash game with mediocre interactable interface, poor story line delivery, and a confusing plot which just happens to be all over the place. [b]Pros and Cons:[/b] Intriguing but badly narrated plot riddled with grammatical errors Challenging puzzles, albeit partly due to the language used Multi-dimensional riddles (combination of decryption, word analysis, math, and tons of googling and wikis) but bad recognition filter for solutions (e.g. Abraham Lincoln will not be considered for Abe Lincoln) Low resolution images for clues (some of which were grabbed directly from the internet - hope no rights were infringed there) But if you got $2 and countless hours to spare, do get this game. (2/5)

I really liked TTI when I first started playing, the two hours I spent on the intro and first chapter were amazing. But, then I got into the rest of the game. Turns out there's a reason so few owners have completed the achievements on this one, let alone even done 25% of them. Temporal Invasion opens with another take on the JFK Assassination, and sees you make use of several in-game tools and real-world searching to find clues. It's mostly doable with a bit of thinking, and leaves you pretty satisfied. It also puts you right near or maybe a bit over that two hour refund mark, funny that. The rest of the game delves into weird topics and entirely overdone tropes such as Slender Man, and the formerly easy or challenging puzzles instead oscillate between stupidly obvious and so hard you'll need a guide to complete them. Add to the above that this is an older Alternate Reality Game, so some of the web sites needed no longer exist or have moved. Things can get interesting lol. The Temporal Invasion was originally released half-finished, the second half of the game has an entirely different play style from the first and feels rushed. Some puzzle solutions are recycled from the first half, and many of the rest are so "out there" you'll only find the answers in a handful of hugely long topics on the game hub. I would only suggest buying this if you want a fairly quick 100% added to your finished games count, as making use of the guides one could easily complete this in about an hour. If you're looking for a fun game, forget it. This had the bones of a really neat experience, but lost itself along the way.

THIS GAME IS NOT FINISHED The game was marketed as finished game. The store page said nothing about being only half a game - at least not when I bought it in July 2016. Halfway through I hit a wall that just said something to the effect of "to be continued". It is no episodic game. It is not on Early Access. The game is just unfinished. The developer promised to finish the game by August. It is now December and still no part 2 in sight. As for what it is: It is a decent puzzle game, where many solutions have to be googled. Try the MIT Mystery Hunt puzzle archives for puzzles in a similar style, but far more refined and complex.

I finished first 2 of 10 chapters but I won't be coming back. This game should be right in my alley but I did not like it for several reasons. First problem was the clunky UI. It is competently made and looks good but there are several things that make the experience lacking. For instance you receive notifications for messages you've already read making you go back and forth between the screens. As the transition is not instant you are clicking around a lot for no reason. Adding sliders in image app for zoom instead of buttons would help. What I am missing the most is 'reply' button since the mailing app does not remember your email contacts. 'Copy to clipboard' button would not hurt either, especially since for some of the UV solutions you need to flip the image or copy a link. Biggest issue I had with puzzles where you have to respond with a string is the pattern matching. Without spoiling the concrete puzzles: for instance Louie and Louis are considered different even though it is supposed to be a test challenge and could as well be accepted. I assumed since that puzzle that the verification is pedantic but that was wrong. Case in point being that in other puzzle I tried several entries and variations on a middle name (initial, initial with dot, full middle name) but it turned out the correct answer was a name without the middle one. In some puzzles abbreviation is accepted but not the full writeout or the name of the place/location (school). Similarily name of a place was not enough in other puzzle, location and country was wrong as well, in the end the correct answer was name of a place and 'dessert' behind it. This issue is magnified by the fact that the verification of your input is not instant and you don't know if what you sent was correct so you just try a bunch of versions every time you send something. Match verification makes sense when you enter codes or passwords but all locations and names should have fuzzy match instead. Some of the UV light puzzles don't make sense - for instance when the UV is usable on the photo that was supposedly taken by the quest giver. I can live with that. In some of the puzzles it's not a problem to find a solution but rather figure out where to send it. New email contacts could just automatically be added to your email client - it feels like unnecessary busywork to type stuff out all the time. In a puzzle where password hint is in catalan (?) the answer is not the words in English which would make sense within the game. Not even in Catalan which would make sense in context of the puzzle. Not even in cyrrilics which would make sense in context of the answer. The answer is English transcription of Russian words. Odd. By that point I knew I just have to try all versions because I can't infer the solution from the game. In a puzzle where I was supposed to look on a website of an island that does not exist I went off to look around the site not knowing I have a new message in the game client. The problem is that if you want to run the game on one screen and search on the other you have to play with a borderless window but you don't have the option to have the game client take your whole screen so the game was minimized while I was trying to call a number on said website. Somehow all contact exist on the same domain even though naratively it does not make sense. The narrative was overall strange and could use some update. I would love to go on wiki binge across various subjects but the game did not feel like any of the tasks were thematically matching. Overall - good puzzle game should let you have the 'a-ha' moments. After you figure a solution you should be able to finish a puzzle in a straightforward way. With TTI I had to try bunch of different variation of each solution and that takes the moment from you. Naratively it makes sense that the email is delayed but when the IM is introduced it should be possible to send solutions through it where possible and get an instant reply. I suspect this was not playtested on an audience because these things would come up pretty fast. The price of 5EUR is fair if you manage to stick with the game but I had more fun with The Black Watchmen.

[h1]Overview[/h1] Do you remember [i]Majestic[/i]? It was game from 2001 by EA, back when EA was still a decent publisher that didn’t pump out repetitive trash. It was basically an augmented reality game. It lasted maybe a year, as it was commercially a failure. But it utilized the real world to solve problems. You could work with other players. There were phone numbers you could call, and you could receive phone calls with clues. There were videos to watch, and full websites made specifically for the game. It wound up being pretty fun, and I had a blast with it. [i]The Temporal Invasion[/i] reminds me of [i]Majestic[/i]. It’s far less interactive, in that you search for already existing information, and it utilizes a sandbox email and internet system (so no actual access is required), but it has all the makings of a pretty fun, albeit exceptionally hard, game. I’ve never had to use my brain as much as I did this one, nor have I had to confer and talk with people and work together as much as I have on this (not including obvious multiplayer games). The game starts you off easy enough, with a couple of very easy riddles that everyone will get, even if one of the events took place half a decade ago. But the difficulty ramps up quickly, requiring you to change the coloring of an image to find hidden symbols, which might be from a cipher last used in the Roman era, to then convert to English which will reveal the coordinates of a location, having you use Google Maps (or some other subpar mapping service) to find the location, to then finally provide the answer to Dr. Quantum, who is your main contact throughout the game. Puzzles, as partially explained above, will consist of: using a UV light, manipulating pictures, scrubbing audio, watching videos, translating ciphers (both real and fictional), figuring out non-typical alphabet systems, Wiki’ing, and more. Unless you’re a genius with an intimate knowledge of history, geography, cryptography, and television shows, you will be frustrated, but that frustration will pay off. [h1]Pros[/h1] [list][*]Fun puzzle game [*]Easy puzzles still seem like you’ve overcome something, while hard puzzles will seem very rewarding [*]A story that makes no sense, but in a good way, and encompasses many aspects (science, time travel, alternate history and more) [*]A fair amount of content for the price [*]For those who are into them: trading cards and easy achievements [/list] [h1]Cons[/h1] [list][*]Filled with many grammatical errors, which has actually prevented the game from telling you you’re correct, as it expects an answer that’s misspelled (the dev has acknowledged this and that the game will be updated) [*]Some puzzles are just exceptionally difficult, with one relying on a cipher that has been unsolved for over a century, and some that are very, very obscure [*]Story begins to unravel near the end of part one, and the last quarter of the game seems to be hard riddles just for the sake of being hard riddles [/list] [h1]Summary[/h1] [i]The Temporal Invasion[/i] is a unique game. It gives you clues you need to find in the real world, to present to the game in hopes of figuring out just what is going on. The difficulty ramps up to the extreme not too far into it, and requires you to be either very knowledgeable in every subject the game touches on, or has you talking with people to figure out the clues. Even if not on sale, there is a decent amount of content for the price, part two is actively being worked on (as of this review), and the developer has said corrections are coming to the grammar to make it both easier to understand the clues, and less trial and error for accurate answers (also being worked on as of this review). It’s well worth your time. It is also a very small game, and one that should have no issue sitting on your drive should you take a break from it and revisit it a few days later, a week, or a month down the line. (I have not actually edited this review, but am simply updating it for the Steam Game Awards badge requirement)

This is by far one of the best riddle solving games out there. There's lots of Googling to be done, lots of thinking to undergo and you learn a bunch of interesting things in the process. Best 3 Euros I ever spent on a puzzle game. I'm hoping for sequels!

The Temporal Ivasion is not a game for everyone. When playing the game I had flashbacks to solving riddles on Not Pron. However, while enjoyable for a bit, Temporal Invasion's cracks begin to show. Constant grammatical errors and story mcguffins make it hard to play. The presentation of the game is kind of clunky at times. I often wondered why Dr. Quantum, couldn't use q-chat to send me clues. I wish I could recommend this game. I love the idea, It just needed more polish, both in narritive and UI.

The Temporal Invasion is a pretty decent arg. Puzzles hold sufficient challenge (you get cryptograms, morse codes, even looking at gmaps among others) and the story is pretty interesting as it does get real history involved. Beware for you could easily get stuck in wiki-land. Alas the game UI could be better, however if you can handle some annoyingly extra clicking, you really can't go wrong for this price.

REVISED REVIEW: This game is GREAT for exactly what it is, and totally worth the price. The developers have been very attentive and have refined the game a bit since release, when I first played it. It was already very good, and the minor tweaks have made it even better. This game is VERY tricky, and it is not for the unintelligent, as it is honestly rather large, and it relies on some honed mental skills at times. It is a complete blast to play with friends, as you can spend a few hours or a day coming up with an answer to some of the harder cases. It's fun, educational, weird, and well thought out. Honestly, I admire the developers for such a mental game that they have created. In a sea of action genres, it is like an oasis. A beautiful, masochistic oasis... NO SPOILERS: (Original review) Okay, I was really amped for this game, then I got a bit skeptical with the delays, and I started playing it once it released. At first I thought "Okay, cool concept, but this probably wont be too hard for someone like me." The first few puzzles were a bit of a Tutorial, and implements some things you will be doing like research and photo examination. Not too impressive yet. Then the first real research hit, and I was impressed a little. By the 5th puzzle, I was very intrigued with some of the level of research I could see before me, and as the game progressed. Admittedly, there is probably not much replayability after you are finished, but I guarantee you will have learned quite a few things before it is all over. I am not very far into the game yet, but for the pricepoint, this is a recommend for people that want to figure things out on their own. If you just crib the answers, then this game will be a waste, but if you do the work yourself, it is very unique and enjoyable. Kudos to the developers, if you pump out new chapters on down the road, for a fair price, then I can see this game having some legs to stand on.

I really want to be a detective and every time I play this game I feel like I'm Sherlock Holmes! Yes, Sherlock Holmes! Each mystery has a story to be unlocked. Magnifying glass, ultraviolet light and other useful tools for a mystery cracker is there. The best part is that I can visit my mind palace while playing the game. HAHAHA! I strongly recommend this game!

Be aware. This game is only half-finished and was sold without any notice on that point. And it's not in early access either ! I don't get this policy. I feel mislead since I've just experienced a great deception : at some point (half-way) the game tells you "yeah you're on the right path but be patient, we'll come back.. blabla".. and from what I've just read it's been like that for ages (well, several months at least). A plague for achievements hunters.. The background storyline feels unrealistic and is fuelled by conspiracy theories to a certain extent. I don't know if it's some propaganda or if the writers are just making fun of these craps :? Besides, each riddle of the game is a real challenge and is quite fun to solve. You really have to look everywhere. It sometimes feels a bit repetitive and sometimes too tedious (exact spelling is really important whereas the game's grammar isn't always correct). It lacks some tools to be really enjoyable (like an intern search engine for example and a more reactive and interactive intern mailing software). Above all it lacks its second half !! I'd say the whole underlying idea is very good but the production could be better. For the time being I can't say I recommand this, unless on sales. The innovative gaming concept was very promising, and still is, but some progress must be done.

Fun and varied puzzles, interesting concepts and a good way to test your google-fu. However, the grammar is a bit off (that's being worked on), there are a few red herrings (which are because of the grammar) and the second half of the game is still being translated. Definitely worth the low price, though!

Very enjoyable ARG. Too bad that it ends quite abruptly at the moment. Still waiting for the second half of the game. It is worth every cent. Puzzles range from quite easy to rather challenging. Best played if you have a smartphone and pen and paper at hand. Had trouble putting it down while playing due to the fact that I had so much fun solving the puzzles.

Great game! This game challenges you to use every resource you have from translators to QR scanners to image recognition. If you're not up for a challenge don't buy this game because that's what you get! It took both my mum ond me 13 hours to complete the first half of the game and we can't wait for the second!

I enjoyed the first two puzzles but then it didn't seem to increase in difficulty and became repetitive very fast. I might have stuck around if I enjoyed the writing or story but found it personally very lacking in both areas. I suppose maybe this could be for a lower age group though because the conspiracy story paired very beginner level arg puzzles feels odd.

The Temporal invasion is an extremely extensive ARG, in the form of an internet scavenger hunt. When new, I would have recommended this game. However, after almost 8 years, it's becoming very difficult. Many custom webpages that were set up for it are no longer easy to find, and some news stories have been forced far enough down it's gotten much tougher. Also, I had a huge problem with the video sections being too grainy for me to be able to properly interpret them.

I was quite into that game until Part 2. Sure, the scenario and the writing come straight out from the worst Z movies, but I started appreciating them. There's an honesty and a self-awareness in these tin-foiled-hat-level conspiracy theories, you can't help yourself but to love them. The puzzles quickly started getting repetitive, and felt more like busy work than meaningful riddles. But still, some were quite inventive, and there was often that "HAHA, GOTCHA" moment, and that's enough to keep me engaged. Honestly, if the game we had was just the first third of what we actually got, my review would have been positive. But the quality and inventivity of the puzzles and the story quickly dropped, and there are way too many bad design occurences in this game: for example, I spent one hour on a puzzle of the second part... only to realize that puzzles of the second part are "just" clues, and the answer you need to enter is entirely somethings else: at no point this change in the way the game works is made clear, and I had to look at the forums to be aware of what should have been clear in-game. I'm really sad to leave a negative review for this game, but there are just too many infuriating things that prevent me to recommand playing past the first three chapters. I hope the dev's next game will fix these issues. :(

In a game that requires exact answers to be submitted and a capital letter where it doesn't belong will result in a negative result, supplying answers with incorrect capitalization so that when we write it down EXACTLY and give it back to the game in order to progress only to have the game tell us we're wrong feels REAL bad.

Definitely the best puzzle-solving game I ever played. I really loved the plot and the difficulty of the challanges, but some dialogues and texts were not grammatically, conducting to a "very good but not excellent" gameplay. Time to 100%: 29h Graphics: 8/10 Soundtrack: 10/10 Cutscenes: 10/10 Controls: 10/10 Plot: 10/10 Gameplay: 8/10 Achievements: 10/10 Price-game relation: 10/10 Rating: 9.5/10

I'd recommend if you love puzzels, like reseaching, and have a lot of time to kill. The story isn't anything super unique and I personally find it hard to take seriously, but I enjoy the puzzles and research involved. Overall, a good bit of fun and entertainment.

If you're into ARGs and puzzle-solving, you should definitely give this game a try. (It can become frustrating, though, if you can't find the answer sometimes.) Oh, I also must point out that the game is unfinished (As far as I'm concerned, it's still in progress and should be released soon.). The controls are bugging from time to time as well, so that's kind of annoying. But I still think it's worth getting it.

Worth getting this game if you like: [list] [*] Decrypting the codes [*] Googling a lot [*] Staring at the same screen for a while trying to find a key for a puzzle [/list]

Interesting as a concept but the game is less about puzzle solving and more trying to follow someone else's train of thought. By the end it just wasn't fun...

There are many reasons to dislike this game: Bad graphics Clunky controls Bad english Can be frustrating No, this game is certainly not for everyone. But if you like puzzle games, mental chellanges and the alternate history and conspiracy themes interest you, you are in for a ride. It is very hard to explain what is so great about The Temporal Invasion. I think the inclusion of real-life facts and information you have to get from the internet did it for me. You feel like you are really researching something. There are several magic moments that just sweep you off your feet and blow you away. This is definitely in my top 10 favourite games of all time.

This is a clever and fun puzzle-solver, but you can't finish it! Relies on websites that don't exist!

Solve mysteries basically, sometimes the hints are a bit off and confusing but other then that relaxing game to play

Intricate puzzles, clunky user intereface, spend lots of time Googleing for clues. But it's cheap and has a walkthrough guide. TL;DR -- It's worth getting, but don't expect to spend an evening (or several) playing it through. You'll probably start a puzzle and spend the next hour Googleing for possible solutions (or just setting it aside and mulling the problem over). I'm barely into chapter two and I have mixed feelings about this one. The price is cheap. There's a bit of a quirky plot reminiscent of the stories like the X-Files. The puzzles are on the obscure side (there's a steep increase in difficulty after chapter one). You absolutely need to be googleing for leads during the game. The user interface is not well designed. There are a series of discrete puzzles (seems like close to 100) with a vague plot thread connecting them. You get a clue from your online contact and you might have to do some sort of image manipulation or other thing to decipher the clue. You'll probably need to check online for what the clue might mean. What could have made this easier is to cut and paste text from the game and use it in a browser window for the searching, instead of having to retype everything out. To solve a puzzle, you type the solution and send your contact a message through the faux computer desktop the game provides. The solution has to be exact, which is the frustrating part. Early in the game you have to wait a minute or so for your him to email you back and tell you wether you're right or not. Realistic but frustrating. There seems to be little tolerance for pattern-matching for the solution. It would be a little nicer to get something better than a yes/no on the solutions, like "that was close, but can you give me X's more common name". The reason is that the clues you find might only point in a vague direction to a possible answer to the puzzle, and it's frustrating to try loads of different dead ends before realizing that I should have typed in a person's given name instead of the name he's commonly known by. The bright side is that there is a full walkthrough in the Community Guides, and several people have play-throughs up on youtube. There's at least one puzzle that I had no idea how to solve, looked up the solution, and still had no idea how I was supposed to have gotten there.

A fun and interesting puzzle game for its price, and will definitely keep you entertained for long. 2 hours and I've only just finished chapter 1 out of 10. However it isn't without flaws, there are grammatical errors all around which does break immersion (which is kinda crucial for a conspiracy theory ARG) and may cause some issues when trying to decipher a hint, and the writing isn't what I would call stellar(or even good, for that matter). But you know what? This scratches the itch for puzzle-solving that only games like The Black Watchmen could scratch and it does it at a fraction of the price (though admittedly it feels much less immersive due to the budgeting, no fake websites (just blogspots), cheesy writing, low res pics, pics taken from wikis, etc). I still would recommend it at this ridiculously cheap price point.

interesting concept, but the writing just too simple and cliche. Expect to see "Shadow governement" "truth" "top-secret" in excessive amounts. Also relies a little too much on photo manipulation.

If you are interested in the game and not the review, I am doing a lets play of the game here: --> https://youtu.be/74pxPl_VxSE On with the review then: I have always loved puzzles and solving difficult and long riddles, and this game fills that need! In my playthrough (More shameless self promotion, I know T_T) I was having a blast in the first few riddles and puzzles that I have seen, and I had to stop myself from playing or I would have played until three in the morning. It has very addicting gameplay, (If you can call it that) where you have to immerse yourself and find the answers to the puzzles given to you. How you solve them is something else, you have to use all the tools and resources that you have.(I.E Google, Encyclopedias, Books, ETC.) Overall a very cool topic that came out as a very cool and unique game.

I liked the concept and the artwork, but using the outside sources (f.e. search engine) to solve the puzzles makes me lose the feeling that I'm actually still playing. Sometimes the puzzles are very obvious, sometimes I had to look up solution online and to be honest after a while I couldn't care less how the right answer was linked to the puzzle. Nice idea, but IMHO constant leaving the game and looking for answers outside was a big mistake. Not the mention that in some puzzles I need to use tools on in-game computer, but I don't even have access to list of available tools (only simple search tool), so I have no idea what tool I'm actually looking for and without that tool I won't solve the puzzle.

I think the basic premise and general production of this game is great, and if it looks interesting to you, certainly give it a try it's not too expensive. But for me I thought the gameplay was a little too tedious and the solutions a bit too obscure to have consistent fun with it. It might be good to sub in for a morning crossword puzzle and play slowly, but that's not what I'm looking for in a narrative game.

I just finished the first case, and so far I LOVE it! I've read many people have had issues with the grammatical errors, but really, it's not THAT bad, I can fully understand what is being asked of me and any errors that exist do not hinder the game play in any way. The puzzles are fun and challenging, however some may be a bit difficult for players who aren't familiar with basic cryptography. There's an interesting storyline which keeps the player engaged, and I've even learned a few interesting things along the way. Graphics are basic, but this isn't the type of game that requires anything more. So, to sum up- I would highly recommend this game to any player who enjoys a little mystery, a little conspiracy, some researching, and most of all, using their little grey cells. SO worth the small price being asked.

I am super loving this game more as I progress. Challenging, brain-racking-- and that makes the game more interesting. This game will really test your resourcefulness, out of the box thinking, etc. You will absolutely love it especially if you are more into investigative puzzle solving games, (if once in your life you've dreamed to become a detective) :D This is actually the first time I write a review for a Steam purchased game. So I guess that explains everything :D

I'm a little miffed that I paid 7 dollars to play a game I already technically played. I had played Project Void on my phone and thought this would be a fun way to play more and help the developer, but all of the questions were the same. I'm disappointed because I thought there would be different ones. :( I do however recommend this game for people who haven't played Project Void.

My first puzzle game in a long while. Even though the main story is odd, the puzzles are great albeit a little easy at least for now as in the moment of writing I only finished the first case of ten. Eventhough the music is a little repetetive it gives a good atmosphere. The UI can be slightly clunky but it does the job. With it not having hints and the whole concept of the game making you writte codes on paper, googling stuff almost makes you feel like you are a spy. If you like puzzles, conspiracy theories and you don't have the attention span of a fly this game is a must buy especially with this price tag.

A very fun puzzle game. I love it because you can pick it up anytime, do a few puzzles, and return whenever your brain needs exercising. I did Case #1 last night, and will dive into Case #2 today. A few small issues I have: Not all versions of the answer will be correct, so if you're sure, try different ways of spelling the same thing. (For instance, suppose the answer is Harry Truman. You might type Harry S Truman or President Truman, but they won't work.) Also, the instructions are written strangely, and are awkward to read -- like they've been translated into English, but not quite correctly. I guess you can pretend Dr. Quantum isn't a natural English speaker (perhaps Indian like the game makers), which would explain the grammatical errors. It can be misleading, though, when words aren't used precisely (which is not a good thing for a text-based game). If it gets updated or there's a sequel, I recommend hiring an editor.

The solution detection is so painfully specific (and it breaks the promise of the Help that you'd always have to pick the shortest form) that often times I had to look up spoilers just to tell me how to phrase the answer I already knew. The emailing felt unresponsive, the photo editor way arbitrary and the other apps just had bad UX. The writing style I found annoying and so vague that it couldn't hook me in to soldier on against the gameplay issues. Especially the beginning felt more like a pitch of a story than an actual story. Also the music was short so as it looped it quickly drove me near insanity.

i like the concept, a puzzle solver that you need google for just a shame the ingame computer doesn't have a search engine so you either have to alt tab in and out a lot or use ya smart device/other pc laptop and watch ya spelling there's no close enough kennedy didnt cut it, it had to be John F Kennedy, that said the game its self is pretty lame the doc comes across like a friendless dweeb who creates alt e-mail accounts to make it look like he has friends this game is too hard for 10 year olds and too boring for an 11 year old any parent who thinks this will be good to play with a child is a bad parent

This game was promising, but ultimately I was disappointed. The biggest strike against it is that it is incomplete you cannot continue past mission 5.10.

Great game for those who like riddles, playing detectives, conspiracies and are not discouraged because of alt+tabing the game to google real information or find web pages made only for the game purpose. That's awsome! That's something I play for the first time and I want more games like that. Plus it's linux playable!

This is a review of Cases 1-5 of this game, 6-10 have yet to be released. This is a pretty good game if you enjoy puzzling things out. Will definitely exercise your brain. There's a variety of different things you will do to solve puzzles including but not limited to... Googling Reverse image searching Deciphering morse code Deciphering other kinds of code Using your smart phone as a QR reader Logical deduction Scanning documents with UV light (in-game) Manipulating photos' colors to find hidden messages (in-game) Manipulating audio files to find information (in-game) Other things... The storyline is definitely a sci-fi/horror B-movie type of plot. A stronger, more cohesive plot certainly would have helped but that wasn't as important to me as the puzzles, which this game mostly gets right. Some of the puzzles are seemingly impossible to figure out without strong hints, but the answers to each puzzle are available in the Steam discussion thread if you get stuck. It definitely seemed like the puzzles got harder as you went, and especially in Case 4 of 5 they were very frustrating at seemingly arbitrary. Even after cheating and getting the answers to some of them I still couldn't figure out how someone came to those answers. Overall this is a must buy for $5 if you enjoy these kinds of games. Looking forward to the second half when it gets released. These kinds of games are very few and far between so support this developer and pick it up!

The Temporal Invasion was released July 4, 2016 from indie developer Hybriona Labs on Steam. Currently, the developer only has a Windows version up, but promises iOS and Linux within the week. It's been on my Steam wishlist for a couple of weeks now, following some of the hype coming out of E3. I was pleasantly surprised and delighted by the quality of this game. The price point is an extremely reasonable $3.99 (on sale for $2.39 through 7/11). I occasionally play puzzle games like 100 doors or various hidden object games on my iOS devices while killing time, say, in an airport. So, when I got the email yesterday that The Temporal Invasion was coming up, I downloaded it with a subset of expectations that were wildly off course. Firstly, this game is hard. It more closely resembles a virtual treasure hunt of information throughout history than any puzzle games I've played lately. The game gives you a few sandbox tools, but is designed for the player to utilize external internet searches (or other resources, if you have them) to fact-find through multi-step complex riddles and produce an answer for each case that moves the player through the story. The premise of the story involves being contacted for help by the mysterious "Dr. Quantum." As the protagonist, you've already identified that occasionally your memories are out-of-sync with reality, but are completely unprepared to be whisked on a journey through the past and future to uncover the truth behind a massive conspiracy perpetrated by a mysterious group of scientists from the future. Actual graphics in the game are just what the screenshots in the post show, no flashy graphics or crazy cut scenes, but the story holds your attention and the difficulty level is phenomenal. Some puzzles are intuitive and you only need a google search or two to find where you're going, while others are positively confounding. As yet, very few hint posts or walkthroughs are up, so you're completely left to your own devices to work through the puzzles and riddles. There are a few rough points, a few puzzles have awkward wording that actually make the puzzles a bit harder and a couple of the puzzles took me a couple of read-throughs to figure out what piece of information was being asked for. There's not a lot of introduction in how the game works or what kind of research is expected alongside the game. That said, the intro quests do a great job of introducing you to some of the tools. Also, word to the wise, there's a "Help" button that would have been good to read before I launched directly into the game. Overall, I really enjoyed this game! (This review first appeared on my blog at: http://wp.me/p7E92j-32 , where I post lots of reviews and game news, especially for indie games!)

It's a amazing puzzle game, i've enjoyed it very much thusfar. I'd reccomend to all you sherlock holmes out there!

I would highly recommend this game for puzzle loving gamers. If you have experienced ARG and like them, this game is straight up your alley. If you have never played an Alternate Reality Game before then it is a perfect opportunity to try it out.

Great puzzle game! Great mix of detective work and technology. Highly recommended for people that want to use their brains and not just shoot at things for hours.

@3 hours. I bought this puzzle-riddle solving masterpiece in 2016 Steam Summer Sale. It has puzzles which require googling specific things. @6 hours. I can't stop playing it. My brain hurts.

This game has been a really positive surprise so far. If you are into puzzles that require real research (Google will be very helpful), conspiracy theories and a bit of experimenting this game is for you. So far it's really, really good.

Overall great and challenging game. Although two two of the puzzles were confussing because of the multiple sources one can obtain in the net.

This game is exceedingly challenging. Love playing it though. I would gladly be an editor for the second half for free.