The concept of manipulating time has always been quite the deus ex machina in all forms of media — what if the events that had just occurred were altered to produce a more favourable outcome? But, if handled properly, this trope can produce a unique link to the story being told, minus the jarring sense of disbelief. Regarding time manipulation in games, rewinding allows players to turn back time and rewrite events in the past in order to shape a new future.
The Rewinder is one such game. You play as Yun, the last living Rewinder — a special individual blessed with the ability to peer into the memories of others and alter them in order to change the outcome of their futures. Along the way, he is assisted by Light, a spirit residing within a scroll that had been passed down from his late father. This game’s puzzles are split into two parts — time manipulation within memories and overworld puzzles in order to progress the story.
Yun carries with him a book in which he records both clues and backstories behind the various characters he meets: this delves into the mythos of several Chinese spirits and deities, contextualizing their puzzles and behaviours. Both Yun and Light are dispatched to Reed River Village by two psychopomp deities, the Black and White Impermanence (黑白无常). It was once a town bustling with life, but now miasma fills the air. There’s a mystery afoot: what’s causing the villagers to be excluded from the reincarnation cycle? In this sidescrolling adventure, one is reminded of a Chinese scroll painting lovingly rendered in a pixel art style.
“In the Rewinder 1, I tried to include more Chinese aesthetics into the puzzles to make it stand out from all the other puzzle games." The Rewinder director Xinyu Wei says. "I was visiting my grandma and saw an abandoned spinning wheel in her room. That gave me inspiration.”
Point and click style, Yun and Light can head into several areas to interact with both people and objects. Objects can be combined in order to solve puzzles: at one point Yun is tasked with fixing a broken pipa string. He has to collect pieces of spiderwebs and weave them together. Luckily, an abandoned house has just the thing: a spinning wheel. This particular puzzle does require some dexterity on the player’s part, but it simply added to the tactile experience of operating such a tool.
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Within the time rewinding segments, Yun must perform a series of tasks in order to unlock the pedestal from which he can enter a person’s memory. The tutorial tasks you with walking between four stone slabs that briefly light up, but taking care to walk in the reverse order as that little section will “rewind” his steps in order to activate them. Behind each slab is a mural of a deity: they are the Four Time Guardians (四值功曹), lesser deities in the Taoist pantheon in charge of the year, month, day, and hour respectively. As the story progresses, each task becomes more complex, though the core “rewind” mechanic remains the same.
Once within a memory, Yun is able to pause time in order to interact with both objects and the thoughts of others in order to pluck details that can be used to influence the target. Doing so is important, as certain events only take place at a certain point in the timeline, and time will move unimpeded otherwise. Yun can choose to sit back and watch or change it: depending on what is done, several outcomes can result from a single memory. With the blessing of these gods, Rewinders are able to pick through the minutiae and enact change where needed ala Life is Strange, though not without unforeseen consequences.
“I sometimes ask myself what would happen if I made another decision in my life when I was younger." Xinyu Wei says. "I feel there are a lot of things that can influence one's decision while hesitating. I explored this idea, did some experiments, and finally this idea becomes the rewinding mechanism you see in the game.”
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The Rewinder 2 expands upon this moment in time (pardon the pun), and with an upcoming release in 2025, fans can look forward to more puzzles and an even greater understanding of the culture that influenced it.
“In The Rewinder 2, the story continues and the background story and characters are the same," explains Xinyu Wei. "We added a few new game mechanics into the game (including combat). It's shifted to a top-down perspective and we have designed some spatial puzzles that I think are interesting. We tried to include more exploration elements into The Rewinder 2. You don't have to play The Rewinder 1 to start this game.”
You can purchase The Rewinder and The Rewinder 2 over on Steam.
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