Much like the first game in the series, Buried in Time tasks players with navigating through a series of diverse environments while attempting to solve puzzles and move the story forward.
Story
Gage Blackwood, a Temporal Security Agent, is relaxing at home when he receives a visit from his future self. Future Gage manages to give Past Gage his time travel suit before being apprehended by another Temporal Security Agent. Past Gage then uses the suit to visit his future home, where he discovers clues from his future self that set him on the path to clearing his name.
In the future timeline, Blackwood discovers that several antiques recently sold at auction to an alien bidder correspond with a series of "temporal ripples" being monitored by the Temporal Security Agency. The sources of the ripples are all located in time periods that Future Gage was studying for the Agency, which is what led to him being placed under investigation and hunted by the TSA in the opening sequence.
Blackwood revisits these locations and discovers the cause of the ripples - anachronistic technology smuggled into the past and disguised as famous objects. A rogue agent with the TSA had hidden these items in the past, knowing they would be sold at auction, as a way to illegally transmit classified information regarding time travel technology to an alien species. Past Gage uncovers the plot, confronts the aliens, and clears his Future name.
Gameplay
Buried in Time is a point-and-click adventure game controlled entirely via the mouse. Unlike the first game, Gage's suit now has a built-in cloaking device, allowing the player to more closely observe people in their respective time periods without creating a time-space continuum destroying paradox.
Also unlike the first game, Gage is no longer operating solo - an Artificial Intelligence named Arthur downloads into Gage's suit, providing situation-dependent dialogue that ranges from comic relief to historical background or color commentary.
Buried in Time also offers two different difficulty modes that greatly alter aspects of the game. Playing the game on the
Adventure difficulty included the puzzles in their original form and they were found in their original locations in-game. This mode is recommended for players who want the full unfiltered experience. The
Walkthru difficulty rearranged certain puzzle items in the game (such as changing the location of where an item would be normally) and had the CPU automatically take control of the player during puzzle sequences in the game where normally the player would have to play through (such as the electric puzzle grid sequence in the Space Laboratory or climbing the castle in Chateau Gaillard). This difficulty mode was recommended for players who wanted to be able to enjoy the story without the difficult puzzles.
Unlike in some adventure game series, it is possible for Gage to die, and especially poor or incorrect decisions by the player will result in a "game over."
Locations
- Gage Blackwood's Home
- Krynn Spaceship
- Space Laboratory
- Missile Silo
- Chateau Gaillard
- Leonardo da Vinci's Workshop
- Chichen Itza
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