Why time loops are a weird genre for an anxious time

Starting at 12 minutesTo DeathloopTo Outer WildsTime loop games have real momentum right now. And that’s not even mentioning all the TV shows And movies dipping their toe into the time stream.

Part of why they’re popular is because the world is a mess, and we either don’t know how to fix it, or don’t have the power to — but that’s a really incomplete answer. There’s a special dimension to modern anxiety that’s making it manifest in time loop stories. In fact, time loop media is just the most visible tip of a weird trend iceberg, one that includes alternate reality stories and meta elements in games — everything from Marvel’s Loki and Spiderman has no way homeTo Encryption Untertale.

The earliest time loop story is probably “Doubled and Redoubled,” written by Malcolm Jameson in 1941. The story tells how a man has a perfect day and wishes that every day could be as good. It’s classic ironic wish territory.

Over the past decades, many times have been done to improve upon the idea of a time loop. The In Groundhog DayPhil still lives each day, potentially for many thousands of more years. Run Lola Run only cycles through a 20 minute loop three times, until Lola figures out how to save her terrible boyfriend’s terrible life.

Run Lola RunThis template is specifically designed for The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. This game was developed within a short time frame using assets that were already in use. Ocarina of time. The developers decided to focus on a narrow loop of events, which allowed for very few assets and allowed for great depth in exploration.

Watch the video above to learn more about why we’re stuck with time loops, and likely will be for a bit longer.