Relash, a time-reversal puzzle game, to be released on Steam on March 30

Written by. Eugene Kamei-Oser based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-03-24 15:44 JST)

Japanese indie game development studio RetroGradeGames announced that Relash will release on Steam March 30.

Relash is a 3D puzzle action game where you collaborate with your past self to solve puzzles. Your goal is to escape from a mysterious facility. There are numerous rooms in the facility, equipped with gimmicks such as boxes and switches. However, many puzzles cannot be solved alone, requiring someone else’s help. Simply moving the gimmicks is not enough to progress through this facility.

The key lies in “using” your past self to solve the puzzle. Within each room is a gate that leads to a mysterious device. When you enter this device, time begins to reverse from that moment, as if you’re playing a video backward. Blocks that fell will rise back to their original position, and closed doorways will reopen. This is how you use your past actions to solve the puzzles.

Picture this: Suppose there’s a switch in a room that opens a doorway when someone is standing on it. To open the doorway, you need to stand on the switch, but as you move away from the switch heading to the doorway, it closes. Escape seems simply impossible unless you reverse the flow of time. Stay on the switch for a few seconds, enter the mysterious device, and watch your past self in reverse action, activating the switch. You can now escape the room by proceeding through the doorway while it is open.

The trailer shows huge rolling balls, lasers that will zap you on contact, and a conveyor belt carrying blocks. It looks like players will be busy using the time-reversing machine to wade through many dangerous gimmicks.

Relash is being developed by RetroGradeGames, a team of five students headed by Ryunosuke Matsumoto, a student at Kyoto University in Japan. According to the press release, the game is influenced by Portal and The Talos Principle. Like those games, we can expect to see mind-bending puzzles.

Relash can be found here on Steam.