Our session of T.I.M.E Stories was an intriguing and layered experience, one that felt more like participating in an board game style escape room than playing a traditional board game. We played The Asylum, the base scenario that drops players into a 1920s mental institution where our team of temporal agents had to investigate a mysterious anomaly. Each of us “inhabited” the body of a patient in the asylum, navigating a branching narrative filled with cryptic puzzles, tense encounters, and decisions with long-term consequences. The session was intense and cerebral—we had to balance managing our limited temporal units (time) with uncovering the right clues to solve the scenario. Our group was immersed for several hours, with a mix of trial and error, frantic note-taking, and heated debates over which path to pursue next.

The hardest part of the game was unquestionably managing the scarcity of time and information. T.I.M.E Stories is unforgiving when it comes to decision-making—every choice eats up valuable resources, and we often found ourselves second-guessing whether we should revisit certain rooms or press on blindly. The feeling of knowing you don’t have enough time to explore every corner or correct past mistakes created a constant tension. Communication and delegation of tasks among our group were critical, but even with good teamwork, we occasionally stumbled into dead ends or wasted turns chasing red herrings.

From a leadership perspective, T.I.M.E Stories offers a fascinating sandbox. The game naturally calls for someone to synthesize disparate information, set priorities, and guide group consensus—all fundamental leadership skills. Our group rotated leadership informally, with different players stepping up depending on whose character had relevant knowledge or insight at the time. This dynamic mirrors real-world leadership scenarios where adaptive leadership and listening are more effective than rigid hierarchy. The game also reinforces the importance of shared vision—without collective buy-in, we risked splintering our focus and wasting precious time.

I firmly believe my college friend Dylan would enjoy this game immensely. Knowing his love for deep narratives, puzzle-solving, and collaborative strategizing, T.I.M.E Stories hits all the right notes. The game rewards analytical thinkers who enjoy connecting dots and theorizing about unfolding storylines. Plus, Dylan’s natural curiosity and ability to read between the lines would make him an asset to any T.I.M.E Stories team. He would likely appreciate the immersive world-building and the sense of accomplishment that comes from piecing together the larger mystery.

Personally, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the game in the short time I got to play it. But I really liked the rich atmosphere and narrative immersion—the artwork, the unfolding story, and the feeling of being inside a time-traveling mystery gave it a distinct flavor I haven’t found in many other games. What I didn’t enjoy as much was the sometimes punitive nature of the trial-and-error mechanic; failing and having to restart parts of the game can feel discouraging and repetitive. Overall though, our session went as well as we could make it.