In Stars and Time

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In Stars and Time is a story-driven fantasy RPG Maker game, developed by insertdisc5 and published by Armor Games Studios.
The game was released on November 20th, 2023, on Windows (through Steam, Itch.io and GOG), as well as on Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4 & 5. The game is not available on macOS devices.

Summary

What would you do if you were forced to relive your failures over and over again?

In Stars and Time tells the story of Siffrin and their adventurer friends—a found family bound together by fate in order to end the tyrannical reign of an evil king. But as victory is just within the party’s grasp, a tragedy occurs, the clock resets, and they have to do it all again.

As Siffrin’s the only one who notices this loop, each new start wears away at his cheerful veneer, yet he keeps going in hopes he can end this temporal tragedy once and for all.

In Stars and Time is a time-looping RPG adventure. With each loop, Siffrin gains a new perspective on the world around them, opening up new solutions to puzzles and allowing them to make better choices in conversation. Equip memories as armor, pray to the Change God to improve your team’s capabilities each loop, and challenge deadly foes to Rock, Paper, Scissors as Siffrin seeks the truth.

Story

Following an uncomfortably close encounter with a trap, party leader Siffrin discovers they are actually stuck in a time loop, able to start the day over again with nobody else the wiser.
But what seems like a handy trick to ensure victory quickly begins to weigh on Siffrin as he experiences the loop over and over with no end in sight. Unwilling to open up to their friends and companions, and with the literal weight of the world on their shoulders, can Siffrin find a way to break the loop before it breaks him?

ACT 1

The day before the time loop starts, Siffrin prays to the Change God statue for good luck and Isabeau encourages them to wish to the Favor Tree, which Vaugardians believe to be able to grant wishes. Siffrin does so, wishing to be able to stay with his friends and spend time with them even after their quest to save Vaugarde is over. He chooses a leaf from the tree, breathes his wish into it and folds the leaf to seal the wish away.

The next day, the party enters the House. Things go smoothly at first, but when the party reaches the so-called "Death Corridor", Siffrin gets crushed to death by a giant rock.

ACT 2

To Siffrin's surprise, he wakes up back in Dormont, totally unharmed. They quickly deduce that the previous day is repeating and that they have effectively went back in time.

At first, Siffrin is thrilled by his time loop ability, which he thinks was granted to him by the Change God in order to help his friends beat the King and save Vaugarde. They use it to their advantage to make things right with their friends (such as saying different things so as to not upset Mirabelle when she tells them about the sleepover), avoid traps and dead ends in the House, as well as find items which they should not know about under normal circumstances (such as the key taped to the top of the drawer in the Head Housemaiden's office or the key inside Marc's Super Awesome Great Amazing Super Duper Cool Notebook in the classroom). However, they never talk about this power to the others.

Through trial and error, Siffrin and the party manage to beat the King and reach the top of the House, where they are congratulated by the Head Housemaiden. However, when Siffrin talks to the Head Housemaiden, she suddenly becomes distressed, saying that he will go back to when everything started and that something is broken, rotting. Siffrin notices that the air smells like burnt sugar and feels a tug on their stomach. The Head Housemaiden tries to apologize for what she thinks is her fault, but her apology is cut short and Siffrin loops back to Dormont.

ACT 3

Siffrin realizes that they're stuck in the time loop. Loop says that they already knew that beating the King would not stop the time loop, but that they did not have the heart to admit it to him. Siffrin is disheartened by this turn of events, but he decides not to give up and to look for what may be causing the loops as well as a way to break them.

From this point, the loops gradually loose their helpful allure and instead become a trap which Siffrin needs to escape from: he becomes more easily frustrated by events he has already seen (such as killing the tutorial Sadness on his own or snapping at his friends when he bumps into the kitchen counter on Floor 1) and behaves more erratically in the hope of finding a way to break the loops (such as asking unprompted questions about Time Craft or deciding to speak to the King instead of fighting), which often arouses suspicion from the others.

First, Siffrin notices that his friends need help with their own personal problems and takes this as a cue to spend more time with them. Now that their bonds are stronger than ever, Siffrin wonders what will happen if they manage to reach the end of the loop. However, when he does so and talks to the Head Housemaiden, nothing seems to change and they wake up in Dormont.

Then, Siffrin tries to talk to the King to get some answers. The King says that he is not the one responsible for Siffrin's predicament, despite them having similar powers. Siffrin also learns that the King can freeze people in time thanks to something called Time Craft, which gives the user the ability to control time itself. However, Time Craft requires an extreme amount of power, which neither Siffrin nor the King should possess under normal circumstances. When asked how he is able to use Time Craft without dying, the King says that the Universe helped him and that "he only had to wish for it".

One day, Loop asks Siffrin to hang out with them for a whole loop in order to "test a theory". Siffrin is hesitant to leave his friends at first (since they usually go to the House together), but he accepts and sneaks out of the clocktower in the early morning to find Loop on top of the Favor Tree. After some time spent talking, a bright flash of light is seen coming from the House: Loop says that it is the King's first attack and Siffrin realizes with horror that his friends have gone through the House without him and got wiped out by the King. Feeling guilty and distraught, he loops back to the previous day and asks Loop why they made him do this if they knew this would happen. They say that this allowed them to learn that Siffrin does not only loop whenever he dies, but also during specific distressing events.

After learning the King's true intentions, Siffrin stops fighting and tells him that even though they understand his pain, he should not freeze Vaugarde in time because of it. The King realize the errors of his ways and accepts to give up the fight. He asks Siffrin to lend him some of their power to help him unfreeze Vaugarde, but when Siffrin approaches him to do so, he freezes everyone in time. He tells Siffrin that he knows about his time loop ability and that he can smell the power of Wish Craft on them. The King then decides to punish Siffrin by forcing Siffrin to watch him kill Bonnie with his bare hands. Siffrin panics and tries to loop back, but only manages to do so after Bonnie is crushed to death.

ACT 4

Characters

Combat

Development

Trivia

  • Prior to the game's release, from October 24th to November 13th, a fanworks contest was held on Twitter with the hashtag #ISATFANWORKCONTEST[1]; examples of accepted submissions were art, writing music, memes and cosplay.
    The three winners, chosen on November 20th, received a copy of the game, a physical version of the game's manual, and stickers.
  • Also prior to the game's release, from November 13th to 17th, an askbox was held on the game's Twitter page, titled "Siffrin and friends"; where people could ask questions to the game's characters[2]. It featured Siffrin & friends[3][4], Loop[5], and the King[6].
    Answers given were stated to be "semi-canon"[7]; except for the last day's answers (featuring Siffrin only[8]), which are uncanon[9].
  • In Stars and Time is named differently from START AGAIN: a prologue to make it easier to look up and find, as the latter's name is commonly used terms for many things.[10]
  • The game has a total of 426 dialogue portraits[11].
    • Within the party, Bonnie has 51 in total, Mirabelle has 53, Odile has 59, Isabeau has 66, and Siffrin has 139: making up 368 dialogue portraits.
    • On the game's official Discord server, it was stated that Loop has 39[12].

References

show/hide references

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In Stars and Time.
In Stars and Time Wiki Navigation
Story
ACT 1 • ACT 2 • ACT 3 • ACT 4 • ACT 5 • ACT 6 • Scripts • Optional Content
Characters
Siffrin • Bonnie • Isabeau • Mirabelle • Odile • Loop • Head Housemaiden • The King • Minor Characters • Enemies
Items
Mechanics
Achievements • Craft • Friendquests • Looping • Skills • Quests
Locations
Lore
Games
Other Media
Comics • Merchandise • Music • START AGAIN: a prologue (an artbook)
Social Media
Staff
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