The TMD plays a number of roles during the course of the game, but it initially works very similarly to the gravity gun from Half-Life 2. Players can use it to pick up and throw objects around, but there's an additional twist. The TMD can be used to switch objects between time periods. A broken crate in 2010 can be shifted back to a brand new state from 1950, when it actually contained something. Then it can broken open for its contents. This tool is also handy for reconstructing ubiquitous fuel barrels, which are empty and broken in 2010, but turn explosive when returned to its 1950 state and shot. The process works both ways, so if enemies are taking cover behind an object, the player can age it until it disintegrates before finishing things off with old fashioned firepower. Much of Singularity's gameplay will center on the use of the TMD since a number of puzzles (like reconstructing a staircase to access a new area) will be involved, but it's more than just a gadget. It's also a weapon.

During the course of the game, players will meet a number of characters; some were involved in the original experiment in 1950. They're caught in a limbo that's neither here nor there - a kind of null time space - and they're working with you to prevent a large scale repeat of the accident. Both people and objects are caught in this null space, and the TMD can be upgraded so that the player will not only see through metaphysical weak points into it, but grab also objects from it. This concept is used in a number of puzzles, like when you need to find an extra power cell and there happens to be one trapped in null space. In combat, the ability works as a means of grabbing things from out of nowhere and throwing them at enemies.

At the end of the presentation, we were shown the full extent of what the TMD is capable of as Nate steps onto a platform surrounded by power generators. He then uses the device to interface with the generators to reconstruct an entire wrecked building back to its shape from 1950. This was just a glimpse of what players could do when controlling the power of time.

Singularity is expected to release this fall for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.