A time machine in pieces
Earth Overclocked is a top-down twin-stick shooter with rogue-lite runs. You play a scientist whose time machine blew up on the way to the past, dumping him in a warped parallel dimension where trees are hostile and snowmen shoot lasers. The goal of each run is to find the scattered pieces of the machine and rebuild it before the reality around you collapses. Runs are built around a 20 minute window, so every decision about where to go next carries weight. Exploration is non-linear: you can chase the objectives in any order or follow the route the game suggests.
Playing together
You can take on the monsters alone or bring up to three friends into local multiplayer for four players total. Remote Play Together is supported, so friends who are not in the same room can join your session. Everyone fights through the same randomly generated forests and dungeons, splitting the work of clearing enemies and hunting down machine parts. The runs are short and intense, which makes them easy to fit into a session where your group only has a bit of time to play.
What carries over between runs
Death is permanent and ends the run with a reset, but unlocks persist: weapons, abilities, and game modes you have earned stay available for the next attempt. Four classes are open from the start, each with its own starting weapon and passive abilities, and two more classes can be unlocked later. Weapons and enemy stats are procedurally generated on top of the randomly generated layouts, so no two runs hand you the same loadout or the same threats. Expect over 30 weapon types ranging from shotguns and cannons to boomerangs, magical swords, and cheese, more than 40 enemy types, over 20 boss encounters with a different group each playthrough, and six environments with distinct dungeon themes. An unlockable difficulty mode adds further challenges once you have the basics down.