Time Gamers: Guardians of the Marble Man

Time Gamers: Guardians of the Marble Man casts the player as a Time Gamer sent back to 1864 to find a relic linked to the Confederacy during the American Civil War. The game describes itself as a 3D historical orienteering simulator, combining exploration, navigation and historical discovery. Using a period map and a list of historic locations, the player searches for clues and collects keys that lead to a lost Roman statue of John C. Calhoun, known as the Marble Man. There are no enemies, combat sequences or time limits, and each playthrough uses a different randomised set of clues, locations and targets.

The game is set in a reconstruction of Columbia, South Carolina, as it stood in 1864, shortly before the city was destroyed by fire in 1865. The developer states that the recreation covers over 170 city blocks and draws on more than a decade of research, including maps from 1850 and 1872, early city directories, archaeological findings and records of buildings destroyed in 1865. The Old South Carolina State House has been rebuilt from original architectural plans and archival materials held by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Local legends, including underground tunnels and the USC Third-Eye Man, are also included.

Other features include an anaglyph 3D mode, toggled with a key and viewed with red/cyan 3D glasses, and original musical scores for locations in the game. Narrated commentary describes the history of each location, and players can meet and interact with people from the era. Additional secrets, challenges and achievements can be found away from the main objective. The game can be played from start to finish on Steam Deck without a keyboard or mouse, though it was awaiting official Steam Deck Verification at the time of the Steam description. The game currently has 4 user reviews on Steam.