Video Game / Chrono Gear: Warden of Time

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Chrono Gear: Warden of Time is a 2D action platformer centered around hololive's Ouro Kronii. It is produced under holo Indie by SpaceyBat and her studio GalaxyTrail and shares similarities with their previous work on the Freedom Planet series, but it leans more towards Metroidvania styled combat and platforming and tells its story through a mix of sprite animation and OVA styled animated cutscenes.

Ouro Kronii was one of five concepts given human form by the gods in order to bring balance to the universe (the others being Space, Nature, Civilization, and Chaos, with a sixth concept Hope helping to unite them). She grew prideful due to humanity's obsession with time, and as a result created the titular Chrono Gear to expand her powers. Unfortunately, this drew the attention of an extremely powerful being from an alternate timeline who wanted its powers for her own goals. The resulting battle over the Chrono Gear resulted in its destruction and scattered its components, the Golden Gears, across the universe. Kronii must now journey through her shattered timeline to collect the Golden Gears and repair the space-time continuum.

As the Warden of Time, Kronii is able to control the flow of time around her with two special abilities: Haste, which increases her speed and lets her teleport and perform spin attacks, and Stasis, which slows down nearby objects and enemies and reduces her gravity to make platforming easier. She also has access to a variety of sword attacks, including the Kroniicopter and Drill Dash.

The game was released on Steam on September 11, 2025. The full game is available here and a free demo is currently available here.

Trailer 1 Trailer 2

Has nothing to do with either Chrono Trigger or Chrono Cross, nor does it have anything to do with Daisuke Moriyama's manga Chrono Crusade, despite the similar titles.

This game provides examples of the following tropes:

• Adaptational Badass: The eponymous Chrono Gear is Kronii's clock-like halo, which is usually treated as just an interesting accessory. In the game, however, it is both an Amplifier Artifact and Cosmic Keystone that further boosts Kronii's control over time.
• Alternate Self: Alter Laplus Darknesss is this to the original Laplus, whom she had imprisoned to keep the latter from getting in the way of her plans. It's later revealed the Kronii in this game is also an alternate version of the original that serves as the Warden of Time for the timeline that Alter Laplus originates from.
• Antepiece: The game does this to nearly all its obstacles and mechanics, presenting a simple example before the complex ones. An early example of this are the pachinko chips in Carnival Railway which must be pushed into a hole to progress.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • Each level shows how much collectibles are present in it. Also, if a collectible is near Kronii's position during said level, the game will warn you of its presence with a visual and audio cue.
  • In a later update, the spawning of fish in the Magic Resort was adjusted so that every third fish is guaranteed to be a species the player hasn't caught yet, which makes getting the A True Profishional achievement much less luck based.
• Athletic Arena Level: KFP Stadium takes place in a sports arena with dirt tracks, tire stacks, swimming pools, and chicken gladiators. Each of its five sections task Kronii with grabbing a fire orb at the end and bringing it back to the start.
• Battleship Raid: Battleship Aquamarine is one of these - IN SPACE!
• Big Bad: The main antagonist is a version of Laplus Darknesss from an alternate timeline in which she broke free from the shackles that were suppressing her true power.
• Big Fancy Castle: Hoshinova Castle in the World of Space. It serves as Moona's home and she allowed Luna to take residence in it with her but it has a darkness problem. In the Alter timeline, it is revisited again but this time, it is invaded by the Ancient Ones.
• Bizarro Elements: The game's intro cinematic distinguishes the core elements/concepts of its universe: Space, Nature, Time, Civilization, Chaos and Hope.
• Bottomless Pits: Subverted. Falling into a hole will result in Kronii being teleported above a nearby solid ground, falling on it and taking some damage in the process but it will never kill her.
• Checkpoint: The game has them. Reaching them allows IRyS to heal Kronii after she joins the adventure.
• Clock Tower: Bell Town takes place in a mechanical city in the World of Time, and you must obtain the Golden Gear by ascending one of these and ringing its bell.
• Collection Sidequest: There are collectible CDs and Threads of Time in most missions. The former will unlock songs to play in the Jukebox and the latter are an in-game currency used to unlock more songs and artworks.
• Cosmic Keystone: The titular Chrono Gear. There are actually two versions of it; one very powerful built by main timeline Kronii which is the one shattered by the initial battle against Alter Laplus; the other built by the alternate Kronii, which was weaker and failed to preserve the Alter timeline, it is in possession of Alter Laplus who used it to travel to the main timeline. By the end of the game, only the main timeline Chrono Gear will remain, restored and kept by the alternate Kronii.
• Degraded Boss: Some of the early bosses show up as normal encounters in later missions, most notably Armored Rangoon and Shadow Armor.
• Dual Wielding: Kronii attacks with her twin clock swords, Tick and Tock.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: Alter Laplus' lair and The Very Definitely Final Dungeon of the game, aptly called "Tower of Darkness".
• Fairy Companion: IRyS becomes one of these at the start of the game, shrinking down from her normal size. Her fairy form also acts as the cursor on the title screen.
• Foreshadowing: When confronting La+ after stopping her truck and realizing that she's not Alter La+, Kronii briefly says "You're not my..." before being cut off by Bae. It hints that Kronii is far more acquainted with Alter La+ than she lets on.
• Flash Step: Kronii can teleport a short distance forward by holding left or right when turning off Haste. Doubles as an air dash.
• The Ghost: Flare mentions that the members of Shiranui Kensetsu are in the forest when she comes across Kronii, but none of the members appear in the World of Nature. In fact, the only other member who appears in the game is Polka, but she's encountered much earlier in the World of Time and is focused on her circus.
• Harder Than Hard: Overclocked difficulty, added in version 1.1, makes enemies a lot faster and stronger, increases the number of enemies in most missions, and reduces the duration of Kronii's time powers. It is somewhat downplayed in that Kronii's attacks also inflict double damage and her mana regenerates faster, turning her into a Glass Cannon.
• Helpful Mook: Kronii has her own set of Mooks, the Kronies, who are small clock mascots. They can be summoned by touching a Kroniephone, at which point they will form into either a rolling wheel that can steamroll enemies or a vertical stack that gives Kronii extra jump height.
• Hub Level: The full game contains a hub in each world that Kronii returns to after completing missions. They contain NPCs and other interactible objects, and some of them contain minigames, such as World of Nature's hub having a fishing rod.
• Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: The game has three difficulties named (from easy to hard) Calm, Brave, and Proud. Version 1.1 adds a fourth difficulty above Proud named Overclocked.
• Inopportune Impersonation Failure: Kronii is trying to impersonating her main timeline counterpart but at multiple points of the game, someone will remark that this is unusual for her. All of this will be summarized by Amelia just before her Boss Fight, which causes Kronii to drop the mask in front of her.
• Last Chance Hit Point: Losing all of your health causes the word "DANGER" to flash red on the health bar; You will be defeated only after being hit while in this state.
• Level Ate: "The Great Space Bake" level in the World of Space. It is entirely made of platforms made of bread, cake or various sweets.
• Lore Codex: The full game has a Codex menu that is automatically filled with Flavor Text of the characters, mascots, enemies, and items you come across.
• Marathon Level: The first mission in the Tower of Darkness, "The Final Ascent", is a massive gauntlet where each of its three sections require collectibles to progress: 300 notes in the tower's base, an additional 150 notes inside the time portal, and 3 keys during the final climb to the top. While most missions in the game have par times of 6-10 minutes, The Final Ascent has a par time of 40 minutes, and for good reason.
• The Maze: The second level in the World of Civilization is literally called this, taking place in a sprawling cavern where Kronii and Mumei must collect 10 spare parts to open the giant door at the start.
• Mordor: Alter Laplus and Kronii's timeline is reduced to this as a result of a Class 6 Apocalypse How, a heavily hostile environment where no other sentient being exists. It is the last world visited before The Very Definitely Final Dungeon and it is composed of several Bleak Levels.
• Mythology Gag: Being a Hololive fan game, the game is naturally full of them. Various members outside of CouncilRys and HoloX are present.
  • The minigame in the World of Civilization is a 2D PowerWash Simulator, referencing Kronii's love for that game.
  • The arcade games found in the World of Chaos are referencing several Hololive members, usually those not present in the game. Some of the games present are also real Hololive fan games, such as Idol Showdown.
  • The clipper enemy, a floating pair of scissors, is using the same design as CouncilRyS RPG.
  • The hub in Kronii's and Alter Laplus' timeline is called "The Bunker", referencing the Bunkeronii that Kronii built in Minecraft.
• Parrying Bullets: Any projectile can be reflected with Kronii's swords. This doubles as a source of healing, since reflected projectiles will occasionally drop healing crystals. During the latter Boss Fight, if Kronii deflects Energy Ball, Alter Laplus can also do this with her sword, making her a Tennis Boss.
• Patchwork Map: The shattered universe is represented by five glass shards that are themed around the same concepts as the Council: World of Time, World of Nature, World of Space, World of Civilization, and World of Chaos.
• Pinball Zone: Ducky God Arcade is a dilapidated but vibrant arcade setting with giant pinball bumpers, air hockey platforms, and TV screens that Kronii can jump into.
• Plot Coupon: The Golden Gears serve this purpose, and collecting them is the goal of most missions.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Defied. Although Amelia and the Council do not react well to Kronii's admission that she is from an alternate timeline and has been pretending to be their Kronii, they are ultimately understanding of her situation and recognize all of the good she has done for them, so despite being upset with her, they refuse to abandon her.
• Protagonist Title: Kronii, the sole playable character of the game, is the titular Warden of Time.
• Score Screen: Upon completing a mission, you are given a score based on three categories: Song Power (notes collected), Damage, and Time.
• Ship Tease: Like among the idols, there's some Kronii/Mumei and IRyS/Bae moments of flirty banner and teasing. As the game progresses, especially with the ending, there's an increase in Kronii/IRyS teasing.
• Shout-Out:
  • Using Haste while waiting for a fish to bite results in "WAITS FASTER" appearing above Kronii's head, a reference to a meme about being told to hurry up while waiting for a bus to arrive.
  • The Depths of Atlantis stage are covered in electric seaweed. Thankfully, they're not nearly as abundant as in the damn Dam level, and they give you just enough time to get away before they zap you.
• Sole Survivor: Alter Laplus is the sole survivor of her timeline. In reality, this is downplayed since the Kronii of this game is also coming from the same timeline as Alter Laplus, making them its two sole survivors. At the end of the game, Kronii becomes the only survivor of her timeline, playing this straight.
• Spin Attack: Kronii can perform one with her swords in the air when Haste is active.
• Tick Tock Terror: The ambient music that plays during Kronii's dream sequences include a deep, ominous clock ticking noise.
• Tick Tock Tune: Several of the game's music tracks incorporate clock ticking sounds into the percussion, particularly within the World of Time.
• Time Master: Kronii is able to accelerate time for herself with Haste and slow down time around her with Stasis. The Chrono Gear itself (presumably) grants her additional powers. Being a time traveler herself, Amelia has similar but different abilities when fought as a boss and is acutely aware of whenever Kronii rewinds if she dies during Amelia's Boss Battle.
• Time Rewind Mechanic: Dying in a mission and returning to the previous checkpoint is framed in-universe as Kronii rewinding time to recover her injuries.
• Time Trial: Every mission saves your fastest completion time. Completing missions quickly will award you with a higher score, but there is otherwise no penalty for taking your time and exploring.
• Trailers Always Spoil: Subverted. The second trailer shows a shot of CouncilRys, sans Kronii, disappearing into dust, but they are fine during the whole game. Double Subverted with the CouncilRys from Kronii's and Alter Laplus's timeline, who they are truly gone.
• Video Game Dashing: Kronii has four ways to dash: a ground dash a la Mega Man X, a sprint (when holding the dash long enough), the Drill Dash, and the Teleport.
• Visual Pun: The Clipper enemy in the World of Nature, living gardening shears that double as a reference to the "clippers" that make hololive short videos, as discussed by the Codex.
• "Wanted!" Poster: In "Battleship Aquamarine", there are posters featured within the confines of Marine's ship — specifically, Marine gets an unwanted poster with a negative hundred dollar bounty, while Aqua (who only shows up in the portrait with just the top of her head and her hands held high) gets a "Wanted?" poster with a piddly five dollar bounty. Just before exiting to the top, those same posters appear again, but evidently modified by Marine (crossing out the "un" from her poster and changing the bounty to one million dollars, and doing the same modifications for Aqua's).
• Wham Episode: After all five worlds are completed, the following happens back to back: Ame finds out that Kronii is from an alternate timeline and has pretending to be the Kronii from the main timeline, Alter Laplus attacks the Sanctum, and she opens a portal that sends Kronii and IRyS to the Alter timeline, a hostile post-apocalyptic world where no other sentient life exists. Here, Kronii relives the trauma of her timeline's destruction, IRyS learns that her Kronii from the main timeline is dead, and she transforms into a being of pure despair that almost kills them both. Things become hopeful again when Kronii helps IRyS snap out of it and rebuilds her Chrono Gear through sheer force of will, but the weight of their experience is felt for the rest of the game.
• World Tree: The World of Nature has one, under the care of Fauna. It is visited under the level of the same name. On the alternate timeline, it is ravaged and filled with poisonous gas and creatures since this timeline's Fauna is no more.