Tempos

Tempos are unique, unlockable abilities, all which control different aspects of time; that you can get by playing through HOURS. Currently, there are a total of 32 Tempos, 14 of which require the Hands of Time gamepass to be unlocked and used. They can be used with any Host.

In the first tempo page, each row can be unlocked by playing and meeting the tempo's unlock conditions with one of the first five Hosts. The first and second Tempos in each row do not require the gamepass Hands of Time, but the third and fourth require it. The first, second, third, and fourth Tempo in each row is unlocked by completing Peacock Peaks, Downcast Days, Mirai Mirror, or Light Beneath Closed Eyes respectively with the corresponding Host. Halt is unlocked by default.

The Tempos in the second page each have different unlock conditions. One of them, Page, is unlocked at the start of a game. 4 require beating the game with the 4 new non-secret hosts, and the other 4 have a secret unlock condition (their in-game description gives a hint as to how).

To Overclock a Tempo, you must have completed Light Beneath Closed Eyes with that Tempo and have the Hands of Time gamepass. You can then enable Overclock in the selection menu, which generally allows them to be more powerful. If you unlock and Overclock every single Tempo on the first page, you'll unlock Dreamer.

Sectioned Tempos (View)

Invader

• Halt: Stop time for 5 seconds. Recharges after 20 seconds
  • Overclock: Duration increased to 10 seconds and cooldown reduced to 10 seconds
    • Note: Has a short windup of about half a second (Projectiles can move while in effect)
• Star: Stop time instantly for 2 seconds. Recharges after 8 seconds
  • Overclock: Cooldown reduced to 3 seconds
  • Note: Instant startup (Unlike Halt, projectiles cannot move while in effect)
• Dive: Stop time for 10 seconds with a 2 second windup. Can be ended early to retain remaining charge. Recharges after 40 seconds
  • Overclock: Duration increased to 30 seconds
• Gold: Time moves when you move
  • Overclock: Time is completely stopped when idle. Activate to move up to 3 seconds during stopped time. Recharges in 10 seconds
    • Note: Even while not moving, time still moves in Non-Overclocked gold, albeit at an incredibly slow pace. Overclock Gold only charges when you move

Prophet

• Omit: Skip time for 10 seconds. Can be ended early. Recharges after 10 seconds
  • Overclock: Infinite duration and cooldown is reduced to 5 seconds
    • Note: This can be confusing, but it means that you aren't affected by time for the duration. To put it simply, you can't take nor deal damage, and auto-aim is disengaged
• Zero: Reset all cooldowns. Recharges after 15 seconds
  • Overclock: Takes effect continuously over a 5 second duration
• Rule: Skip half a second of time. Recharges after 2 seconds
  • Overclock: Time is not skipped for enemies. Duration is increased to 1 second, cooldown is reduced to 1 second
• Iris: See 2 seconds into the future. Recharges after 5 seconds.
  • Overclock: Passively see 0.75 seconds into the future
    • Note: Predictions may be changed if an enemy is staggered or stunned, preventing them from carrying out their actions

Witness

• Undo: Blow away 3 seconds of time. Recharges after 9 seconds
  • Overclock: Blow away 5 seconds of time. Cooldown reduced to 6 seconds
    • Note: This means that you will travel 3 seconds (or 6 if overclocked) into the past instantly
• Gate: Travel 5 seconds into the past. Recharges after 15 seconds
  • Overclock: Time repeats itself once more. Cooldown reduced to 10 seconds
    • Note: Upon use, it repeats time once (twice if Overclocked), letting you interact and damage enemies while observing the past. After 5 seconds, it travels you to where your past self is. All damage you deal while using this will remain
• Mood: Record your actions for 5 seconds and replay them. Recharges after 5 seconds
  • Overclock: Replay your actions without pause. Delay reduced to 2 seconds
  • Note: This works like Gate, except that your position remains after replaying, and no visual effects when recording
• Dust: Rewind 5 seconds of time for yourself. Recharges after 20 seconds.
  • Overclock: Rewind 15 seconds of time
    • Note: Rewinding takes place over a few seconds, and during this time, you cannot be affected by outside sources. In addition, the tempo will give you a trail with the color of your host. This trail doesn't really serve any purpose besides knowing where you're going to rewind to

Artisan

• Rush: Quadruples the speed of time for yourself for 1 second. Hold to use. Recharges after 10 seconds
  • Overclock: Time acceleration increased by 50%. Cooldown reduced to 5 seconds
    • Note: Overclocked Rush multiplies time by 6x compared to default 4x
• Zion: Doubles the speed of time for 20 seconds. Recharges after 40 seconds
  • Overclock: Triples speed of time instead and speed of time is passively increased by 25%
    • Note: Zion does not affect the enemies' speed. Time slowly accelerates to double/triple its usual speed rather than instantaneously becoming that much faster, as well as decelerating back down once its duration ends
• Path: Halves the speed of time (for enemies) for 6 seconds. Holds up to 3 charges. Recharges after 30 seconds
  • Overclock: Holds 2 extra charges and cooldown is reduced to 24 seconds.
    • Note: Charges stack when used; if you have two Path charges active, time is slowed even further, stacking at an exponential rate
• Mass: Speed of time becomes proportional to distance away from you for 10 seconds. Recharges after 30 seconds
  • Overclock: Radius is increased by 50% and effect is stronger. Cooldown reduced to 10 seconds

Vestige

• Swap: Swap between two versions of yourself from different timelines. Recharges after 5 seconds
  • Overclock: Cooldown reduced to 0.5 seconds
    • Note: This Tempo can be used to swap from a version of yourself that is dying to another that is not, acting as an extra life at the cost of no longer having a usable Tempo
    • Note: The clone that isn't being used cannot take damage but is able to attack and is affected by natural regeneration. Therefore, if you can fight with the other clone for long enough the other clone will heal as well
    • Note: The clone cannot deal damage, but performs attacks and move around like a bot
• Dirt: Clone yourself from another timeline for 15 seconds. This clone mirrors your actions. You can swap controls with this clone. Recharges after 30 seconds
  • Overclock: Spawn 1 extra clone, cooldown reduced to 15 seconds
    • Note: Objects created by your clones remain after the clones disappear (i.e. sentries). Whichever clone you control at the end will remain on the arena
• Rail: Reset your state to the start of the stage, leaving behind a clone. Can also be used to shuffle upgrades once per stage for free. Recharges after 5 minutes. Cooldown is reduced by 50% when entering a new stage
  • Overclock: Cooldown reduced to 120 seconds and upgrades can be shuffled without limit
• Disc: Clone yourself from another timeline for 10 seconds. This clone acts on its own. You can swap controls with the clone. Recharges after 15 seconds
  • Overclock: Cooldown reduced to 2 seconds
    • Note: As with Dirt, objects created by clones remain. The clone AI uses machine learning to become smarter as you play in the current run. Whichever clone you're controlling when Disc ends is the one that remains

Visitor

• Clip: - Instantly trigger the effects of actions preformed by you in the next second. Recharges after 5 seconds
  • Overclock: Cooldown reduced to 2 seconds. Gain an extra charge

Subject

• Loch: - After 3 seconds, rewind time. All damage taken by enemies is fated to occur again. Recharges after 9 seconds
  • Overclock: Cooldown reduced to 3 seconds. Damage taken while active is reflected

Parting

• Home: - Negate all negative effects within the last half a second. Recharges after 3 seconds
  • Overclock: Cooldown reduced to 1 second

Dreamer

• Anti: - Delay all damage in the next 3 seconds until the effect's end. Double all damage dealt and halve all damage received. Can be ended early. Recharges after 9 seconds
  • Overclock: Duration increased to 9 seconds. Damage dealt by you is repeated instead of delayed

Other

• Page: - Instantly kills player when used. Does not recharge.
  • Overclock: Instead semi-randomly switches host and upgrades. Cooldown of 5 seconds, automatically activates when off cooldown
• Cast: - Swap between two versions of yourself from different timelines, freezing the previous timeline in the process. Recharges after 2 seconds, increasing to up to 8 seconds depending on distance travelled
  • Overclock: Cooldown reduced to 1 seconds and is no longer affected on distance travelled
    • Note: This tempo is akin to Swap, but instead the timeline during activation does not move
• Cell: - Speed of time decreases with distance from you
  • Overclock: No effect cap
• Tear: - Skip time for 5 seconds, during which a clone takes your place and time is slowed. Recharges after 10 seconds
  • Overclock: Cooldown reduced to 5 seconds and duration increased to 10 seconds
    • Note: This works the same as Omit, except time is slowed and a clone takes your place (it can attack as well, although it cannot damage)

Secret

There are four secret tempos currently available.

• Sand: - Hold space to charge. Stop yourself in time for up to 2 seconds, charging the tempo. This prevents you from moving. After releasing space, become two times faster and make enemies become two times slower for up to 4 seconds, giving you an effective 8 seconds of enemies having a quarter speed
  • Overclock : Makes the tempo be able to charge infinitely
    • Unlocked by beating the game in less than 10 minutes on Hours difficulty or harder, without Turbocharge, Overclock, or the Cheat Menu
    • Its description is “Six digits under”
• Word: - Automatically stop time for 0.75 seconds right before getting damaged. Recharges after 4 seconds
  • Overclock : Reduces the cooldown to 1.25 seconds
    • Note: The tempo is generally used to lower the risk of getting hit. Also, this tempo is insanely good with Hellion due to his low max HP, serving as life saver
    • Unlocked by, at the end of the game with the Hellion, driving down the road near the pink button (at the start) and pressing the blue button
    • Its description is "Beyond the long road"
• Hint: - Automatically summon an enemy from any stage with 25% health as a ghost to fight for you. Ghost respawns after 4 seconds
  • Overclock: Respawn time is reduced to 1 second. Summon an extra ghost
    • Unlocked by successfully parrying the piano at the end of Resident Mind's first phase
    • Its description is "Blue note"
• Jump: - Restored spacebar functionality
  • Overclock : All restrictions removed. You can use your attacks or skills while jumping with no penalty
    • Unlocked by beating Light Beneath Closed Eyes without any upgrades in Hours difficulty or above
  • Its description is “Waste of talent”
  • It grants invincibility frames during the entirety of the jump, making you virtually untouchable

Trivia

• The Tempos in the first column of the first page, Halt, Omit, Undo, Rush, and Swap, spell out the game's name using their first letters.
• All Tempos have 4-letter names.
• Most Tempos' symbols are references to buttons on television remote controls
• Many of the Tempos in HOURS draw heavy inspiration or outright reference other media, most commonly in the anime and manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Below are the confirmed references (please do not add any more on your own):
  • Star and Dive's visual and audio effects directly mirror those of the time-stopping abilities of Star Platinum and The World respectively from the JoJo anime.
    • Their names are also references to each Stand; The World has tanks resembling that of a diver's on its back
  • Gold is a reference of the game SUPERHOT, where time only moves when you move
  • Omit, Rule, and Tear draw their inspiration from King Crimson and its time erase ability
    • Iris also resembles its sub-ability, Epitaph, where the user can view a single moment that occurs in the next ten seconds
  • Undo is a reference of Killer Queen's Bites the Dust ability because of the explosion effect that occurs on use
    • Additionally, the name of Dust is a reference to this same ability
  • Mood is a reference of Moody Blues' ability to replay actions
  • Zion is a reference of Made in Heaven's ability to accelerate time
  • Mass is a reference to the idea that gravity distorts space which is connected to time
  • Swap, Dirt, Disc and Cast are all inspired by the ability of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (D4C); that is, the ability to move between timelines or dimensions
    • Dirt's name also directly references the name of D4C
  • Overclocked Page is a reference to the Clicker from The Binding of Isaac.
  • Anti's name and visuals are a reference to the game Antichamber.