Time Hollow (2008). Play online

Summary

Time Hollow turns the DS touchscreen into a time‑bending paintbrush. By tapping and dragging the stylus you sketch circular “portals” that freeze the world and let you slip into a recorded past moment. Each portal costs a portion of the character’s “Time” meter, which works like health, while hidden Chrons can be recovered by tracking down the wandering cat Sox. The mechanic feels both puzzle‑like and narrative‑driven, giving a tangible sense of consequence for every edit you make.

The game’s visuals rely on layered static backdrops that shift to produce a subtle 3D parallax, complemented by animated cut‑scenes that highlight key events without breaking immersion. Junko Kawano, known for the PS2 title Shadow of Memories, penned the script, bringing her signature twist‑y take on memory and causality to the DS format. The combination of tactile pen controls, resource‑management gameplay, and stylized presentation makes Time Hollow a standout adventure on a handheld often dominated by action titles.

Storyline

Time Hollow follows 17‑year‑old Ethan Kairos, whose parents Timothy and Pamela vanish on his birthday, leaving the world altered as if they had disappeared twelve years earlier. While searching for clues, Ethan discovers a strange green Hollow Pen tied to a note on his cat Sox’s collar and a hidden message in a dumpster behind his school. The pen lets him open portals to the past, so he rewrites small incidents—saving friends, fixing accidents—and meets the enigmatic Kori Twelves, who also seems displaced in time.

Ethan soon learns he isn’t the only pen wielder. Irving Onegin, an antiques dealer, wields his own Hollow Pen to exact revenge for his mother’s suicide, which he blames on Ethan’s supposed role in her death. Irving repeatedly manipulates events, targeting Ethan’s friends and trying to murder Kori.

Through a series of rewrites, Ethan prevents a restaurant explosion that killed his parents, confronts Irving on a cliff, and forces the villain to fall. He also discovers Irving’s mother had used a pen to end her life out of guilt.

With help from his uncle Derek, who runs the Chronos café, Ethan sends the pen and the original note back to his past self, closing the loop and averting a time paradox.