Last year I got to get some time with upcoming puzzler, Crushed in Time, a sequel (sort of) to There is No Game. It fascinated me because the puzzles are malleable and it marries this up with entertaining humour and an intriguing premise. We were told during the original preview that Crushed in Time would be coming in 2026, so since we’re already well into the new year, it seemed a good time to chat with the team and find out how things are going.
Pascal Cammisotto, the writer and director for Crushed in Time is the chap we got to speak to, and we wanted to check out if the window was still on for this year, but also find out how the developer would describe the game to people who haven’t played the cult classic previous from the studio, There is no Game, a title notorious for breaking the fourth wall.
How would you describe Crushed in Time to those who haven’t played There is No Game?
Crushed in Time is a meta point-and-click adventure game in which you help two video game characters, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, solve a mystery inside the development studio that created them. While There Is No Game broke the fourth wall, Crushed in Time literally smashes it. Moreover, unlike traditional point-and-click adventures, all interactions in the game are handled through a playful elasticity-based mechanic. Pull, aim, and release to interact with the characters and their environment!
Where is the inspiration from, for the elastic controls?
The starting point of our thinking was this question: how would Nintendo’s teams approach the point-and-click genre from a gameplay perspective? How would they make it more fun?
From there, by focusing on interaction, the idea of stretching and releasing, similar to what you find in games like Angry Birds or Squids, came up quite quickly. Deforming elements is visually playful, intuitive to handle, and fun to experiment with.
That said, it still took many months of iteration to arrive at a system that was both technically solid and compatible with the game’s needs.
How do you balance teaching the player how to solve the puzzles, and difficulty, while avoiding frustration?
Most of the puzzles in Crushed in Time are more accessible than those in There Is No Game, which was very “outside the box.” Each situation to solve clearly displays the player’s objective. In some cases, characters may gradually drop hints through their dialogue over time, without ever giving a direct solution.
If the player is curious and willing to experiment, they will most likely end up finding the solution on their own. However, if they truly get stuck and to ensure they can keep progressing through the story, a dedicated hint system will step in to completely remove frustration.
Last time we had a chance to see the game, there was no date in 2026 yet. Are you any closer to announcing that?
Of course! We can proudly and precisely announce that the game will be released… in the middle of the year.
How often will the audio cues play to assist people?
This game works quite differently from There Is No Game. Here, there is no constant voice-over that might end up saying too much. Instead, the game’s characters may occasionally make increasingly relevant remarks over time to help guide the player’s thinking around a puzzle, but the experience is far less direct than before.
The built-in hint system is there precisely to provide assistance when the player chooses to use it.
Fred Malavasi mentioned a “more robust hint feature” last year to us, can you elaborate yet?
We iterated a lot on the game’s hint system last year and, in a twist of development irony, we eventually came back to the system used in There Is No Game, which turned out to be the best fit for this project.
We believe this system is particularly robust because it is both playful, since players have to look for hints on the screen, and modular, allowing them to choose which element they want a hint for, with several levels of assistance available.
Do you feel like there are lots of things left to explore in the adventure game genre?
It’s obvious. Just look at the incredibly original and inspiring gems that have come out in recent years: Her Story, The Case of the Golden Idol, Outer Wilds, and of course, There Is No Game (wink!).
So many different ways and approaches to telling stories, and yet they all remain adventure games. And I sincerely hope that players will love the approach to time travel that Crushed in Time offers. We go very far with the meta aspect, both visually and narratively.
The path toward originality is still a long one, as long as creativity remains the driving force. Regardless of genre.
What titles in the genre do you look up to, or find inspiring?
My personal point-and-click reference is and will always be Day of the Tentacle. A stunning achievement for its time, with incredible humour and an absolutely brilliant story concept. I think that no matter what point-and-click game I create, a bit of that influence will always be there. I also love the cinematic approach of Grim Fandango, both in its visuals and in its writing. (Did I mention I’m a huge Tim Schafer fan?)
And of course, there’s the classic, unmissable Monkey Island.
As a passionate gamer and film lover, I have to admit that the point-and-click genre lends itself perfectly to the union of the two mediums.
Who are your comedy heroes, as obviously the game leans heavily into humour.
It’s hard to choose, there’s just so much I love. I adore English humour. I grew up with Monty Python, Benny Hill, and The IT Crowd. But I also have a deep admiration for American ZAZ (Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker) creations, with The Naked Gun and Hot Shots! at the top of the list.
For this game, I think Crushed in Time draws much of its tone and humour from animated films like Wallace & Gromit by Nick Park, as well as Pixar movies, featuring characters who are funny, surprising, and deeply endearing.
How long do you anticipate the game being, and are there reasons to replay?
We are currently deep in the playtesting phase, so it’s still a bit early to know the average playtime. It should fall somewhere between 5 and 10 hours. Like most point-and-click adventures, there isn’t much reason to replay immediately after finishing the story. That said, we are working on a system to unlock a few bonuses.
Will you be trying to launch the Switch version day and date with the Steam edition?
We would have loved to! But unfortunately, being a very small team, releasing the PC version alone is already a significant amount of work, and we prefer to focus primarily on the quality of the game.
Crushed in Time is coming to PC in 2026.
