# The rules of time > How Afterself works: loops, echoes, the Anchor and paradoxes, plus every mechanic with a tip and the level where it first appears. Chapter I is free to play. [playafterself.com/en/mechanics/](https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/) · [Español](https://playafterself.com/es/mecanicas/index.md) · [Português (Brasil)](https://playafterself.com/pt-br/mecanicas/index.md) · [Français](https://playafterself.com/fr/mecaniques/index.md) · [Deutsch](https://playafterself.com/de/mechaniken/index.md) · [Italiano](https://playafterself.com/it/meccaniche/index.md) Everything you need to team up with your past self: how loops and echoes work, and every mechanic in the game, chapter by chapter, with a tip for each one. ## How time works ### The loop Every level is played in short loops of 7 to 10 seconds, and you only get a few. When time runs out, it rewinds and the level resets: doors, plates and platforms go back to how they started. Finish within the goal for ★★★. ### Your echo Each loop you finish becomes an echo: a copy of you that repeats exactly what you did, to the pixel, in every loop that follows. It presses plates and takes up space, just like you. ### ⚓ Anchor Hold Anchor to end the loop right away. Your echo freezes on the spot and stays there in the next loops, holding whatever needs holding: a plate, a bridge, a laser beam… ### ↺ Retry and undo Recorded something you didn't mean to? Retry loop replays the current loop without spending another one, and Undo echo erases your last echo and takes you back a loop. Hold Retry to restart the level. ### The paradox rule Your past has right of way. In chapter IV, if you get in an echo's way (you shut a door on it, or the ground it stood on is gone), time breaks and the loop starts over. A “!” over the echo warns you just before. ## Chapter I · Echo Learn to work with your past. Levels 1-1 to 1-5. Free in the demo: https://playafterself.com/en/play/ ### Plate First appears in level 1-1 “First Echo”. Opens the door of its color while someone is standing on it: you or any of your echoes. Once nobody is on it, the door closes again. **Tip:** Anchor on the plate: your echo will keep the door open in every loop that follows. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#plate ### Timed door First appears in level 1-2 “Window”. Opens for a few seconds when its plate is pressed, then closes on its own. Staying on the plate doesn't keep it open: what matters is when it gets pressed. **Tip:** Have your echo press the plate late, so the door opens just as you get there. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#timed-door ### Spikes First appears in level 1-3 “Spikes”. They send you back to the start, but the loop keeps running: you lose time, not a loop. Your echo will repeat the fall, too. **Tip:** If a fall ruins the recording, use Retry loop: it replays the loop without spending another one. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#spikes ### Light curtain First appears in level 1-4 “Curtain”. Every crossing flips its door, whoever crosses and whichever way they go. At the start of each loop, the door goes back to how it began. **Tip:** Count the passes: an odd number flips the door, an even number leaves it as it was. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#light-curtain ## Chapter II · Weight Plates that need more than one body. Levels 2-1 to 2-5. ### Weight plate ×2 First appears in level 2-1 “Share the Load”. Needs 2 bodies on it at the same time to open its door. You and your echoes all count. **Tip:** Anchor an echo on the plate and join it in the next loop: every body adds weight. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#weight-plate ### Moving platform First appears in level 2-1 “Share the Load”. Follows exactly the same path in every loop. Your echoes ride it too, because they repeat your every move. **Tip:** It's always in the same place at the same second: learn its rhythm once and it holds in every loop. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#moving-platform ### Present plate First appears in level 2-3 “Present Tense”. Only you can press it, in the present. Your echoes walk over it and nothing happens. **Tip:** Save yourself for these plates and hand every other job to your echoes. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#present-plate ### Past plate First appears in level 2-3 “Present Tense”. Only your echoes can press it: stepping on it yourself does nothing. Someone has to walk over it in an earlier loop. **Tip:** Cross it in one loop so that your echo presses it for you in the next. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#past-plate ### Resonance door First appears in level 2-4 “Resonance”. Opens when 3 different bodies touch its plate in the same loop. They don't need to be there together, and once it opens, it stays open for the rest of the loop. **Tip:** Each body counts once per loop: send your echoes one after another, then go yourself. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#resonance-door ### Short memory First appears in level 2-5 “Short Memory”. Only your last 2 echoes exist. When you record a new one, the oldest fades away. **Tip:** Plan the order: the echo that has to last until the end should be one of the last you record. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#short-memory ## Chapter III · Body Your echoes are solid: climb on them. Levels 3-1 to 3-5. ### Solid echoes First appears in level 3-1 “Stepping Stone”. Your echoes have a body: you can stand on the head of an echo that's standing on the ground and use it as a step. **Tip:** Anchor an echo wherever you need a step, and stack a few to build a tower out of yourself. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#solid-echoes ### Red laser First appears in level 3-3 “Shield”. Deadly to you, but your echoes block it. Its clock shows when it's on, and the beam flickers just before it fires. **Tip:** Anchor an echo in the beam: it becomes your shield in the next loops. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#red-laser ### Green beam First appears in level 3-4 “Beam”. Its door stays open while the beam reaches the receiver. Cut it, with your body or an echo's, and the door closes. **Tip:** Even your past casts a shadow: keep your echoes out of the light while you need the door open. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#green-beam ## Chapter IV · Paradox Your past has right of way. Levels 4-1 to 4-5. ### Paradox First appears in level 4-1 “Paradox”. Your past has right of way: if you block an echo's path or take away the ground under its feet, the loop starts over. A “!” over the echo warns you just before. **Tip:** If the same paradox happens twice in a row, the game undoes that echo for you: try another order. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#paradox ### Phase glass First appears in level 4-2 “Phase”. Only solid while its clock is lit; the rest of the time it's a dotted outline you fall straight through. It blinks just before it changes and keeps the same rhythm in every loop. **Tip:** Check its clock before you anchor: if the glass appears inside an echo, that's a paradox. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#phase-glass ### Fragile bridge First appears in level 4-3 “Collapse”. Holds while someone is on it, but falls shortly after the last body steps off. It shakes as a warning, and it's back in place at the start of each loop. **Tip:** Anchor an echo on the bridge: it never steps off, so the bridge holds for the whole loop. https://playafterself.com/en/mechanics/#fragile-bridge ## Ready to bend time? Chapter I is free in your browser: five levels to get the hang of your echoes. The full game has 20 levels and every mechanic on this page. [Play the free demo](https://playafterself.com/en/play/)