A point-and-click detective adventure turned elastic: All about Crushed in Time

At Gamescom 2025 we caught up with the team at Draw Me a Pixel, the creators of There Is No Game, to talk about their new project Crushed in Time. While not a direct sequel, the game acts as a spin-off, once again featuring the eccentric duo Sherlock and Watson in a world that refuses to behave like a traditional adventure.

"You don't have to play There Is No Game to enjoy Crushed in Time. It's a standalone story, but fans of the first game will definitely recognize some references," Malavasi explains.

The core twist here is what the developers call an "elastic world". Everything in the environment — from paintings to characters — can be stretched, squashed, and flung around to solve puzzles. Imagine picking up a key, stretching it like a slingshot, and releasing it so it flies straight into a lock to open a door. "It's like a point-and-click with an elastic twist," he told us.

The visual inspiration draws from old-school cartoons like Looney Tunes and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, injecting that exaggerated, slapstick elasticity into every interaction. "Everything is elastic in the game," Malavasi said with a laugh. "Even the characters. So sometimes you'll get surprised by how the world reacts."

The story once again plays with game conventions. This time, an NPC mysteriously disappears from Sherlock and Watson's own game world. Is it a bug? Something more sinister? That's for players to find out.

Crushed in Time is set to release in 2026 on PC, Mac, iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch.