In Stars and Time

About

In Stars and Time is an indie fantasy role-playing video game developed by insertdisc5 and published by Armor Games Studios in which players take on the role of the adventurer Siffrin, who gets stuck in a time loop while trying to save the country of Vangarde from being frozen in time by a figure known as the King. The game was made using the RPG Maker MV game engine and features a turn-based combat system inspired by rock paper scissors. Its style, themes and gameplay have been compared to other indie RPGs like Undertale and OMORI. It was released in November 2023 and gained a largely positive reception, receiving several nominations at the 2024 Independent Games Festival. Online, the game garnered a substantial fanbase throughout early 2024, inspiring fan art, memes and other content.

History

Start Again Webcomics

Between 2017 and 2020, Adrienne Bazir, aka insertdisc5, created a series of three webcomics titled Start Again, about an adventurer stuck in a time loop. The comics, available on the insertdisc5^[1] website, feature the protagonist of In Stars and Time, Siffrin, acting as a sort of prototype for the game.

In Stars and Time

On October 11th, 2023, a trailer for In Stars and Time was released on the Armor Games Studios YouTube^[2] channel, garnering over 26,200 views in six months (shown below). The game was fully released on November 20th, 2024, on PC,^[3] PlayStation 4 and 5 and Nintendo Switch.

In Stars and Time was notably given honorable mentions at the 2024 Independent Games Festival^[4] in the "Seumas McNally Grand Prize" and "Nuovo Award" categories.

Online Presence

In Stars and Time gained a significant fanbase online following its release, inspiring fan art, comics, memes and other fan content. For example, on February 24th, 2024, X^[5] user @sicklyjelly posted a piece of fan art that gained over 860 likes in two months (shown below, left).

On April 24th, Tumblr^[6] user draconic-nerd posted a piece of fan art depicting a tarot card referencing the game that gained over 940 notes in two days (shown below, right).

On April 25th, 2024, the Tumblr^[7] gimmick page where-is-tom-scott-today posted a meme referencing the game in which Tom Scott is shown in one of its locations, garnering over 400 notes in a day (shown below).

Search Interest

External References