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Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift

Originally published 2026-10-03 on Advisory Hour.

Originally published as an Advisory Hour Substack post on 2026-10-03. This first-party site copy preserves the text, localizes public supporting media, and connects the record to its project trail.

Original post

Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.

Play ball!

This is one of those “I can’t even believe it” projects that I eventually pulled myself away, hands still clutching the keyboard. Each iteration cycle that went into Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift made it that much better. There’s even a mode where you can walk the stress of Chicago to learn more about the historic characters. You can click a button to travel thru time and see the city in different epochs. The game itself? Try exhibition mode. It’s officiated.

In the walk of Chicago three different buttons are labeled with specific years. These are hotbuttons to jump you to a specific era. What if you could travel instantly thru time? Now you can.

Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.

You can chat with citizens or go in buildings to learn more about the historic characters by using the ‘act’ button, and being close enough to have that pivotal conversation about hotdogs.

Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.

Buildings you enter have layouts, as mentioned. An example of such a layout is this building, which teaches a little lesson about the Ivy.

Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.

There is a day/night cycle to bring the city to life.

Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.

You can also take the car for a drive. Any car, just find one and take it for a spin. Unlike the real world, the gas is unlimited and the miles are unlimited.

Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.

The traffic lights are routed along a traffic management system. It’s a weird tick, but it adds just a little touch of realism to an otherwise unrealistic game world.

Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.

The timestorm is visible from many parts of the city, and especially at night.

Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.

And when you’re done exploring Chicago, then take to playing baseball!

Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.

This is such a large step-up from the first version of Timestorm. At times the scenery reminds more of a professional game and not something I tackled on a Sunday.

Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.

Naturally, the game holds a few secrets.

Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.
Gamelab: Timestorm Baseball II: Season of the Rift image from the original Advisory Hour post.

Give Timestorm baseball a play

Timestorm Baseball 2: Season of the Rift

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