History VideoGame / InStarsAndTime

''In Stars And Time'' is a time-looping RolePlayingGame adventure developed by Adrienne Bashir (she/they), a.k.a. [[https://www.insertdisc5.com/ insertdisc5]], and published by [[https://armorgamesstudios.com/ Armor Games Studios]]. Released on Nov 20, 2023 for PC, Platform/PlayStation4, Platform/PlayStation5, and Platform/NintendoSwitch, the game is the finalized and expanded version of its prototype, ''VideoGame/StartAgainStartAgainStartAgainAPrologue''.

* CombatantCooldownSystem: The combat is not turn based, but working on the cooldown system, this can give some clear indicators on when the enemy is about to attack, or when your ally is about to act.

* ScissorsCutsRock: The craft system is literally RockPaperScissors but sufficiently strong attacks of the type least effective against certain opponents can still succeed even with the resist. They're just not AS effective.

Beginning at the end of the party's long journey and the start of Siffrin's even longer one, the game tells the story of Siffrin as he struggles to remain positive in the face of endless [[GroundhogDayLoop time loops]]. Although death after failure and failure and failure again wears him down, Siffrin keeps going in hopes of defeating the King and ending this temporal tragedy once and for all. And keeps going. And keeps going. And keeps going. And keeps going...

** Equipment is retained between loops, saving you the trouble of going back and grabbing every weapon every time. If you ''do'' go back to grab it though, the universe will swiftly replace it with an item, complete with confused reactions from the party as reality corrects itself - after all, you already have the weapon, so it can't be there, can it?

* ScissorsCutsRock: The craft system is literally RockPaperScissors but sufficiently strong attacks of the type least effective against certain opponents can still succeed even with the resist.

''In Stars And Time'' is a time-looping RolePlayingGame adventure developed by [[https://www.insertdisc5.com/ insertdisc5]] and published by [[https://armorgamesstudios.com/ Armor Games Studios]]. Released on Nov 20, 2023 for PC, Platform/PlayStation4, Platform/PlayStation5, and Platform/NintendoSwitch, the game is the finalized and expanded version of its prototype, ''VideoGame/StartAgainStartAgainStartAgainAPrologue''.

* TrueFinalBoss: Though there's only one ending, [[spoiler: a True Epilogue can be unlocked featuring a fight against Loop. Or more specifically, the Siffrin from ''VideoGame/StartAgainStartAgainStartAgainAPrologue'', having made a wish to escape his loops.]]

* DarkReprise: "The House" (all three parts of which include Floors 1-3) [[spoiler:is remixed into a dark and messed up song, "The House (Trapped)"]]. Likewise, "Do You Remember? (The King's Theme)" has two of them, [[spoiler:"Do You Remember? (Our Country)" (played during Act 3) and "Do You Remember? (We've Been Through This Before)" (played during Act 5)]]; "Game Over" has one: [[spoiler:"Game Over (Don't Leave Me Alone Here)" (played in the boss fight with Mal du Pays)]]; and "How Can I Help You, Stardust? (Loop's Theme)" has one: [[spoiler:"How Can You Help Me, Stardust?" (played in the TrueFinalBoss battle with Loop)]].

** Act 5. [[spoiler: Siffrin finally becomes fully unable to cope with the time loops and sort of snaps. No longer able to view his party as anything but characters repeating the same lines, Siffrin loses the motivation to keep up his act and drops his script and facade. His only focus becomes reaching the end and escaping the loops as fast as possible. Still not informing his party (or “actors”, as he calls them by this point) of the fact that he is trapped in the time loop, he lashes out against them during each of their quests. Siffrin is left with a party that doesn’t trust him, leading Siffrin to attempt a run of the house on his own.]]

%%* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler:Loop’s true identity recontextualizes a lot of their dialogue and their relationship to Siffrin. Who doesn’t love seemingly innocuous foreshadowing?]]

* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler:Loop’s true identity recontextualizes a lot of their dialogue and their relationship to Siffrin. Who doesn’t love seemingly innocuous foreshadowing?]]

* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler: Loop’s true identity recontextualizes a lot of their dialogue and their relationship to Siffrin. Who doesn’t love seemingly innocuous foreshadowing?]]

* RewatchBonus: [[Loop’s true identity recontextualizes a lot of their dialogue and their relationship to Siffrin. Who doesn’t love seemingly innocuous foreshadowing?]]

* GratuitousFrench: The Sadnesses the party encounters have French words for all kinds of depressing moods as names.

* TranslationConvention: A few conversations hint that the characters are speaking some other language. The discussion when obtaining Thyme has the characters not get the thyme=time pun, while its description says that the joke works "in some languages". Later, the party makes fun of Siffrin for not remembering "the word" for "stuffed animal".

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: [[spoiler: Siffrin wished at the Favor Tree to be able to stay with his friends. Wish Craft manifested this through a time loop of the same two days that gradually drives him insane. Thankfully subverted in the end, though; he ''does'' get to stay with them after all! It just... takes potentially thousands of loops and inflicts lifelong trauma.]]

* GratuitousFrench: A lot of the Sadnesses the party encounters have French words for all kinds of depressing moods.

* RewatchBonus: Those who make a second playthrough of the game after beating it will realize that [[spoiler:the time loop has to start if and when Siffrin gets a four-pointed leaf from an NPC and makes one of the four wishes at the Favor Tree, whether it be hanging out with Mirabelle, Isabeau, Odile, or Bonnie, in order for it to work, for Loop to appear, and for a whole lot of trauma to begin by keeping silent about it. NiceJobBreakingItHero]].