I love this game and dislike it at the same time:
Cons:
- I get that the point of looping so so much and going through it all again is to make you suffer like siffrin, but 14 hours in I realized I missed just one tiny thing in my gameplay to further the story and ragequit. like, no, thanks- I could've played 3 shorter RPGs in that time. I understand the aim but the gameplay overshadowed the story and worldbuilding at some point. i was 1 hour away from turning into act 4 siffrin irl.
-the ost is...................................fine? but lacking. again, the same songs over and over and over GOD-
-maybe that's me but so much of the worldbuilding felt..incomplete? so, colors disappeared, ok. then what. do they explain this. if not ill eat my arm
-not a fan of king turning flat out evil when there was the possibility of a complex villain
-some dialogue was too 2016 uwu tumblr positivity blog for me
-same w the artstyle, its cute but isabeau was giving me funko pop LMAOOOOOOOOOOO


pros:
-adored the representation even though its not a requirement for me to enjoy things. i loved seeing casual, joyful transness, talks about being aroace and expectations etc. + having a mentally ill physically disabled mc.
-interesting tidbits of worldbuilding
-dont kill me but I liked the king. runs away now
-the characters were more complex than I assumed, I ended up loving them all deeply
-as someone w a memory disorder, I liked how sifs amnesi was handled
-the fighting system is cool
-i liked the Change belief, felt grounded and developed

Wasted 100+ hours of my life and probably going to a little more just to 100% this game eventually. and it was completely worth it just so I can see Siffrin and his friends move on together. Light Spoilers Ahead.

This is one of the best RPGMaker games I have ever played next to the Hello Charlotte series and dare I say the one with the funny dog. This grabbed me the moment I saw a scrimblo lil guy with a wizard hat and sold me the more I kept playing, I have never played a rpgmaker game with such tight writing and characterization before, just seeing Siffrins slowly going desperate and insane in all the big and small ways the game presents to you was a treat to behold and I just wanna hold and protect the little guy. also this is just Higurashi minus the bloodshed I'm just saying, but in a good way.

You eventually just start feeling like him too, going through the motions, seeing the same dialogue, afraid you'll miss something even though you know it's always the same, the actors playing their roles... especially if you're achievement hunting. The game >can< get repetitive, yes, but I believe that's the point, and the game always lets you know what you have to do through your friendly neighborhood Loop.

It's hard of me to choose a favorite, mostly bc they're all great, but it's between Isabelle and Odile, Odile's design and just her personality in general is peak hag and I really really really like her :) while Isa is a lovable himbo and I just, that one scene where he's in bed does something to be man I wanna be bearhugged by him and have a friend like him that's all I love the refrigerator :> I am totally normal about him as much as he's normal about Siffrin. Cute Himbo aside,

If any of you related to Siffrin, even as much as I did, please, talk to someone, talk to people about your problems. I know it's hard, it's scary, and you don't want to get hurt. I understand. Wouldn't it be nice to go back in time? Wouldn't it be nice to freeze everything just so you could breathe? There are many times in my life where, I just wanted everything to stop. But everything has to change, move on, grow, live, keeping that all inside of you, to fester, to brood, to rot, it never ends well, and you might do something you'll regret. Whatever problems you are facing, you are never alone.

I loved this game, and I can't wait to see what the dev does next.

It’s been almost two months since I’ve finished this game, and I’m still thinking about it. I’ve written and rewritten this review several times since then, trying to explain how a game that wears its flaws on its sleeve ended up as my game of the year. Because in all honesty, this should not work as well as it does in practice. This is a game about the most tedious parts of a RPG and uses them to drag you into the shoes of a character going through a depression spiral. It uses its time loop narrative to numb you, the boss battles whose gimmicks you figured out hours ago to bore you, and a slow drip feed of information to keep you going. Maybe this is the run! Maybe this time something different will happen! After all, three acts is a typical story structure—

But as much as this game clicked for me and refuses to leave my brain, I think the main reason that it did work for me was because I came into this already invested in these characters and wanting to know more about their world and their story. This leads to the hottest take I have about this game: the prologue version serves as a better introduction because we’re thrown right into the middle of things and have to piece together the context for ourselves. If I’d been introduced to this story through the slow opening of the final town, I’m not sure if I would’ve been as immediately invested or charmed as I was through the mystery of the prologue version. And thanks to extremely late game reveals (if you know, you know), I think that prologue should’ve made it into the main game. It’s a good litmus test to see if this will work for you, because if it does? The storytelling in this game will hit you like a bus.

That personal investment got me through a chunk in the middle where I just could not parse what the game wanted from me. I spent more than a few hours stuck on a hint, and after not getting it through several runs, I had to look at someone else’s playthrough to continue the story. A section of the finale had some dialogue in a room that I never went to in any of my loops (but I recognized the text from the prologue, so it was fine). Audio cues from battles would load strangely on my Switch (although I’m not sure if this is RPG Maker’s fault or not).

This is all to say that the game isn’t without flaws. But, I think it’s fascinating when game mechanics are used in service of a story instead of the other way around. In Stars and Time is definitely One Of Those, where the mechanics - the time looping, the boss fights, the battle system, the equipment, etc. - are not the point so much as how those things make you, the player, feel as the story unwinds itself in front of you. As a result, how much you, the player again, are willing to put up with these mechanics directly correlates into how much you personally care about the story, its characters, and its world.

Even with the parts that frustrated me, all of it was worth it for that ending, and for the story that has remained in my mind since I finished it. The character writing is amazing, the worldbuilding is incredible, and the mystery at the center of this time loop had me thinking about this game even when I wasn't playing it. I loved this game, and anyone with any level of interest in it should at least give it a try. Play the prologue first if you’re curious about it and then move on to the full game. I hope it grabs you by the heart the way that it did with me.

In Stars and Time is a unique story-based RPG-maker RPG that I am glad I was made aware of. This type of game is right up my alley and I very much enjoyed my time with this, learning more about the excellently written and designed characters and the world.

Besides being an RPG, if such a genre for games existed I would categorize this as a mystery, as learning why the main character, Siffrin, is looping in time, by gathering information around the game's small world is required for progression, and at times it can be quite confusing. The game is divided into acts, with major story points separating each. By the end of the game you will have "looped" dozens of times, and while going back through the same areas does get tedious after awhile, this is both (1) intentional as a method of storytelling (understanding what the main character is going through and becoming increasingly frustrated and hopeless as they are) and (2) done in a way that I believe respects your time as much as possible. Through the use of a pretty easily acquirable resource, you can loop not only back but forwards in time as well, taking you to the save point you choose that had the highest level you ever had had when previous saving there.

I was honestly pretty impressed by the combat, it’s a very simple weapon triangle turn-based system that manages to be deep enough to have some respectable difficulty in the first few loops when you are initially beating the game’s main content for the first time. As you grow stronger and you go through the acts, the combat ends up becoming a breeze, and so luckily you don’t have to really beat anything when it’s very difficult more than a couple times.

The main draw of this game is the main cast of characters, who I all learned to love pretty quickly. Siffrin does as well, and you understand each of the party members through his eyes, for better or for worse over time. I really loved the way that the perspective of Siffrin was so essential to the way the story was told, as you are going through the frustration of the loops right along-side him, questioning things and seeing character development of his friends through the same couple days just as he is. This is all implemented quite well and I can say that I really do love each of the characters in the game in different ways.

There are unfortunately a few plot threads that I felt did not get resolved in an entirely satisfying way by the end of the game, and mostly end up serving as mysterious sub-plot, when I was hoping we would get actual answers. It’s also very easy to miss very important information, and as I said previously it is very easy to get completely lost on how to progress at all. I still very much enjoyed my experience with this game and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone that feels this subject matter and style of game checks any boxes for them. I really do hope it gets more attention, as it I think it deserves to sit alongside many of the great indie RPG maker classics of the past decade or two.

8/10

I'm too emotional right now. Maybe I'll write extended thoughts some other time but man. I've never really gotten into Time Loop stories before, but this one absolutely hooked me. Gameplay does get a little bit stale around the halfway point but everything comes together in the end. I get the feeling that this score might increase over time.

Overall: I fucking love the funny "Quirky Indie RPG" genre. Give me like 20 more of them or something I don't care

EDIT: I changed my mind already. It's getting 5 stars.

Let's start on a positive note for this one:
The game has a neat artstyle and a good sense of presentation, it knows what it wants to look like with both the black-and-white shading and the character design and is not afraid of doing its thing.
The animations are quite fluid but still remind you of the older top down RPGs.
The Soundtrack is ok and the sound effect do help you feel that vibe of old RPG.
That is were the good stuff ends though.
The idea for the character to do things differently and experiment on the same dungeon because of a time loop is fun on paper, but the way In Stars and Time does it make it oh so boring; the combat gets boring fast with it being a glorified rock-papers-scissors and no amount of new mechanics they put can save it. You could try to avoid combat, but doing it is futile since most of the dungeon is just small corridors so you are quite literally FORCED to fight every time.
While some of your progress does get transported from one loop to the next, running around to get the same keys every time got so boring I put down the game and never picked it up.
The idea is cute and the presentation is not bad, but god it felt like a chore every time a new loop began.

Small appreciation for the characters though, they are well written and their banter is very fun to read.

Gameplay and presentation were a bit basic, with some slightly annoying repetition at times, but apart from that it was a fantastic and touching story.

The characters are endearing pretty much immediately and throughout, and the small slice of the world presented is pretty interesting.

Not much more to say, just a great little game throughout.

This game makes me feel in a way I wish more games would. An absolutely lovely cast with such variety all completely knocking it out of the park, but of course that's natural when the rest of the writing is magnificent. Every new detail I hear about any character or the lands they come from is a delight, and the central conflict always feels like it has enough weight, pulling the rug out from under you when you think you have the hang of things.
A lot of time loop games can over time get really annoying with the busywork they ask of the player and while it's definitely an intended effect from the story to have the player grow tired of some of the routine, the extent the game goes to in order to ease some of the more irritating elements really shows it's being designed by people (or person, rather) who know what they're doing.
In case this game needed more to be complimented on, the presentation is absolutely off the charts. The black and white aesthetic could have made the game feel somewhat flat but there is such life and personality to all the world design and especially the character art. It's always a lovely time to see one you haven't before. This is accompanied by a soundtrack that may not hold the same staying power of some indie juggernauts like Undertale or Omori, but still provides an excellent expression of the constantly shifting emotions this game goes through. Not to say anything outright but track 24 on the soundtrack makes me tear up.
As for complaints, the only thing I can muster up is near the end a few of the necessary steps become a bit cryptic but it's nothing I could knock off a point for.
With all that being said, I can absolutely say that if this game has not exploded withing the year, there is something deeply wrong with the industry because this game deserves as many eyes on it as possible.

Takes a while to get going, maybe even too long.
But once it has gotten going it really just doesn't stop.

It's a bit difficult to talk about without spoiling anything (and I don't wanna write a spoiler tagged review either because I don't feel like I actually have that much to say about it) but this game hit me really hard at an emotional spot that I have been incredibly vulnerable at for the past year or so.
And then the ending was just incredibly carthatic.

Of course, a game hitting me this close to something so personal to me, while making it a game I deeply care about, also makes it a bit more tricky to recommend. What if other people feel differently about this?
But also I feel like even though the game feels incredibly personal to me, it is actually about a fairly universal feeling. Now that I think about it, that might actually be what the game is about.

...this was recommended late last year by IGN's Rebekah Valentine on the Axe of the Blood God podcast. Me being the sucker for time loop games that I am, I simply had to take a look at it.

Pros:
+ makes the most of its Game Maker origins
+ monochrome art style is unique and memorable
+ rock-paper-scissors combat system is easy to learn
+ enemy designs are memorable and change over time
+ optional equipment heavily affects the combat tactics
+ time loop mechanic is implemented mostly hassle-free
+ some of the music themes are really good
+ the characters are engaging and grow on you
+ different playstyles lead to differing story paths
+ gameplay and storytelling get closely intertwined towards the end
+ the story does become more intriguing as it goes on...

Cons:
- ...but lacks subtext, and any ambiguity is smothered by the verbose writing style
- even meaningless objects get two screens of meaningless text
- text font and animation shenanigans feel juvenile
- 4:3 aspect ratio feels weird...
- ...and the painted bezels impact the quiter, darker moments
- even at the fastest setting, dialog still requires constant button inputs..
- ...and are frequently interrupted by meaningless dialog options
- culture war aspects are too obvious and blatant for my taste
- combat can only be skipped after it has started
- the reasons for further loops get really flimsy towards the end
- requirements for progress are not always clearly indicated
- even with an optional item, the final fight seriously drags
- playing for longer leads to serious, repeatable visual glitches
- the internal gametime clock continues when the Switch is on standby

Playtime: 18 hours, with a lot of optional content and dialog explored, but still a lot of paths untaken. A complete playthrough requires at least two playthroughs as far as I know.

Magic Moment: Meeting Loop for the first time. Winning the last fight and not knowing where it would lead to.

Blagic Moment: Searching for specific documents in the castle without being given clear instructions where they are. Using an optional item against the final boss and seeing it land like a dud.

Favorite Character: My girl Mirabelle. Please never grow up.

Verdict:
It's clear that In Stars and Time was created with great care and an eye for character and storytelling. However, with the creative team clearly being influenced by games like Earthbound, they somehow refused to implement the anti-frustration features of those games. Avoiding combat is tedious, the later loops send you back to the beginning for miniscule reasons, and having to fight enemies to loop forward in time is a deliberate but time-consuming design decision that really becomes a problem the longer the game goes on. The writing was also really not my style, but your milage may very much vary on that. Still, the technical aspects are troubling, and the gamebreaking glitches during longer play sessions are verboten for a finished product.

I believe this would have worked better as a straight visual novel instead, and if you are a fan of those, In Stars and Time could well be worth your time. Fans of RPGs however will not find much to enjoy here.

But then again...

I don't... know how to write this.

This was such an experience. A powerful, emotional one.

Time loops are a thing that games, understandably, don't tackle often. Doing something over and over again, isn't in most people's wheelhouse for an enjoyable gameplay experience.

But when done right, it's incredible. Proof; this game.

Siffrin's character arc... their slow mental decline... it feels palpable and real. It's a very visceral depiction of derealization and their slow spiral, his occasional outbursts... feel... so engaging.

Games that choose to intentionally pull negative emotions from you are often times my favorite experiences in the medium - there's a quote from the developer that says something similar - games are in a unique place to create a mechanically 'unfun' experience. Often times, this isn't done well or a game is unfun when it's trying not to be.

This game, I believe succeeds a lot (with some exceptions, see below).

Trauma... trauma, trauma. Never seen a game handle it quite like this, yeah?

Okay, lets get real.

Life can be unfair. Sometimes, traumatic experiences can come in waves, they can come so rapidly and so harshly that it feels like the universe itself is targeting you specifically. "Why?!" We've all cried before. "Why me?!?! What did I do?!"

It's hard to reach out for help. Even when people you love - family, friends, are right there, it can be so hard. You convince yourself they hate you. Make up what they're thinking in your head.

"I shouldn't bother them." "They don't care."

Yeah? Follow me so far?

If you resonated, with any of that, play this game. Check the content warnings, first, but play this game.

Because it resonated with me on a level I cannot even describe. I've never seen a game ever be so blindingly human.

This game isn't perfect. Act 2, drags a bit and has some weird design choices, and Act 5 is a bit frustrating to navigate...

But I can't not rate it as high as I can, because of that.

Oh. Gameplay is fun, too.

Smartly-designed and smartly-written. Timeloop games feel like they've become a bit of a trope recently, but what surprised me here was how much it has to say with it and how well-executed it is.

Getting a 35-hour RPG out of a single dungeon the player has to repeatedly loop through has so much room for things to go wrong, for it to become tedious for all the wrong reasons, and I'm shocked it works this well. The writing is sharp, interesting enough I convinced myself I'd keep reading it every time, then eventually I started zoning out and skipping it exactly the same way the main character diegetically is as he's getting increasingly distant from reality for having seen it so many times. Mechanically it doesn't change too much, but enough things open up to make repeated trips through the one dungeon feel different in a way that still keeps it interesting while still giving you the diegetic tedium of repeating the same steps over and over.

If I have any real complaints, it's just that the ending is a bit too neat and tidy. The buildup to the ending is increasingly harrowing and tense, but the climax feels like it's over in a blink. It just doesn't quite feel like it's spent enough time on its consequences or on the experience of its entire cast.