Cris Tales embraces time travel in both the way it tackles the genre and through its most compelling game mechanic. In its opening hours, protagonist Crisbell literally gains the ability to see the past, present, and future all at once, but Cris Tales' game design also takes the nostalgia of older JRPGs like Chrono Trigger and brings them into the present, which encourages players to think ahead to the genre's future.

When Crisbell's town of Narim is attacked by the forces of the Time Empress, she must undergo a journey to harness her powers and save the world. Cris Tales is a game where you must use clues from current and past events in order to create the best outcome. 

We see our first look at the game’s time magic in the first fight, where Crisbell teams up with mage warrior Cristopher against warrior women with impenetrable shields. Cristopher hits the shield with water magic, which allows Crisbell to use her Time Crystals to rust the shield by sending the enemy to the future.

The battle abilities of Cristopher and Crisbell also reflect their personalities. Crisbell shows resourcefulness by deciding to use the combination of her Time Crystals and Cristopher's water magic to rust the warrior women's shield. Meanwhile, Cristopher displays a sense of duty by choosing to help a girl he just met defend a town.  

While time travel plays an important role in battle, it’s also used outside of combat, such as when you visit towns. The past and future of the town and its inhabitants can be seen concurrently in gorgeous 2D hand-drawn graphics reminiscent of the movie The Book of Life. As you walk around, the camera zooms in and out to reveal more of where you are. It's a nice way to encourage the player to explore and talk to the town's inhabitants.

In addition, Crisbell can use a talking orange frog named Matias to time-jump to the past or future. This allows you to not only pick up items from chests scattered around town, but also complete subquests by talking to NPCs, obtaining items, and making crucial choices. For instance, in Narim Crisbell visits the Time Mage Wilhelm, using Matias to visit the future and obtain fruit from a tree planted in the present. This fruit is then used to make an item that can fix either Narim's apothecary or someone's house—but not both. This gives the player a conundrum to solve for themselves.

Cris Tales is a game that showcases the value of time travel through its intricate battle system, vibrant characters, and memorable towns. By having past, present, and future overlap instead of being separated, it shows that every action can matter—no matter how big or small.

You can pick up Cris Tales right now in the Epic Games Store.