Tobla - Divine Path
Tobla - Divine Path
Game
Game2021
Hourglass
Developer Cyberwave
In Hourglass you can create a time-clone of yourself to solve challenging puzzles. You will play as Aywa, a young adventurer who is traveling to Egypt to find her missing father - an archeologist, who never returned from his latest expedition. From the Steam store page
208 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 6, 2026 · last updated Nov 6, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
78
LovedLoved
126 positive · 35 negative
95% range 71–84%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 126 | 35 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 8 | 3 | 25 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 3 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
2 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
139 of 176 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
79% recommend · 125 yes, 34 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 159 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (361 of 405 positive).
Players praise the game's Egyptian-themed atmosphere and puzzle design, comparing it favorably to The Talos Principle. [1][2][3] Some reviewers find the later puzzles frustrating due to precise timing requirements and unintuitive solutions. [4][5][6] A few players note the game feels smaller in scope than its inspirations, with a minimal story and repetitive elements. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
Precise timing puzzles are extremely frustrating, I dont have the time or desire to waste time figuring out the precise jump distance. Just to fall and have to spend a couple minutes getting back to the start to try again only to fall a second later. Makes for a painful gameplay loop.
- [2]
A decent first-person puzzle adventure with unique copy mechanic. If Talos Principle had a small brother then this game would be it. Hourglass is a more bare bones approach to puzzle platforming with borrowed mechanics from Talos Principle and its Egyptian theme art-style. You can expect new puzzle mechanics and interactions throughout the game plus a gradually increasing difficulty towards the end. I got this game …
- [7]
This is essentially "The Talos Principle" at home. Smaller scope, fewer puzzles, fewer puzzle mechanics, less story, less lore. It's not a one trick pony either, it keeps introducing multiple new puzzle mechanics and interactions throughout the game. Enjoyable for what it is if you already finished Talos and still want a bit more. Some of the puzzles were quite tricky, but always doable after some thinking. If I …
- [14]
Hourglass is a thoughtfully constructed first-person puzzle adventure that revolves around a single, elegant idea and explores it with confidence and restraint. Developed and published by Cyberwave, the game places time manipulation at the center of its identity, using it not as a spectacle but as a tool for careful reasoning and spatial planning. Rather than overwhelming the player with mechanics, Hourglass builds …
- [1]
Hourglass is a puzzle game which has an Egyptian theme, and is played from a first person perspective which allows you to move around and view the puzzles from different angles while trying to identify the solution. If you’ve played any similar first person puzzle games, the puzzle mechanics will feel familiar. You’ll need to press buttons and place cubes on pressure plates to open doors and activate moving …
Summarised from 34 of the 198 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 10, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Hourglass talk about beautiful art style and atmospheric setting; those who didn't talk about late-game puzzles require frustratingly precise timing. Which matters more to you?
Reactions
60 of 208 · most liked firstNew Toon tunes! Find music from the Nintendo DS game The Legend of #Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, now available in the #NintendoMusic app. 🎵 Click Link to listen: ninten.do/6010tC4uQ
neutral · AI labelView post →I reached into our small DS collection for this week's #RandomGameSaturday, and came out with ocean vibes: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.
neutral · AI labelView post →RUNNING LEGEND OF ZELDA: PHANTOM HOURGLASS LIVE AT SGDQ 2025!!! It took many many years for the community to get this game in, and I'm very excited to be showing it off to y'all 💙 Also please get the Glitch Exhibition met too! twitch.tv/GamesDoneQuick
neutral · AI labelView post →The special Zelda disk that came with the special edition Gamecube was amazing. With that and the Gameboy Player attachement you could play every single Zelda game ever released via a single device. And that remained true for several years until (IIRC) Phantom Hourglass released on DS.
neutral · AI labelView post →Just a little #ThrowBackThursday to a post I made on Insta that at the time I thought was very risqué 😂 if only I could go back a few months and tell myself to up my game 😂 #curvy #hourglass #underboob
neutral · AI labelView post →Daiki Iwamoto is a 20 year veteran of the Zelda Team. His first Zelda game was Ocarina of time. He directed Phantom Hourglass & Spirit Tracks on the DS. He's also a Director at Monolith Soft. He helps the collaboration on Zelda games go smoothly. www.monolithsoft.co.jp/interview/de...
neutral · AI labelView post →Production Director Drew Stevens returns to delve into the details regarding recent diving and Hourglass issues. Also featured: an update on game security efforts, what's coming in Season 16 and details on many of the fixes that our Game Health team have in their sights: youtu.be/ysp-4FEAtWc
neutral · AI labelView post →"Hourglass is an atmospheric first-person puzzle adventure inspired by Portal, The Witness" - Kickstarter I have to say a word of warning here: While the game isn't bad (actually totally fine), it falls short of Portal and The Witness in every way. In mentioned games i had many moments of awe, surprises, excitement, and challenge. In Hourglass everything feels mediocre, to a point that i feel that the puzzles are so easy that i am totally wasting my time. Feels almost just walking from point…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sometimes the games are clearly building on previous games, like Majora's Mask or Phantom Hourglass clearly following the exact same character. Sometimes the game director said "I don't give a shit." The most incorrect explanations are "there's no continuity ever" and "there is a perfect timeline"
neutral · AI labelView post →My game Shattered Hourglass is coming soon to Itch.io ! I'm currently trough a playtesting phase for the last few bugs and then I will finally make a trailer and publish it. It should come on in the next two weeks. Thank you so much for your support ! #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #pico8
neutral · AI labelView post →playing the online multi-player of Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass, I could win every time. But players would rage quit when they could see I was winning, so I would play to make it >look< like THEY were winning, and then win in the last few seconds of the game.
positive · AI labelView post →My sweet kitten’s A Grim Reaper I just realized Today His furry Hourglass tattoo Just gave his game Away I also found His cloak and scythe Hid ‘neath The basement stairs #Involution Of our friendship Is gust of trust On air… #vss365
neutral · AI labelView post →Finished the Ice Temple in Phantom Hourglass tonight! ❄️❄️❄️ Really glad I came back to this game!
positive · AI labelView post →In following my tradition for each Zelda game... I've also decided on my tattoo I eventually want for Phantom Hourglass 👀
neutral · AI labelView post →The kiddo and I beat A Link Between Worlds! I love the design for the game, and my favorite part is how Zelda is canonically taller than Link ^__^ Called the twist, yay me. Nice to know my Japanese has gotten better, and that's another Zelda game finished! On the Phantom Hourglass next ^_^
neutral · AI labelView post →New release: Hourglass of Summer (2004 - DVD Player) - https://www.myabandonware.com/game/hourglass-of-summer-xgq #abandonware
neutral · AI labelView post →Backed the Project on Kickstarter 3 years ago an have been waiting for its release ever since. I got to play it early because of the Kickstarter rewards and I must say, its as amazing as I expected it to be! Since its Kickstarter, I was prepared for everything, but the game is worth every penny. If you are looking for a fun, immersive puzzle adventure, go for it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Post a random game in your collection, here on Saturday Zelda: Phantom Hourglass on Nintendo DS for #RandomGameSaturday. Never played it, because I wanted to have the train one first, but then you know... Resellers. Maybe one day. After my BOTW stint, I'm pretty done with Zelda anyway 🫡
neutral · AI labelView post →i was about to put on my triforce shirt and khakis and do a zelda temple tierlist but i straight up do not remember which game some of them belong to or how they were because i haven't played them in 10 years or in the case of Phantom Hourglass i played it to completion once when it came out
neutral · AI labelView post →The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is a great game if you enjoy a delightfully cartoonish aesthetic, refreshing gameplay, interesting puzzles, and repeating the same central dungeon roughly 4,000 times.
neutral · AI labelView post →Star Trek Celebrates 60 Years With Retro ‘Strange New Worlds’ Reveal [Episode Titles]. 1. "Valles Marineris" 2. "The Griffin Incident" 3. "Human Best Friend" 4. "A Case of Chiaroscuro" 5. "Level-Five Transporter Accident" 6. "Off-Hour" 7. "Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass" 8. "Orders of Magnitude" 9. "Once La'An a Time" 10. "Tomorrow's Enterprise"
neutral · AI labelView post →Hourglass is a puzzle game which has an Egyptian theme, and is played from a first person perspective which allows you to move around and view the puzzles from different angles while trying to identify the solution. If you’ve played any similar first person puzzle games, the puzzle mechanics will feel familiar. You’ll need to press buttons and place cubes on pressure plates to open doors and activate moving platforms, which will allow you to cross bottomless pits and rivers, or reach higher…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played more Phantom Hourglass last night and golly that game is delightful. What's your favourite Zelda game? Mines Wind Waker.
positive · AI labelView post →A decent first-person puzzle adventure with unique copy mechanic. If Talos Principle had a small brother then this game would be it. Hourglass is a more bare bones approach to puzzle platforming with borrowed mechanics from Talos Principle and its Egyptian theme art-style. You can expect new puzzle mechanics and interactions throughout the game plus a gradually increasing difficulty towards the end. I got this game on sale and was worth the sale price. Overall, if you enjoy puzzle games then…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Awesome athmospheric game which i enjoyed playing. The Neo-Egyptian vibes set a great exploration mood. The puzzles are neither too easy nor too difficult, yet they are challenging and fun. Sometimes you can even spot eastereggs :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Phantom Hourglass felt like a massive game when I first played it. I don’t understand how people rate it poorly. One of my favorites.
positive · AI labelView post →If you like Portal & The Talos Principle, then buy this game. It's basically the same thing in terms of a first person puzzler, with very similar time mechanics as Talos. The story is minimal but serviceable. Voice acting is few and far between but meh. But none of that matters because the gameplay is what you come here for. I never really felt the puzzles were unfair or anything. I did need to look up help a couple times but it was not because of bad game design. A great experience and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Day 736 of me drawing a random video game enemy I like: Octorok (The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass) #Art #Dailyart #Zelda
neutral · AI labelView post →Back in Stock! Hometown Holiday Imagine Queer Worlds (zine+cards) Lighthouse at the End of the World Mazes: Beyond the City of Skull Adventure Path Symposium: A Game About Asking Questions Tangled Blessings The Hourglass Sings Waffles for Esther 2e www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/
neutral · AI labelView post →Hourglass dungeon ⌛ <- draft on paper | in-game screenshot -> (entrance of the 3rd dungeon of 🐳 Kujira no Hara 🐳) #indiegame #gamedev #zeldalike #rpgmaker
neutral · AI labelView post →This week, we're playing a game I've speedrun for (technically) 10 years: Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass! I'm 100%ing the game and taking things super casually, since I've speedrun this before. It'll be fun! Also playing the lone Star Trek DS game, which is a real time tactics game 🖖
neutral · AI labelView post →I'm playing Crossbow Freerunner, so I naturally took more darts out of the vault. Who needs a +6 Hourglass or some wand? I need 10 darts! Behold the glory! 
neutral · AI labelView post →Phantom Hourglass was a good ass game and I'm tired of hearing it slandered. It was a really fun use of the DS's hardware.
positive · AI labelView post →Precise timing puzzles are extremely frustrating, I dont have the time or desire to waste time figuring out the precise jump distance. Just to fall and have to spend a couple minutes getting back to the start to try again only to fall a second later. Makes for a painful gameplay loop.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Perfect delivery of a kickstarter. Had an awesome time playing Hourglass. The pacing of the riddles is perfect, I like that everything is revolving around one mechanic beautifully. Reminds me a lot of the time of Braid and it's riddles, but with a modern Look and Feel and it's own take. Definitely recommending this. If you are unsure, play the demo. (I like that the developers did the extra work and provided a demo. Kudos!)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Phantom Hourglass. it's a fun Zelda game if you can get over the controls for it
neutral · AI labelView post →At least bringing back an old game (Phantom Hourglass or Spirit tracks?) That's me being positive tho lol
neutral · AI labelView post →Introduction: Hourglass is a puzzle platformer and very much like a bare bones variant of The Talos Principle, ironically it's very fitting for it's dry Egyptian theme. Now, don't get me wrong, I like platformers... Just not timer based, it can be frustrating at times. But the puzzles got me the most interested in trying this out for myself, and I've got to say... I do have very spiteful feelings about the whole experience. Starting the kicker: Surprise, surprise... It all started as a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I feel somewhat mean-spirited for giving this the thumbs down, but as Steam dictates it’s cake or death, I’m afraid I’m all out of cake for this one. The game has nice aesthetics, presumably inspired by [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/210970/The_Witness/]The Witness, though on a simpler scale and without the wonderment of Blow’s vision. Similarly the basic puzzle mechanic is fine, and not too tricky for the most part, adding additional elements and rules as the game progresses. But…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yeah, no. About two thirds of the game were quite good up to the point I played, I did require assistance on about 3 puzzles up to that point, then I came across one that had me completely stumped. The solution to this "puzzle" felt very exploity instead of a legitimate solution and that's when I stopped playing. One other issue this has is the fact that a lot of the puzzles require you to be second perfect which is bad design for a puzzle game, the platformer part of this game lets down the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too many puzzles require split-second (to the micro-second) timing with keyboard strokes; maybe would be easier with a different controller. Too frustrating for me. Being able to change the key layout might help.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is essentially "The Talos Principle" at home. Smaller scope, fewer puzzles, fewer puzzle mechanics, less story, less lore. It's not a one trick pony either, it keeps introducing multiple new puzzle mechanics and interactions throughout the game. Enjoyable for what it is if you already finished Talos and still want a bit more. Some of the puzzles were quite tricky, but always doable after some thinking. If I were to point out a negative, there is a single puzzle in the last zone that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not a bad game really, but the recording thing gets old real fast. Especially when it comes down to a 10th of a second if you can "solve" the puzzle or not. Get The Talos Principle, which does the recording gimmick way better than this "clone", and where it thankfully is a small part of the game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wanted to like and enjoy this game, but towards the end I felt like I was finishing it out of spite and even had to look up a walk-through. The progression seemed fair at first, then got a bit too much for me personally. I've enjoyed playing many other puzzlers (Talos Principle, Inside, Portal, Manifold Garden, etc.) and get annoyed at pixel perfect timing and ones that are too repetitive. If that doesn't bother you then you may enjoy this game. Best of luck!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love Braid, I think it's one of the pinnacles of puzzle games. This game looked like World 5 (the 4th world) in Braid and I was excited to explore that mechanic. Now there are some really nice puzzles in the game, and some very frustrating puzzles that require very precise timing. I do wish there was a way to retry or rewind some after failing a timing part but the only retry button resets the entire room. I also feel there should have been more small scale puzzles to learn the mechanics of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A pretty good, visually appealing puzzle game revolving around a central mechanic and adding a few more as the game goes on. Here's a tip: if a puzzle looks like it requires very precise timing, that's not how you do it - that's the game designer trying to prevent you from breaking the puzzle and missing out on a mechanic that you're expected to learn from it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Early on, the game is mostly puzzling. Later, it becomes a platformer which requires seemingly endless repetition to keep going.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Feels like a clone of the Talos Principle, but the recording mechanic isn't as good.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Time to fill up your hourglass (is that how this game works????)! It’s Phantom Hourglass time with L’oren in our Zelda Marathon for St. Jude! Start your Friday with us at Twitch.tv/tsgtv!
neutral · AI labelView post →I really wanted to like this game. But even though it's relatively short, I lost interest about halfway through and only finished it because I thought it might be worth it in the end, and I knew it wouldn't take much longer. I liked the game's aesthetics and some of the puzzles, especially at the beginning. However, the game does keep to a very similar puzzle mechanic throughout, which becomes repetitive over time, even with the introduced twists and additions. The music was OK, but nothing…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I noticed a lot of reviews mentioning the Talos Principle and Portal, and then that leads to disagreement as to whether Hourglass needs to be "that good" or whether it's fair to compare it and hold it to that standard. Guys, this is just a bad game. It's a very low effort, going through the motions, knock-off, coat-tail type of game. If "fake it 'til you make it' were a game. The puzzles are very yada-yada: simple, or tedious, or both. The developer is not even a little bit invested in the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →$3 can't get you a lot these days. $3 for a sale is decent.... however, this game is filled with tedious parts of waiting, waiting, and waiting some more. running, running, running, and running some more. it's really just boring. your mind is not always engaged. you breeze through the puzzles, and when youre not, youre wondering if this undeveloped game has caused a bug where you left behind something that you shouldn't have. albeit the mission is clear, it's not always clear that you're…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's not my kind of puzzle game but it was interesting. I dislike the amount of puzzles that involve waiting around and estimating how quickly you can run somewhere, but the last few puzzles did provide a good challenge, with some clever solutions. I wish there were more mechanics to learn because it has a good structure, just doesn't introduce anything more to interact with than boxes, platforms and buttons :/
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Edit: Finished the game. It feels like 40% walking simulator, 40% puzzles, 10% waiting for unskippable 'completed a thing' cutscenes, and 10% story/lore. The puzzles and lore make the game fun, the walking and cutscenes get a bit tiresome. A couple of puzzles had me scratching my head for a bit, and a couple made me go "no way that's intended... oh that must be intended". The timing is a bit tight at times, but not too bad. One thing to note is when you leave a stage, you seem to lose…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's an alright puzzle game but I'd probably mark this review as mixed if I could. The game starts out really well and the setting is really nice, but I quickly started to lose my steam in the Snake Pyramid and not want to play, some of the puzzles just didn't make sense to me, mainly the puzzle on the right hand path after reuniting with your father . I'm well versed with puzzle games but after getting nowhere with this particular puzzle for a good half an hour, I reluctantly looked up a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Start off by saying I love this game. Great puzzles that are not overly challenging for anyone to do. Runs smoothly and and has a great storyline. There is not much more to explain, if you like puzzle games; this is for you! Review at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWLnDl2NEoc
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I just finished the first area and all I can say is that the game is really fun. Sometimes you'll have to think about the riddles for a little longer, but that makes the game interesting :D
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Finally beat Spirit Tracks, the last mainline single player Zelda game I had never played. Can't say I enjoyed it much, especially playing it directly after Phantom Hourglass. While it was overall a better game than PH, I was so tired of the control scheme by the end.
negative · AI labelView post →Can you help me and a friend find a NDS game?. "Prob 500 in 1. I was like 8 when I had it, I always remembered it as a 50 game thing. It had TLOZ: Phantom Hourglass, Harvest Moon DS, Mario Party and some other stuff but I don't remember what was on it and what I had cards for."
neutral · AI labelView post →Is Hourglass worth $20? I would say absolutely not. I got it on sale for about $4. For that price it's... fine, I guess? There's not all that much content to be found in it. My playtime is for 100% completion with maybe a little bit of messing around not playing this game sprinkled on top. I would expect this game to average about 4-6 hrs in completion time. The primary mechanic of the game is basically all you get throughout the entire game, and it overstays its welcome a bit toward the end.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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