...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...
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...