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
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