Time Pieces (A Hat in Time)

Background

Time Pieces are a series of collectibles found throughout A Hat in Time, serving as the primary collectible that Hat Kid needs to fuel her Spaceship and return on her trip homeward.

Time Pieces are one of the main objectives in A Hat in Time, serving as a fuel source that Hat Kid's Spaceship runs on to power its functions and access to other areas. However, during her first encounter with a Mafia Goon, and having the front of the ship depressurize, releasing the Time Pieces into a nearby planet, she must go out and retrieve each and every Time Piece to get back home.

As discovered by Mustache Girl after she and Hat Kid infiltrated the Mafia HQ and defeated the Mafia Boss, a smashed Time Piece can result in time temporarily stopping and rewinding. This effect is used little in the game itself, as Hat Kid seems completely unwilling to use Time Pieces for time travel for any reason, but it is important for setting up Mustache Girl into betraying Hat Kid after refusing to use Time Pieces for fighting crime.

The second major use of reversing time is when Mustache Girl infiltrates Hat Kid's Spaceship after collecting 25 Time Pieces, where she breaks into the vault and starts to smash many pieces to result in the planet changing up into The Finale.

A major side effect of Time Pieces smashing, Time Rifts can come into existence when a Time Piece smashes onto an object or living being, causing a blue or purple colored sphere to exist. In order to reclaim the Time Piece that has smashed in this manner, the player must enter the rift and collect it at the end, fixing the rift by removing it from the world.

In the game proper, Time Pieces are used as the end goal for each of the various Acts and Time Rifts across every single Chapter of A Hat in Time, with the player making contact with the Time Piece and either being sent to the Spaceship or to a central spawn point if the Chapter had a free roam mechanic.

They are used for restricting the player off from more difficult portions of the game or before they are ready to enter certain portions to make sure they own certain Hats or enough Pons to properly use Badges, represented by the panels next to the doors which are locked. Once the required quantity of Time Pieces is collected, that area's telescope appears and allows Hat Kid access.

Powers and Stats

Tier: Low 2-C | Low 2-C

Name: Time Pieces

Origin: A Hat in Time

Age: Unknown (Mentioned to be over hundreds of years since one was last seen)

Classification: Hourglass, Fuel Source

Wielders: Hat Kid, Mustache Girl, The Snatcher, Mafia Boss, The Conductor, DJ Grooves

Attack Potency: Macrocosmic level+ (The time pieces can rewrite the timeline into an alternate reality. Mustache Girl with it's powers created a realm with stars and nebulae) | Macrocosmic level+ (A single Death Wish Time Piece can create realms with countless stars like the Twilight Bell which is meant to be the Twilight Realm, an alternate universe)

Dimensionality: Likely 4-D | Likely 4-D

Travel Speed: Immobile | Immobile

Combat Speed: MFTL+ (Was making a realm move so fast the stars looked blurry. Time pieces serve as the fuel for Hat Kid's ship allowing it to move) | MFTL+

Durability: Unknown (They can break extremely easily due to being made of glass) | Unknown

Range: Macrocosmic+

Powers and Abilities: Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Reality Warping, Teleportation (Mustache Girl showed to teleport around during her boss fight), Spatial Manipulation, Burrowing (Mustache Girl burrows underground during her boss fight), Time Manipulation (Can stop and reverse time), Time Travel (The Conductor states how he was going to use the time pieces to return back to the one year he lost a movie trophy and reclaim it), Energy Manipulation & Technological Manipulation (Time Pieces are the fuel for Hat Kid's ship, it also restores power to deactivated parts of the ship), Memory Manipulation & Dream Manipulation (Can make time rifts based off the memories and backstory of characters, the Mafia Goon even notes it as a place of "thoughts and dreams"), Law Manipulation (Time Rifts made by time pieces have their own sets of rules), Pocket Reality Manipulation, Dimensional Travel (Can get out of the time rifts via the time piece), Space-Time Manipulation, & BFR (Time pieces can create rifts in space-time which are outside of the reality), Shockwave Generation (Creates shockwaves upon landing), Darkness Manipulation (Throws time pieces that cause black shadow lines), Explosion Manipulation, Power Bestowal, Forcefield Creation (Mustache Girl created a forcefield that made Hat Kid unable to harm her), Energy Projection (Shoots purple beams), Light Manipulation (The time piece completely lightened up Snatcher's dark realm)

Weaknesses: Can break extremely easily.