I’ve always been a fan of games that, rather than prioritizing being “gamey” at all times or even necessarily “fun”, use their interactive medium to their advantage to tell stories and convey things in a manner that would be impossible in any other format. Your 13 Sentinels, your Undertales, your OneShots. In Stars and Time is one of the most incredible, accomplished examples of this I have ever seen. What starts off as a relatively normal-seeming RPG with time loop mechanics twists and turns into something that can only be described as a facsimile of RPGs, ostensibly traditional on the surface but as you progress further and further reveals itself as something else entirely.

As is known, In Stars and Time is about a time loop. About your wily hero being stuck there, being slowly whittled down by the repetitiveness, the tedium, the same battles and dialogue and interactions with the people you love over and over and over, eroding his sanity, slowly. And the game does NOT pull its punches for the player - there are quality of life features like looping to specific places, but Time and Time again you will find yourself experiencing the exact same agony as Siffrin. Constantly I found myself complaining about having to do yet another tour of the game’s singular location, only to catch myself realizing I was behaving exactly like him. It was the intended reaction, and they pulled it out of me unknowingly dozens of times across this 30 hour agony. It is not a “fun” game, most of the time, but ive never played anything that’s made me feel like it. And that is such a fucking risky thing to make, a game so deliberately boring and cyclical and mundane, all with the intent of furthering your narrative. It is not for everyone, definitely not, but if you can stomach going through it all over and over and over and over again then this game will resonate with you.

And yet, even with the framing of its plot, even with how much they just say the same thing all the time, the cast of characters in this game have become one of my favorites in any video game. They are simply just… phenomenally written. You never want to stop being around them, just like Siffrin doesn’t. And the game taking place at the end of a long arduous quest similar to something like Frieren allows for so much to be learned about them throughout the game by you rather than their development being spread throughout it like that - they’ve already grown to this point without your input. Though the series of sidequests in the midgame focused on them, acting as conclusions for their arcs you never entirely saw, are some of my new favorite moments in games ever. Cried at every single one of them….

My mind is still racing, I am sure there’s so more I could say about this thing, but I am not even sure what right now. But it is a truly truly special experience like nothing else out there, not even the inspirations it wears proudly on its sleeve. It might be too cryptic and tedious to reach the fame of something like Undertale but I hope more and more people can find it and it resonates with them as much as it did me. Make sure to regularly use the coin on the tree.

In this moment, you are loved.

The ultimate embodiment of everything that this game’s trying to say is that for collecting everything, right after a nice cutscene where everyone thanks you for playing, you unlock an absurdly tedious level that takes quadruple the amount of time of the entire rest of the game to complete and has no real reward. Its all just that little bit more cynical than the first game in its commentary and comedy due to its development circumstances, which makes it a really fascinating experience. just like its predecessor its more or less the peak of gaming as an artform. we do love katamari

to quote a friend:

"umineko ep4 is like

two characters have a conversation in a quiet atmosphere

two characters have a conversation in a quiet atmosphere

domestic abuse

two characters have a conversation in a quiet atmosphere

KRAUSS CAN BEAT DEMON KING PICCOLO?

two characters have a conversation in a quiet atmosphere"

an absolutely insane conclusion to the question arcs that shattered every single expectation i had for it. ange is the GOAT. what a fucking series this is

absolutely incredible second half, but some of the pacing issues from the first episode are still present, albeit lesser, and the descriptions of violence present within have become unnecessarily gratuitous. I still adored so much else about it, like, again, the entire second half, and the feeling of confusion and unease i felt throughout All of this thing. I also really like how much focus it gave to characters who just.. didn't get anything in episode one, like Gohda, who is now one of my favorite guys of all time!! i love gohda. goatda

it is not perfect - it's a bit too heterosexual and there are parts of the ending i have issues with - but tiny itty bitty little issues like that just do not matter in the face of one of the greatest narrative experiences I have ever experienced. This is seriously a revolution in interactive storytelling and if you have even the slightest interest in it then you should play it as soon as possible. Its especially an absolute treat for anyone who loves to think about how game design can influence and bolster the narrative games try to convey