In Stars and Time has flashes of brilliance but then descends into frustratingly repetitive stretches, especially during the latter parts of the story. Without engaging mechanics, the narrative weight falls entirely on the time loop and characters, which struggle to maintain momentum during the midgame slump. The reliance on these elements could have worked, but ultimately, the pacing and lack of gameplay complexity made me wonder if it was all worth it.
The first half of the game is passable. While I think the writing can be overly saccharine and hammy, it does a fair job establishing the personalities of your party members and fleshing out the lore of the world and rules of the time loop. The first dozen loops are engaging because you're still learning the story's rules and discovering new information. However, after the midway point, the game loses steam fast and only regains momentum in the final hour or so. Once you've exhausted the flavour dialogue in the dungeon during the early hours of the game, you're left with only plot-relevant information, which is doled out so painfully slowly that I lost interest as my patience was tested with repeated loops that contained nothing special.
As the loops continue the main character understandably becomes socially withdrawn and emotionally disconnected from his friends. In terms of gameplay, this results in him refusing to read books because he doesn’t care or refusing to follow potential leads as they crop up which means even more looping later on. I understand that the game wanted to build frustration in both the player and main character, but it doesn’t amount to very much when the responses from your party are just “Wow, I wonder what’s up with him?” over and over again for hours until the game reaches its conclusion.
As the time loops pile up, the protagonist retreats further into himself, offering only hollow banter to maintain the façade of normalcy with his companions. The consequence of his emotional state only serves to extend the loop cycle even further. This repetitive dynamic, while thematically relevant, agonisingly drags on for hours at a time. It creates a very miserable playing experience that didn't appeal to me. Frustration and repetition being used to create a strong emotional bond between the player and main character is expected given what the story is about, but the game never does anything particularly interesting with it.
At one point I revisited a dusty tome in the library, only to receive a single new sentence hinting at a future interaction only exemplified the game's reliance on backtracking. I had given up expecting the game to open up in any meaningful way at this point. Progression is so disappointingly linear and selective, the gameplay is equally boring and effortless that I was tempted to stop playing entirely. I only kept going because I liked the characters and assumed this frustration would build into a good final act.
Sadly, I was still left feeling dissatisfied despite liking the ending.
My main issue with In Stars And Time is that there isn’t enough variance in each loop, no unique sequence breaks, and no way to gain relevant information quickly enough that makes it feel worth playing for dozens of hours. The game is successful in building frustration and boredom for both you and the main character, yes, but in service of what exactly? A message I already agreed with and could see coming a mile away?
While the game excels at mirroring yours and the protagonist's ever increasing desperation and hopelessness, it fails to translate this into engaging gameplay. This ultimately results in a game that isn't fun to play and a story that is both predictable and bloated with repetition.
In Stars and Time's story of self-discovery, consequences and the power of connecting with other people will resonate with many of us, but it just isn't worth slogging through a chore of a game that left me thoroughly underwhelmed for the majority of its runtime.
The first half of the game is passable. While I think the writing can be overly saccharine and hammy, it does a fair job establishing the personalities of your party members and fleshing out the lore of the world and rules of the time loop. The first dozen loops are engaging because you're still learning the story's rules and discovering new information. However, after the midway point, the game loses steam fast and only regains momentum in the final hour or so. Once you've exhausted the flavour dialogue in the dungeon during the early hours of the game, you're left with only plot-relevant information, which is doled out so painfully slowly that I lost interest as my patience was tested with repeated loops that contained nothing special.
As the loops continue the main character understandably becomes socially withdrawn and emotionally disconnected from his friends. In terms of gameplay, this results in him refusing to read books because he doesn’t care or refusing to follow potential leads as they crop up which means even more looping later on. I understand that the game wanted to build frustration in both the player and main character, but it doesn’t amount to very much when the responses from your party are just “Wow, I wonder what’s up with him?” over and over again for hours until the game reaches its conclusion.
As the time loops pile up, the protagonist retreats further into himself, offering only hollow banter to maintain the façade of normalcy with his companions. The consequence of his emotional state only serves to extend the loop cycle even further. This repetitive dynamic, while thematically relevant, agonisingly drags on for hours at a time. It creates a very miserable playing experience that didn't appeal to me. Frustration and repetition being used to create a strong emotional bond between the player and main character is expected given what the story is about, but the game never does anything particularly interesting with it.
At one point I revisited a dusty tome in the library, only to receive a single new sentence hinting at a future interaction only exemplified the game's reliance on backtracking. I had given up expecting the game to open up in any meaningful way at this point. Progression is so disappointingly linear and selective, the gameplay is equally boring and effortless that I was tempted to stop playing entirely. I only kept going because I liked the characters and assumed this frustration would build into a good final act.
Sadly, I was still left feeling dissatisfied despite liking the ending.
My main issue with In Stars And Time is that there isn’t enough variance in each loop, no unique sequence breaks, and no way to gain relevant information quickly enough that makes it feel worth playing for dozens of hours. The game is successful in building frustration and boredom for both you and the main character, yes, but in service of what exactly? A message I already agreed with and could see coming a mile away?
While the game excels at mirroring yours and the protagonist's ever increasing desperation and hopelessness, it fails to translate this into engaging gameplay. This ultimately results in a game that isn't fun to play and a story that is both predictable and bloated with repetition.
In Stars and Time's story of self-discovery, consequences and the power of connecting with other people will resonate with many of us, but it just isn't worth slogging through a chore of a game that left me thoroughly underwhelmed for the majority of its runtime.
I loved the story in this game so much. The cast of characters was excellent, and the world and plot were very engaging. This game made me feel so many things. I'd go as far as to say that I could feel it in my soul at times.
However, the gameplay could be (deliberately?) tedious at times and regardless of any creative intent, I do think that brought the experience down quite a bit. You just spend a lot of time replaying pretty much the exact same content. But I think it'd bother me a lot less if text and turn speeds were a bit faster. With that being said though, I do think that the core battle system here is fun.
Regardless of the tedious aspects, I really do think that this game is worth playing. Please do not let the time loops alone turn you away from the game entirely. When it's good, it's GREAT.
However, the gameplay could be (deliberately?) tedious at times and regardless of any creative intent, I do think that brought the experience down quite a bit. You just spend a lot of time replaying pretty much the exact same content. But I think it'd bother me a lot less if text and turn speeds were a bit faster. With that being said though, I do think that the core battle system here is fun.
Regardless of the tedious aspects, I really do think that this game is worth playing. Please do not let the time loops alone turn you away from the game entirely. When it's good, it's GREAT.