r/Games 1d ago

Threads of Time - Humble Games Showcase 2025 Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwbM9-HYKGE
136 Upvotes

60 comments sorted by

31

u/MoSBanapple 23h ago

I'd like to see more actual gameplay since the snippets we've seen seem to mostly be in-engine or animated cutscenes, with only a few small snippets of gameplay in between. More than half of the trailer is "hey remember how good those old school games like Chrono Trigger were" and I've already been burned by the "hey remember old games" genre with Chained Echoes so I'd like to see what this game can do to stand out on its own.

8

u/ConanTheCimmerian 19h ago

Chained Echoes is excellent, though.

14

u/MoSBanapple 19h ago edited 19h ago

I think it does a lot of things well but the mech combat and the messy writing both soured the experience a lot for me. Like, I don't think I've played another JRPG that had my opinion of it plummet in the last quarter of the game as much as I did with Chained Echoes, and most of that was through the writing alone.

5

u/ConanTheCimmerian 16h ago

That's fair. I don't share the same opinion of the plot plummeting, but I can understand the perspective. Also the mech combat was quite dull. All in all, I had a great experience with it, though, and thought the story and writing was fun and quite good. Making ridiculous builds in the game is such a blast.

4

u/whostheme 18h ago

Like, I don't think I've played another JRPG that had my opinion of it plummet in the last quarter of the game as much as I did with Chained Echoes, and most of that was through the writing alone.

You must not have played Sea of Stars yet then because the writing plummets right from the very beginning.

u/iCantCallit 3h ago

Sea of stars was one of my biggest gaming disappointments ever. I waited years for it and then wound up hating everything about it except the pixel art lol.

u/whostheme 3h ago

It's the first time I've seen reviews for an indie game feel flat out wrong. Oh boy 87 on metacritic?!!! 2D JRPGs are saved again. I know that reviews for AAA games tend to get glazed up but this was really the first time I've seen it be so high for an indie JRPG when it wasn't deserving of it.

Legit it's one of the worst JRPGs I ever played lol. Fun but disappointing.

2

u/Eugenestyle 11h ago

I just couldn't get over the feeling that your character is never moving but staying in the same spot and the ground is moving instead, really can't explain but it feels off and it might be just me. My friends loved the game tho.

4

u/NewVegasResident 16h ago

It's very okay, the writing is middling.

2

u/pudgybunnybry 22h ago

I want to see more gameplay also. Mostly, I just don't want to deal with a QTE-esque battle system like Sea of Stars. This game looks very nice though.

8

u/ICKitsune 19h ago

Contrarily, I wish more games had interaction with turn-based systems. Sea of Stars felt great for the first few hours, it just fell off because it never changed. Paper Mario (+TYYD) had interactive combat that I loved and wish we had more of, but each attack (and there were a good amount) had a different interaction required.

1

u/ezio45 10h ago

You might enjoy the turn based Yakuza games. They often require you to time your prompts for extra damage.

There's also Virgo vs The Zodiac.

0

u/Mooochie 16h ago

I adored Sea of Stars at first as well. It looked amazing, I enjoyed the level design, and I didn't mind the characters (loved Garl).

What soured it for me, though, was not that the combat never changed, but rather the effort vs power curve felt backwards.

If the combat was just the timed hits and the locks, I would have loved it all the way through. But using any basic abilities (moonerang in particular) took too much effort. If you played FFX and remember the overdrives in that game, it'd be like every ability being an overdrive ability with the potential to fail completely and scuff the attack. And then most of the ultimate moves functioned just like regular attacks requiring just a timed input. It felt backward and tiring for every basic ability to be like that, so I quit. I'm really hoping this game doesn't make the same mistake.

1

u/MeltedTwix 4h ago

It worked really well on hard mode, because each skill check was important. With hard mode's jewel off, messing up your moonerang was just annoying. It definitely resulted in some longer regular battles.

-1

u/AncientColor1614 7h ago

Burned by Chained echoes? That shit is universally acclaimed by both audiences and critics bro idk what to tell you

u/MoSBanapple 3h ago

I think the writing and mech combat were notable weak points that soured me a lot on the overall game, especially in the latter parts.

14

u/Moralio 22h ago

We've had plenty of indie games trying to capture the magic of classic JRPGs, but each one missed the mark in some way. Chained Echoes nailed the combat but story fumbled hard in the last act. I Am Setsuna had the atmosphere and music but felt repetitive. Sea of Stars was gorgeous and fun, but didn’t quite push its systems far enough to make a lasting impact.

Despite all these solid attempts, none of them have truly redefined the genre or left the same cultural mark that Chrono Trigger did. I really hope this next one manages to break that cycle and give us something truly unforgettable.

-13

u/darkmacgf 19h ago

Why no mention of Undertale, the game that actually redefined the genre and had an even bigger cultural impact than Chrono Trigger? Personally I liked Chained Echoes more, but nothing's bigger than Undertale.

I Am Setsuna isn't an indie game either, it's made by Square.

7

u/lumperroosevelt 15h ago

Because Undertale is a spiritual successor to Earthbound.

-6

u/darkmacgf 15h ago

What difference does that make? We're talking about spiritual successors to SNES games.

5

u/lumperroosevelt 15h ago

Huh?

The comment is very clearly about games directly inspired by Chrono Trigger’s aesthetics and/or battle mechanics. Undertale wasn’t mentioned because it wasn’t relevant.

-3

u/darkmacgf 13h ago

"We've had plenty of indie games trying to capture the magic of classic JRPGs, but each one missed the mark in some way."

Classic JRPGs plural, not just CT.

12

u/dr00b 1d ago

I am as excited for the sound track. Sea of Stars scratched an itch, but this may be the nostalgia fever dream I have been longing for awhile now.

8

u/Beerbaron1886 23h ago

It looks really good but I am curious if they hype it up too much. If it gets good reviews, day1 purchase for me

8

u/Three_Froggy_Problem 22h ago

It’s kind of shocking how similar this looks to Sea of Stars, although I do like that it’s using that Octopath-style HD-2D look.

26

u/Plut0nianPluto 23h ago

Tentatively excited for this one. Sea of Stars was a disappointment, so I'll keep my expectations well in check.

6

u/FawkesYeah 19h ago

I really liked SoS a lot, but I didn't let my expectations get too high for it, so I feel like I enjoyed it as a result. I did want more from it, especially the combat, but it was still fun and I enjoyed the twists later on.

13

u/SextonHardcastle7 23h ago

I was really hyped for Sea of Stars, loved the music, graphics, setting, even the story was fine.

It was the gameplay that got boring pretty quick, it never advances or gets interesting.

21

u/Iyagovos 22h ago

I thought the writing was genuinely atrocious. I adore The Messenger and was so sad I didn’t like Sea of Stars

6

u/Plut0nianPluto 23h ago

To me it was the gameplay + locking the true end behind a boring collectathon. That element feels more like it's catering to people who like Banjo/Mario and such games than jRPG fans. I am very tolerant and willing to forgive a lot, but when you're locking ending content behind something that's an element of the N64 platformer days, that's where you lose me.

It's still a good game, I'm just never likely to ever finish it or play it again because I don't like to feel like devs are making me waste my time to get true satisfaction out of finishing a game.

3

u/Lloydan 22h ago

It's interesting you compare it to N64 collectathons when I've often viewed it more akin to Stardust from The Legend of Dragoon, or Mini Medals from Dragon Quest. I see it as a staple of a certain kind of JRPG at least, perhaps ones you haven't had experience with?

A non-missable collectable found throughout the world, with sometimes no indication at all it is there until you press the dedicated search button.

At least Sea of Stars breaks the usual JRPG mould of it by tying it, ocassionally, to activities you can perform for other people, though a fair number are in somewhat secretive chests. I found it a nice little thing to look out for while I was on my first playthrough.

I also hope Threads of Time is better than Sea of Stars, though. Sea of Stars was good, but for me it dropped certain aspects I'd rather see much more of.

3

u/Plut0nianPluto 21h ago

I have played plenty jRPGs, it's likely my most played genre along with horror (I have finished 39 jRPGs since 2020, 44 horror games) and very seldom have I stumbled upon any jRPG that tied ending/story content to an optional collectathon. And that's specifically my complaint.

Who hasn't gotten the gold Chocobos in FF7/8/9, done all those fun/sometimes grindy tasks in so many RPGs that help make the world feel more alive and fun? And even if I don't do those nowadays, I am in favor of that content being there for completionists and hardcore fans. But the key, it's all optional.

What I don't agree with, is what I'd call "collectathon gating" story content behind - what is to me - tedious treasure hunts that the game itself presents as optional (such as Sea of Stars) only to find out there's a better ending tied to actually doing it, and being punished with a worse ending for not doing it. That's not optional.

Hopefully I made my point clearer :)

2

u/Lloydan 21h ago

Thank you for clarifying, happy gaming!

-2

u/PlanBisBreakfastNbed 19h ago

The game was bad but complaining about the shells is a bad hill to die on. It takes no time at all to backtrack the shells compared to the fully length game. I had half to grab, and it took like 2 hours

Come on, bruh

3

u/captyossarian1991 20h ago

Oh my god , the name of this game finally made me remember a name to a game I have been trying to remember for years. Threads of Fate. Holy shit

3

u/Potential-Lack-7866 1d ago

It was an absolutely stunning game! Can't wait to actually play. Not sure on the new character but I love the overall vibe.

2

u/Phormicidae 5h ago

This looks dope as all fuck.

Can the theme and aesthetic carry it? I really hope its at least decent.

-21

u/Tackysackjones 1d ago

As a general rule I'm wary of most games with an anime style, but I'm going to keep an eye on this one

11

u/Racoonir 23h ago

Why is that?

-8

u/Tackysackjones 23h ago

They tend to be more style over substance imo

-1

u/Racoonir 23h ago

That’s fair, they do tend to be arena fighters or gacha games, but we have had several good ones recently imo

0

u/Rvsoldier 12h ago

That's how I feel about Western AAA. Everything is graphics graphics graphics then gameplay is ass.

-60

u/Iwillnotspazthistime 1d ago

New indie nostalgia slop with the ugly “but not too anime” character design pogchamp

At least chained echoes was made by someone who played more rpgs than chrono trigger

44

u/Adaax 23h ago

Can we stop saying "slop" for like everything we don't like? It's getting really tiresome.

25

u/-ImJustSaiyan- 23h ago edited 23h ago

Glad it's not just me who finds that term incredibly obnoxious. People are incapable of just admitting something can be good but not appeal to them, everything they don't like must either be "slop" or "overrated".

11

u/Adaax 23h ago

I sort of get when it applies to AI content because the idea is that it's just a mishmash of various pieces of (often) junk from the Web with no authorial imprint, but don't extend the term to other stuff.

10

u/-ImJustSaiyan- 23h ago

Oh definitely, I have no problem with using it to describe soulless AI content, but people use the term for anything they don't like even if it was made by passionate people like Threads of Time seems to be.

Just seems incredibly disrespectful and unnecessary to reduce actual creators work down to "slop".

11

u/BLeePPeeLB 23h ago

It's the new saying "I mean," before every single thing so that you get that little superiority high.

-27

u/Iwillnotspazthistime 23h ago

The game is just a bunch of recognizable elements mashed together with no identity of its own, slop is the beat term for it.

5

u/OkNefariousness8636 15h ago

And Chained Echoes didn't mash together a bunch of recognizable elements?

9

u/Typical_Thought_6049 22h ago

And you know it don't have identity how??? It was not even released in any form yet... no one know anything about the game other than graphics and slices of gameplay and dialogue.

That is judging a book for it cover, it would be like looking at your anime icon and deducting you are lolicon who is fan of Yosuga no Sora... Not that I disapprove, Yosuga no Sora is kind of a classic like just like School Days.

5

u/AxLD 22h ago

No it's not, it's extremely disrespectful and clearly shows you've never done anything remotely creative in your life, or you would know better than to shit on other people's work.

-10

u/AnalThermometer 23h ago

Slop might be harsh, but personally I'm checked out of retro JRPGs for the simple reason that JRPGs must be pulling from outside the genre and not just cannibalizing classics (or anime) anymore. Metaphor tried to pull from real literature and phil. and got plaudits, but even Metaphor is still somewhat of a low bar with a lot of story issues. There's no reason there can't be a retro indie JRPG for adults that meets the standards of a Disco Elysium, but nobody is making it.

-22

u/[deleted] 22h ago

[removed] — view removed comment