Review: Chrono Gear: Warden of Time is Hololive via 90s Platformers

Chrono Gear: Warden of Time is the latest game from the Holo Indie initiative, where small developers put together games full of everyone’s favorite VTubers. This time, the focus is on Kronii, the personification of time itself, as she heads out on a platforming adventure developed by the team behind Freedom Planet.

I have a confession to make up front. I know next to nothing about Hololive. I don’t tend to watch a lot of streamers, whether human or animated, so their work has never been on my radar. I’m aware of how dedicated the fanbase is and honestly pretty impressed with the tech that makes VTubing work as a concept, but it’s just not for me. What I do know, however, is platformers, and Chrono Gear: Warden of Time is a decent one.

If you’ve ever played Freedom Planet, or one of the Genesis-era Sonic the Hedgehog games that inspired it, you have a small window into what to expect here. It’s not exact, as the persistent acceleration that defines those games isn’t present here. Kronii has a natural top speed when she runs, and it’s a fairly standard speed for most platformers.

That said, momentum does factor into the gameplay, as multiple mechanics can be combined to enhance Kronii’s movement. These include a ground dash, a deadly spinning air dash and time manipulation powers including the ability to temporarily increase her speed. These can be combined with level gimmicks and terrain to effectively fling her around and keep the momentum going. For example, grind rails provide consistent speed or you can jump through rings that propel Kronii forwards.

When you hit the sweet spot of chaining all this together, it can feel hugely satisfying. The circus level that introduces the aforementioned rings is a particular highlight because of how expertly placed those rings are. You’ll be hopping between them with ease, flinging yourself through the level with wild abandon and having a great time.

Sadly, not every level has this feeling though. There are more than a few Labyrinth Zone style levels in Chrono Gear: Warden of Time, where the pace slows down and the game’s flaws become a little more obvious. It still feels like a 90s platformer, but it becomes less Sonic and more like something that could have been a massive hit on the Amiga. Depending on your view, this comment could be seen as immensely derogatory or the greatest thing in the world. It’s got the same chunky feeling as many platformers on that system, the levels seem determined to throw every theme under the sun at you without much cohesion and the camera is weirdly zoomed in.

For the record, this is mostly fine. Chrono Gear: Warden of Time is a fun game the vast majority of the time. But the cracks show often enough. The slower-paced levels often feel thrown together, an assortment of obstacles lined up in ways that don’t always make sense. Sometimes puzzle sequences can be repeated an excessive number of times to the point it feels like padding. The close camera view leads to enemy attacks coming from offscreen, which is often frustrating. Some stage gimmicks have a tendency of wrenching control from you and throwing you directly into an obstacle – the fluid passages in the submarine level were especially bad for this.

I also felt like some aspects of Kronii’s moveset weren’t as fleshed out as they could be. Basic air attacks felt toothless, as she falls like a rock while using them. At best you’ll get one hit in before falling away from your target. I guess this was to encourage greater use of the spinning air dash. However, if you don’t have some distance ahead of the enemy, the dash feels a lot less viable so it would have been nice to have better options. I would have liked a system similar to The Messenger, where successful air attacks could be turned into additional jumps. I feel this would have also opened the game up to greater momentum sequences, where you could bounce off a succession of enemies before air dashing to more platforms.

The real question is, how well did I navigate the writing of Chrono Gear: Warden of Time when I have no knowledge of Hololive? Honestly, pretty well. There’s a quick introductory cutscene that explains that Kronii is part of the Council that governs the universe, along with the other members. A mysterious figure has broken Kronii’s Chrono Gear and broken the space-time continuum. Since it’s her mechanism that’s been broken, she’s tasked with collecting all the Golden Gears that can be used to fix it. That’s all you need to know, now go jump around a bit.

Every level features scenes starring other Hololive talent, as they’re all wandering around the galaxy, caught up in the chaos. I have basically no idea who anyone is and no one is given a proper introduction, so this is absolutely designed as a game for fans. That said, it didn’t really matter as most of the scenes were just banter and nothing was required to understand the game’s extremely basic plot.

Instead, I just went along with whatever shenanigans unfolded. Did it matter that I felt like I was peering in on the in-jokes of a bunch of strangers? Sometimes, yet somehow it managed to be consistently entertaining. The cast are a fun bunch of goofballs and they managed to get plenty of laughs out of me. Some jokes are a little corny but it works with the general tone if you let it wash over you. Most of it is just chaos, and I mean that entirely affectionately. Does this mean I’ll start watching their streams? Absolutely not, but I was definitely having fun here.

The rest of the presentation is generally excellent. Admittedly, the pixel art isn’t necessarily the best out there. The character portraits are expressive even if I felt some of the character sprites looked a little muddy. The music, however, is full of bangers. The Sonic influence is present, but it also takes influence from other great platformer soundtracks. One level in particular reminded me of the transcendent ambience of the Donkey Kong Country games. On top of that, it still maintained a strong identity of its own and I don’t recall a single level where the music was bland or forgettable. And the developers clearly knew it too, as one of the main collectibles is music tracks for an in-game jukebox, so you can listen to them any time you want.

Chrono Gear: Warden of Time is exactly what you’d expect from a project like this. It’s rough around the edges but made with such obvious love that it’s hard not to find it charming. It’s far from the best in the genre, but there’s still plenty of enjoyment to be found here, especially for Hololive fans.

Chrono Gear: Warden of Time is set for release soon for PC via Steam and itch.io.