New details on Time Takers, the upcoming shooter developed by Mistil Games and published by NCSOFT, were revealed on August 25 through a YouTube presentation. In the video, Mistil Games CEO and project lead Yongmin Cho outlined the game’s key mechanics and the philosophy behind its development.

Cho explained that Time Takers is built as a third-person battle royale with hero-shooter elements. At its core, the game revolves around the concept of time. This is expressed in the form of a resource called Time Energy, which players must manage to balance growth and survival. Every participant begins with a fixed lifespan (time), which can be extended either by farming Time Energy scattered across the field or by eliminating opponents. This design leaves it up to players whether to engage aggressively or take a more cautious approach.

Rather than creating a shooter dominated by raw aiming skill, Cho emphasized that the team sought to make every choice and judgment matter, with each match unfolding in dynamic and memorable ways. To support this goal, Time Takers was designed as a team survival game centered on strategic cooperation. That cooperation starts before the match even begins, during the character and weapon selection phase. Building a lineup with complementary strengths is crucial, and the system prevents duplicate picks to encourage deliberate, synergistic team-building. From the developers’ perspective, teamwork begins the moment players start filling in each other’s gaps and shaping a balanced composition.

When teammates stay within a certain distance of one another, the game shows them visually linked. Any Time Energy acquired by one member is automatically shared among the group. Players can also transfer portions of their lifespan to allies in critical situations. The intent, according to Cho, was not to force people to stick together but to create a natural sense that moving as a unit provides greater opportunities.

Player freedom is another defining feature. In Time Takers, characters, weapons, and items can be mixed and matched without the rigid role constraints typical of tactical or hero shooters. While each character still has a unique active skill, the system allows for fresh combinations in every match. This flexibility also helps address the genre’s usual skill gap: even those without strong aim can contribute meaningfully through creative loadouts, aggressive gear choices, or team-focused synergies.

Time itself functions as both life and resource. As a match progresses, the supply of Time Energy dwindles and lifespan drains more quickly, raising the pace and intensity of combat. Players constantly face the decision of whether to save their Time Energy to survive longer or to spend it to unlock skills and boost their combat power. The developers aimed for a structure where players feel the trade-off between risk and reward, rather than experiencing it as a purely abstract system.

Summing up the project, Cho highlighted three guiding keywords: co-op as opportunity, composition as strategy, and lifespan as choice. The vision for Time Takers is that every match plays out differently, every decision shapes the outcome, and each round leaves a lasting impression.

This article was translated from the original that appeared on INVEN.