Blades of Time is the spiritual sequel to X-Blades by the same developer. It follows the story of Ayumi, a female treasure hunter who disrupts a rite of a guild to access a sphere that transports her to the fantasy world Dragonland. She fights with a set of blades in over-the-top hack-and-slash gameplay reminiscent of the God of War series. Ayumi regularly discovers altars where new skills are learned, including the ability to freeze enemies or rise giant ice crystals below them. These can only be used when a rage bar is built up with up to three levels by defeating opponents. She also dashes away to evade attacks or quickly closes the distance towards an opponent. In a menu, Ayumi can equip the items and weapons she finds.
Ayumi eventually learns to rewind time and fight along with a clone of herself that performs the actions previously done. This self-cooperative element is vital to confuse enemies carrying shields and solve some puzzles in the later parts of the game.
Multiplayer is available through Outbreak mode, where gameplay is similar to Defense of the Ancients . Two teams attempt to defeat each other's energy tree while keeping their own alive. Players select up to three abilities at the start of the game and earn respawns by defeating heroes and outposts.
The game also introduces boss monsters, special chests containing a berserk charge for heroes, and level imbalance with the introduction of Skyguard, which gives the losing team a chance to gain experience and move up levels. Item crafting is carried over to multiplayer, but time rewinding is not possible.
