What would you do faced with eternity? Forced to relive the same two days without end in sight.

In Stars And Time story on the surface is quite simple, an evil villain called the 'King' has frozen much of the country Vaugarde in time. It's up to a party of saviours to finally confront and stop the King who is hiding in a local temple.

Our protagonist Siffrin is the strategist, tasked with disabling traps and giving guidance. However, shortly after entering the temple, Siffrin fails to detect a trap and is brutally crushed by a boulder. Snapping back to consciousness Siffrin finds themselves lying in a field, and shortly after is greeted by Mirabelle. Eerily, this sequence of events is identical to those of the previous day.

Siffrin is an intelligent individual and hence realises that they had gone back in time, believing it to be a boon, they devise how to avoid the trap this time around, believing it could serve as a tool to keep their party safe.

The seemingly basic plot-line to defeat the king and save the country only gets more complex as time moves on, or rather, loops, as more questions come to surface.

Without descending into spoiler territory, the game does an excellent job of conveying the mental toll looping after death can have. You are sat alongside Siffrin as they suffer, mental state deteriorating loop after loop, as the sheer futility of their actions, and monotony of the loops, become seemingly more apparent.

Just like Siffrin, you are forced to repeat the House (dungeon) over and over. Though you do have the option to spend memories to loop to a specific floor of the House, these memories are gained upon winning battles. Additional Memories can also be spent to unlock all the previously unlocked doors on a floor, so if you are in a particular hurry and can afford to, this helps alleviate some of the tedium.

I believe this tedium helps to further connect the player with the story, because again, like Siffrin, you are also trapped, forced to repeat. Though as to not be too overbearing there's the option to skip portions of it.

As for the other members of the party, at first you have a basic idea of their personalities and role. Mirabelle is the hero priest, Bonnie is in charge of snacks, Isabeau is the tank and Odile is the researcher.

However, over time, each (story progressing) loop naturally expands your understanding of the characters, as you see different sides, through new pieces of dialogue and events. Again, your experience mirrors Siffrin's, when you understand something new, Siffrin does too.

In short I believe the story to be excellent and well written, the time-loop concept is explored in depth, from its utility to the mental health detriments. It's cleverly used to further contextualise the characters and their relationships, all the while ironically, progressing the story.

The art is relatively minimalistic but effective. I especially enjoyed the character art and designs, all of which were quite distinct. The character portraits were plentiful and done well, especially in Siffrin's case, whereby an array of both subtle and overt emotions are portrayed. Finally, the CGs were effective and of great quality, helping drive home key plot moments.

On the other hand, the soundtrack did become rather repetitive, the game would definitely have benefited from more combat tracks, however, I have no problems with the music itself, it is quite good.

Overall, In Stars and Time is a fantastic RPG maker game that is definitely worth your time. It manages to take the premise of a time-loop, one which can easily become repetitive if done wrong, and skilfully uses this potential pitfall as a way to further connect you with the story, with Siffrin. It tells a well-written and compelling narrative, paired with great art, music and interesting gameplay.