Out in 2026, Crushed in Time is an elastic adventure where you time travel through game development
Time travel in video games is nothing new; it’s a plot mechanic used fairly often and a fun way to shoehorn in different time periods. But what I’ve never seen before is time travel through different phases of game development. That’s what you’ll find yourself doing in Crushed in Time: a point-and-click adventure that will take you from a finished game build to an early prototype, and everything in between.
I haven’t seen the time travel mechanic in action yet, but it’s a concept that has me very intrigued indeed. Having seen games in early development, complete with placeholders, weird textures, missing characters and downright janky mechanics, I can’t wait to see how developer Draw Me a Pixel uses those things to the advantage of Crushed in Time.
I have seen a fifteen-minute demo of the game, however. After a short cutscene from the inside of a dev studio, you’re taken into the finished game — a point and click adventure starring Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. If you’re familiar with Draw Me a Pixel’s last game, There is No Game, you might already be familiar with this particular incarnation of the famous fictitious detective duo — even the same voice actors are returning to reprise their roles as Sherlock and Watson. You might also be familiar with the studio’s unique brand of game design, and whilst Crushed in Time isn’t a sequel, it’s very much a follow-up in many ways.
Being described as a point-and-click adventure, you might expect Crushed in Time to feature a lot of, well, pointing and clicking. But not exactly: instead, you’ll be pointing, and, er, stretching. Yeah: elasticity is the biggest game mechanic here, and you can grab absolutely anything in the game to stretch it. Stretch Watson’s skin to give him a good slap. Stretch an item on the floor to send it flying across the room. Stretch a drawer to open it. You get the point.
It’s a novel feature, although my only concern is whether it will remain novel or get a little tiresome as the game goes on. You can’t simply pick an item up to move it from A to B — you have to stretch and twang it across the screen, and that can mean multiple stretchings to get it where you need it to be. That might become frustrating later on, but I’m fairly certain being able to slap Sherlock and Watson won’t. Still, given Draw Me a Pixel’s history so far, I’m hopeful there’ll be other interesting uses for this mechanic that I haven’t yet seen.
Other elements of the game are worth getting excited about, though, even if I’m currently a little unsure about the elasticity mechanic. Characters are fully voiced, and every actor I’ve heard so far is stellar. It looks absolutely beautiful, too, with a blocky, over-the-top cartoon style that works really well in setting the tone of the game. As you’d expect, it’s chock-full of humour, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds.
I’ve only had the briefest of looks so far at Crushed in Time, and I know it still has plenty more secrets to reveal as its release date — sometime in 2026 — gets closer. I’m certainly intrigued to know more. As a fan of old-school point-and-click adventures, I’m excited about a bit of a twist to the genre, and I’m especially looking forward to seeing how those time travel mechanics play out. It’s one to keep your eye on, for sure.
Crushed in Time is coming to PC and Nintendo Switch in 2026.
