Times & Galaxy Review (PC): A Stellar Take on the Adventure Game Formula

Canadian-based Copychaser Games take on a more spaced-out setting with Times & Galaxy after their success in the ghostly world of Speed Dating with Ghosts. While journalism and the efforts behind it are at the core of the game, it never feels like a simple education tool or gamification of media literacy. The well-rounded writing and inviting world keep the game lighthearted and fun—just like any adventure game of the LucasArts variety would.

You play as a robot who was created with the primary function to report on the news. As the first of your kind, you’re tested out as an intern at the titular newspaper by being shot off to all sorts of far-out events to get the latest news scoop. It’s not all work and no play though as you get to enjoy downtime between assignments, building connections with colleagues (even romantic ones!) and exploring the newspaper’s spaceship.

Blast Off into Journalism

As with many adventure games, the mechanics and gameplay loops in Times & Galaxy are straightforward and based around dialogue choices, investigation, and gathering information. Rinse, take a break with some collegial chit-chat, and repeat. These mechanics match up perfectly into the journalism angle of the game, but are transformed with the Build-A-Story mechanic in each assignment.

The Build-A-Story mechanic organizes information from whatever lines of questioning and investigation you chose to take during an assignment dovetailing nicely into a choice of what angles to pursue in a story. Information is tagged by what angle it would best serve and is accompanied by explanations of real journalism terms to better inform your choices. You can go to a cat competition and come out writing a sensational story about bribery or just a straightforward piece announcing the winner. It makes each cycle feel fresh and gets you excited to see what you can accomplish with each assignment.

However, there are times the Build-A-Story mechanic feels like a double-edge sword. The combination of labeling information and the explanations of each section being filled out  in actual journalistic terms work against each other at times when making a story. Sometimes you’ll choose all the sensationalist options, but then come out with a  headline that has nothing to do with the actual information you end up choosing to highlight. While Times & Galaxy is a game first and foremost, it is still jarring to see what can pass as an article in-game when there are real journalism terms on-screen that can run counter that in-game judgment.

Witty Writing and Appealing Art

Despite the novel mechanic having turbulence during some take-offs, the elevation of more traditional adventure game mechanics was not left to it alone. Times & Galaxy’s four-person writing team had to deliver a tall order to keep everything from the in-game text to dialogue in this narrative-heavy game engaging.

The writing delivers and knocks it out of the galaxy as it never disappoints or drops in quality, even with the wide variety of stories and situations it chooses to explore.

A courtroom drama beat is made just as compelling as a quick conversation with a colleague who is a sports superfan. Conversations feel like ones you could have with real life people and characters have their own distinct tone—each spiced up with a dash of humor. Even reading about the many board games in the living quarters plays a fun part in worldbuilding. Each line brings to life the jubilant galactic world and keeps the tone light without succumbing to the gravity of typical real-world news stories or making things too alien from everyday life.

The art ties everything about the game together in a nice, cartoon bow. With its thick outlines and charming color palette, playing through the game feels like exploring a space world from a newspaper comic strip in all the best ways. Each world is given character through its unique layouts and elements while still feeling like it’s part of the same galaxy. There are also a good chunk of characters whose designs and stills bring forth their personalities when engaging with them—be it for an interview or a simple chat around the depressed watercooler (IYKYK… ).

Some Slight Turbulence

There is one quality-of-life component missing from this game: the ability to load a save file while in-game. At the time of writing, you can only load a previous save file returning to the menu screen. This means if you’re a frequent saver in narrative adventure games or visual novels, you may find that little bit of friction if you wish to re-do an interview or conversation.

While this reviewer didn’t encounter any game-breaking bugs, it should also be noted that other players have reported bugs that cause them to replay sections. The team has reported they are working on fixing such issues.

Final Verdict

All in all, Times & Galaxy provides an out-of-this-world experience for those who are on the adventure games beat. Times & Galaxy’s writing team did an amazing job in bringing the world to life with engaging dialogue and charismatic characters. All the art is eye-candy and looks like it could be found in any funny page of a newspaper. The game’s main Build-A-Story mechanic may not always find a balance between its real world and gaming aspects, but it still freshens up what could have easily been a run-of-the-mill adventure game experience.

Times & Galaxy was reviewed on PC with a code provided by Copychaser Games. It is also available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox.

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