Stargate: Timekeepers Review | Zero Star Timewaster

Stargate: Timekeepers is a real-time strategy game set within the beloved sci-fi franchise Stargate! Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn’t do well, and if it’s worth your time and money.

Stargate: Timekeepers Review Overview

Stargate: Timekeepers Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Adequate Stealth Gameplay Last-Saved Timer	Stargate in Name Only Gameplay Becomes Repetitive and Boring Stealth is Mandatory Very Clunky and Unpolished

Stargate: Timekeepers Overall - 58/100

Stargate: Timekeepers is an odd pairing of a beloved sci-fi franchise with a real-time stealth strategy game that only bears the name as a brand. The missions' stories are surface level at best, the gameplay loop is average but quickly gets well-worn and repetitive, the graphics seem quite dated with stiff character animations all around, the audio experience is passable at best, and the game itself is quite unpolished. Worst of all, Stargate: Timekeepers doesn’t even have any actual Stargates.

Stargate: Timekeepers Story - 6/10

Stargate: Timekeepers’s overarching story takes place in the Stargate universe, and that’s pretty much where it stops. It uses worldbuilding from the franchise and has its own narrative throughout the several missions included in the game. Each one is pretty much basic, bread and butter serviceable mission briefings that are only there to give context to the missions. Though the pre-mission monologues are a great touch harkening to the franchise’s TV roots of utilizing a "Last time in…" format, the stories themselves lack any depth or substance to be any great.

Stargate: Timekeepers Gameplay - 7/10

The gameplay is the game’s strongest suit, with its puzzle-solving real-time stealth strategy game being adequate at best. Constant trial-and-error to discover how to get past a certain area’s guards without being compromised was fun, specially when you take control of different units with unique abilities. Combining units’ abilities to get past obstacles is satisfying, but eventually, it gets repetitive due to the main gameplay loop never really straying from " to reach the objective, you’ll need to subdue or eliminate anyone on the way." gameplay.

Stargate: Timekeepers Visuals - 5/10

Stargate: Timekeeper’s graphics seem really dated. The character models and animations are stiff which often take me out of the game. There’s a failure in the visual design and accessibility, as enemies in the field are often difficult to distinguish from enemy type to enemy type. Enemies are also often indistinguishable from the environments, where, without the map, you won’t even know an enemy is patrolling that area until you’re suddenly caught and have to reload. The flora of the environment is well decorated, it’s just that the enemies lack more contrast to be immediately identifiable against them. The user interface(UI) takes the futuristic Stargate aesthetics and executes them fine enough, but it feels like it doesn’t fit the game’s atmosphere at all, serving as a jarring divide between the missions screen and mission select, to the actual gameplay.

Stargate: Timekeepers Audio - 6/10

The auditory experience in Stargate is passable at best, where most features are there just for the sake of being there. The one background music(BGM) during stealth is replaced by an intense one when caught, the sound effects(SFX) of varying abilities and the UI, and the subpar voice acting. All around, everything is just there, and nothing stands out. Again, It’s just serviceable, and so only gets a passing grade.

Stargate: Timekeepers Value for Money - 5/10

Stargate: Timekeepers goes for $29.99, and it is not worth the full price. Though there is definitely some fun to be had, it only lasts for so long before the game repeats its formula over and over again. The different maps, objectives, and unique units try their best to shake up the gameplay, but at its core, the gameplay remains the same all throughout. Other factors of the game also range from subpar to just average, and there are other games that do better than what Stargate: Timekeepers provides.

Stargate: Timekeepers Review: No Stars Nor Gates

Stargate: Timekeepers is a very weird case. They were able to get the franchise’s IP rights to develop a game set within the universe, and they went with… a real-time strategy game. I, myself, am not familiar with Stargate, be it with the films, series, or past games, but just looking up the name would bring someone somewhat up to speed with what it’s about: mysterious Stargates and sci-fi drama. It’s confusing as to why this choice of game was finalized to represent the IP and to not even have any of its original essence implemented.

The game’s several missions do take place within the universe of Stargate, but only in name. There ARE references to races, places, and events, but again, they’re not imposed into the game and only serve as glorified cameos or placeholder names that could be replaced by any IP out there. The before-mission briefings are actually a nice touch, however, where a narrator goes " This time… in Timekeepers!" as if to recap a previous episode. However, that’s pretty much all the charm the game has.

The game is essentially a stealth-only "strategy" game where saving and loading is a core game mechanic. Saving and loading are so emphasized and vital that they even implement a timer at the top during gameplay at all times to remind players when their last save was. Even at the end of missions, they show stats as to how many times players saved their games and reloaded back.

Stargate: Timekeepers is a very confusing game overall, where the gameplay loop, though great at times, overstays its welcome eventually through repetition. Its visuals are odd, outdated, and unpolished, the voice acting falling flat, and the story doesn’t have anything to do about Stargate at all.

Pros of Stargate: Timekeepers

Things Stargate: Timekeepers Got Right
Adequate Stealth Gameplay Last-Saved Timer

Adequate Stealth Gameplay

Stargate: Timekeeper’s stealth gameplay is okay at best, and it’s the game’s highest peak of enjoyment. Ordering your units together in real-time to simultaneously subdue opponents who would otherwise see the other getting knocked out is satisfying. "Solving puzzles" by mixing and matching your units’ unique abilities to lure, incapacitate, neutralize, or just get past pesky guards is really fun. The trial-and-error aspect fills you with a sense of "never giving up" and "just keep trying" in order to overcome an obstacle.

This, however, gets worn down quite quickly, as I’ll explain later on in the review.

Last-Saved Timer

A great quality-of-life feature that Stargate: Timekeepers implements is a timer on the top of the screen which shows how long ago you last saved your game. This is very appreciated, as the game specifically demands constant saving and reloading due to its stealth-intensive gameplay. One mere mistake could cause failure for the object, and going back to your last saved file or quicksave would be the only way to try again without the need to restart the entire mission.

It also shows that you’re prohibited from saving your game during time of combat or discovery, barring you from getting soft-locked into a dire situation.

Cons of Stargate: Timekeepers

Things Stargate: Timekeepers Can Improve
Stargate in Name Only Gameplay Becomes Repetitive and Boring Stealth is Mandatory Very Clunky and Unpolished

Stargate in Name Only

I am personally not familiar with the Stargate media franchise, but even just from playing the game, it felt very detached from what "Stargate" should be. It has nothing to do with any actual Stargate and seems only to be based within the franchise’s universe. It very much only utilizes the brand, some of its lore, and some of its worldbuilding and repackages it into a strategy game that doesn’t really represent the ethos of the franchise.

If you’re a fan of the brand and were keen on getting the game, it’s the unfortunate truth that you may be greatly disappointed if you were expecting something greater than mild references and terms being borrowed for the game.

Gameplay Becomes Repetitive and Boring

Though I mention the stealth gameplay being adequate, it’s not good enough to remain exciting or engaging after a certain point, as the objectives always seem to stay the same: get to this place and feel free to subdue or eliminate anyone or everyone in your way. The gameplay loop of observing guards’ sight cones and their patrol paths and either sneaking past or using an ability to distract or subdue gets worn down very quickly because that’s pretty much how every single encounter in the game goes.

There is no variety at all except for the predefined units with some unique abilities you’re given for every mission. One of the main reasons for the lack of variety would be because…

Stealth is Mandatory

Stealth is the only way to go in Stargate: Timekeepers. I’m not necessarily familiar with how these Commandos-like should go, and I acknowledge that perhaps stealth being forced IS the actual appeal for the genre. However, shouldn’t "strategy" games involve more than stealth, and should also deal with head-on combat? Managing units under attack and pressure whilst ensuring their survival? There is no such case in this game, where your units can only be “damaged” for a certain amount of times (only 3 times in normal mode).

The game is skewed and heavily balanced against any non-stealth-related solutions, forcing players to play by the book and repeat the very boring gameplay loop of clicking on a guard to see their sight cone and waiting.

Very Clunky and Unpolished

The game itself is rather unpolished and clunky, which one can immediately feel out just from an hour of playing. The menu’s user interface(UI) is jittery, where in some cases I almost mistakenly save over another save file due to the prompts not selecting the correct file, or the prompts remaining even when I close the whole menu itself.

Selecting units isn’t seamless all the time, where more often than not being impossible under time-sensitive scenarios. The hotkeys to switch between available units are definitely there to streamline your control between units, but oftentimes during pressure, you’ll disregard the hotkeys and pay more attention to selecting your units using your cursor, which doesn’t work half the time. Quickly selecting enemies to subdue, bind, and carry sometimes doesn't even work due to the selections not registering, and it’s caused me my fair share of reloads due to getting caught.

There was also a time when a unit I had was one strike away from death, and I ordered them to subdue an enemy. The enemy was subdued, but got alerted at the last possible second, which somehow activated an attack and killed my unit, causing a game over.

Is Stargate: Timekeepers Worth It?

For Stargate Fans, it’s a Timewaster.

Being labeled as Stargate in name only is a definite turn-off for fans of the universe, and seeing it be turned into a stealth-strategy game is very perplexing. Though they would notice some borrowed terms here and there, the gameplay doesn’t represent the franchise and would lead to disappointment for fans everywhere.

As a stealth game, it’s very much just an "okay" experience, with a passable gameplay loop that’s fun at first, but quickly overstays its welcome by being the only possible way to play the game throughout the entire experience.

I would say the demo might be the best way to play the game, as it’ll give you a gist of the entire game without even a single cent spent. Do not, under any circumstance, pay the full price of $29.99 for Stargate: Timekeepers. At most, pay for it at half price if you wish, but no more than that.

Digital Storefronts
Steam
$29.99

Stargate: Timekeepers Overview & Premise

Stargate: Timekeepers takes place at the tail end of the original Stargate SG-1’s season 7, during the Battle of Antarctica. Commander Eva McCain and her team are supporting the SG-1 against the impending fleet of Anubis when, during an aerial battle, McCain’s ship is shot and she crashes into the cold wasteland of Antarctica. As she’s rescued by someone from her team, they set out together and seek safety. However, on their journey, they encounter the fierce Kull Warriors native to the region. They must now somewhat survive in order to get back to their team and return to their original mission.

Stargate: Timekeepers FAQ

What are Stargate: Timekeeper's System Requirements

How Many Missions in Stargate: Timekeepers?

Stargate: Timekeepers has a total of 7 missions, each with varying unique units, mission paths, enemies, and objectives.

Stargate: Timekeepers Product Information

Title	STARGATE: TIMEKEEPERS
Release Date	January 23, 2024
Developer	Slitherine Ltd.
Publisher	Slitherine Ltd.
Supported Platforms	PC (Steam)
Genre	Strategy, Sci-fi
Number of Players	Single-Player(1)
ESRB Rating	N/A
Official Website	Stargate: Timekeepers Official Website

Clark Jason Kong

Growing up playing all sorts of games, they love playing a little bit of everything, all of the time. Favorites include Counter-Strike, Life is Strange, Final Fantasy, Spiritfarer, and Devil May Cry.