At Gamescom 2025, NCSoft unveiled an exciting gameplay trailer for Time Takers, a groundbreaking third-person team shooter that revolutionizes the genre by building its entire gameplay ecosystem around the manipulation of time. While NCSoft has built its reputation primarily through massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as Guild Wars and Aion, this new project demonstrates the South Korean developer's willingness to explore innovative territories beyond their traditional domain.

Before the Gamescom 2025 event, industry insiders anticipated that NCSoft would primarily showcase Cinder City, their tactical shooter MMO previously known as Project LLL. However, the developer delivered a remarkable surprise during the Gamescom Opening Night Live presentation, revealing not one but two distinct shooter experiences. While Cinder City focuses on massive mech combat within an MMO framework, Time Takers emerges as NCSoft's innovative contribution to the hero shooter and battle royale categories, offering a fresh perspective on competitive multiplayer gameplay.

Developed by Mistil Games, Time Takers presents itself as a free-to-play team-based survival shooter, introduced to the world through an extensive gameplay demonstration at Gamescom ONL 2025. The game is currently accepting playtest applications through Steam, allowing eager players to experience its unique mechanics firsthand. The core innovation of Time Takers lies in its treatment of time as a dual-purpose resource—it functions both as a survival countdown and as a currency for progression.

Each participant in a match operates under a constantly diminishing time reserve, which essentially represents their life force. Should this timer reach zero, the player faces elimination. The game introduces Time Energy as a restorative resource that can replenish this critical countdown. Players can acquire Time Energy through various means: collecting environmental pickups, eliminating AI-controlled creatures, or defeating opposing players. This creates a compelling risk-reward dynamic where aggressive play is directly rewarded with extended survival opportunities.

The time mechanics extend beyond mere survival, serving as the primary currency for acquiring in-game enhancements known as "apps." This system actively discourages resource hoarding, as players must strategically balance time expenditure between immediate survival needs and long-term capability improvements. The cooperative aspect is emphasized through the ability to spend accumulated time to revive fallen teammates or replenish their time reserves, fostering teamwork and strategic coordination.

Unlike traditional battle royale games that utilize shrinking play areas or artificial barriers to force player interaction, Time Takers employs the inherent pressure of diminishing time to encourage aggressive engagement. This organic approach to player confrontation creates a naturally intensifying gameplay experience where inaction becomes increasingly perilous.

The hero shooter elements manifest through the selection of distinctive "travelers" at the beginning of each match, each possessing unique abilities that define their combat role. However, in an interesting departure from genre conventions, all weapons remain accessible to every character, encouraging extensive experimentation with different ability and weapon combinations to discover optimal strategic synergies.

The game incorporates RPG-inspired progression mechanics through skill enhancement systems. Players can naturally develop their skills through standard gameplay activities such as defeating monsters and enemy travelers. Alternatively, those willing to make substantial time investments can accelerate their progression, providing multiple pathways to character development that cater to different playstyles and strategic approaches.