Timespinner

Timespinner is a pretty standard, though rather polished, metroidvania. It has a running time of 6 hours or more, depending on how thorough you want to be with exploration, and features a mechanic to temporarily pause time as the central thing to set it apart.

The game has a surprising amount of mechanics, such as 3 loadouts, allowing to slot 2 orbs (different or identical), an amulet, and a ring each. These define the two basic attacks you alternate through, your special attack that consumes mana, and the passive attack enhancement. Each attack also has its own type, and enemies have various resistances to the types. You can also switch equipment, your familiar, and level not just yourself but the orbs and familiars too.
I initially thought that all this, plus the power to play with time, would make for a lot of depth and interesting gameplay. The sad truth is that the game is far too easy for any of it to matter. You can just pick any attacks you like and roll through the whole game with just those. Worse still, the game rarely requires you to use your time powers save for some platforming, most of which is optional. It's a lot of wasted potential.

Speaking of wasted potential, despite technically being a metroidvania, there is little backtracking. While you can freely switch between the past and the present time, there is barely any need for it. I was able to run through most of the past without returning to the present even once. I also didn't need to return to camp, where the NPCs are. They had quests for me to do, but every time I got back there, the quests would be terribly outdated, concering some area I completed over an hour ago, because I didn't return to collect them in time.

Despite the game having a lot of potential and not meeting it, I wouldn't say it was bad. It's well made, with enjoyable art, music, and most importantly, combat. The story's passable and doesn't force itself on you, which is nice, considering it's not memorable. Overall, I'd have to give it a partial recommendation, because, while I did barely enjoy it, there are definitely multiple games which are similar, but better. Maybe if Timespinner had more length, difficulty, and mechanics that required me to use the systems it has available, it would be significantly better, but sadly, it's not.