Review: In Stars and Time Makes a Time Loop Seem Manageable

Going through a time loop, as we’ve seen in past games and movies, can be an exhausting process that means keeping track of what to do over again each day. However, In Stars and Time attempts to streamline the process and make it more manageable as a group of RPG adventurers attempt to hopefully, eventually, save the day on one particular day.

When In Stars and Time begins, you’re right at the end of a story about a plucky group of four adventurers about to save the world. Mirabelle, a housemaiden from a group called The House of Change that servs the Change God was the only one who wasn’t frozen when the King arrived, thus becoming a chosen one. Her journey led to her traveling with Siffrin, Isabeau, Odile, and Bonnie, and the group has returned to the town outside the House to face the King and hopefully save the day. However, after Siffrin and the group prepares the night before and enters the house, he dies after not discovering a trap in a death corridor. He then wakes up in the same meadow he was napping in the previous day, thus realizing he’s in a time loop that will hopefully break once they finally save the day.

In Stars and Time is essentially split into two parts. When you’re in town, you can interact with people who live there and your party members, talking with them and perhaps regrouping with information. Upon entering the House of Change to try and face the King, you’ll face enemies using your rock, paper, and scissor-based attacks. It’s a fairly typical, turn-based battle system, though using consecutive attacks of the same type allow for a combo that does something like revive a KO-ed character. It’s in the House that you’ll also find items and equipment, perhaps gather more memories for characters to equip, and die.

Of course, once you die due to a scripted event, some circumstance, an enemy fight, or touching a tear, the loop repeats and you decide where you start again.

I appreciated how In Stars and Time is a time loop game that can feel considerate of your time due to quality of life features. You can fast forward through conversations you’ve already seen, even if there are minor alterations in some cases. When you loop, you can choose whether you start in town or the House. You keep memories and equipment, which is handy, and eventually keys. Siffrin keeping experience also helps keep the difficulty manageable. I do wish there was a save anywhere option in addition to the fixed save points that help act as places where you can start a new loop, especially since I had the Switch version of the game freeze a few times when talking to Loop in town. But I get why that wasn’t possible.

The only downside is that sometimes the characterizations and script in In Stars and Time feel a bit forced. It’s like Insertdisc5 is trying too hard to capture the same quirkiness as games like Undertale. A little of that is fine! But this isn’t being done in moderation. Every character, from party member to NPC, is trying to be off-the-wall, and I felt most of the townsfolk and even more major characters like Bonnie and Loop were off-putting as a result. This does get a bit better as the game goes on, I think due to a general mellowing out and due to the more serious threat approaching. But perhaps if we weren’t coming into this in medias res, with the “end” about to arrive, and we’d had more time to connect and see people when they weren’t all being wacky, it’d be easier to deal with that early on in the adventure. This is a “your mileage may vary” situation I think, so others might be fine with the characterizations, especially if they haven’t been bombarded by a lot of similar sorts of games lately.

While personal preferences may determine how much you appreciate some elements of the script and characterizations, the design is very well done. All of the appearances of the main party are really great and memorable, but also in a way minimalistic. This also applies to the enemy design, which incorporates whether they are a rock, paper, or scissors type with well-executed hand designs. The UI is also crisp and fun, while being easy to navigate. In general, the stark monochromatic approach really works.

In Stars and Time is a novel game that makes a game about a time loop more manageable with some clever execution and a stylish approach. It looks and feels memorable, while still being simple and fun. If you appreciate adventure and narrative-heavy RPGs, it could be worth investigating.

In Stars and Time is available for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, and PC.