It's impossible. Talking about this game is like explaining human emotions using biological functions; the heart rate increases, the blood quickens, the muscles contract. Yes, you can probably sort-of guess what I'm talking about, but these are merely the secondary aspects of the emotion: the emotion itself is what you, the consciousness, experience - and you're basing this understanding on your own sensations.

In Stars And Time is kind of like that. I can tell you what I felt, what I thought when playing this, but describing it like people normally describe games feels almost insulting. I can tell you that its battle theme uses a very strange 10/4 tempo, which then seems to mellow out to a regular 8/4 and then has a moment or 9/4? I think? But what matters is that this makes the battle music feel like it's tripping at first, then evens out to a run, and then stumbles again.

Stumbles... again. Again. Again. Aga

>START AGAIN

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" is a quote people misattribute to Einstein. But think about it. How do you feel about going through something more than once? Same setpiece in a game. Same dialogue. Or perhaps same movie. Same speech delivered on a different days.

You've seen this before.

Slowly, the events become less of an experience, and more of... something that just happens. You're not there to experience it. You'll probably end up zoning out, skipping an event if its a game, but otherwise feeling the ever-growing disassociation. After a few repetitions, chances are you'll forget how the event made you feel in the first place, precious memories being overwritten by this MADNESS of WANTING TO ESCAPE, to EXPERIENCE SOMETHING, ANYTHING, ANY F*CKING STIMULATION, MAKE I

>START AGAIN

I don't like achievements. Or rather, I don't like 100%ing a game. If you do that, depending on the game, you'll have to go through the same content many, many times. Content that was generally designed to be experienced once. The beautiful vistas, backgrounds, cleverly programmed enemies, all just fodder that you'll go through on autopilot.

Is this any different from being asleep, since you're not really conscious?
Is it any different from being dead
Since you're not really there?
No, being dead is better, because at lest that way you don't have to feel this

this

thisthis
t hi s

>START AGAIN

remember the time flowey told you that YOU KILLED HER and that he knows
remember what he said? He reloaded the game over and over again, and the people stopped being people
they just became pixels and dialogue boxes

>START AGAIN

Imagine how awful it must be to be a stage play actor. What for the audience is a (hopefully) wonderful, moving experience, for you it's repeating the same line, and always receiving the same answer. Whatever emotional impact of the story was there, replaced by the tedium of repetition.

Or perhaps it's not tedium. It's safety. After all, nothing unexpected can happen. The people are there. The roles are set. You just follow. The unknown is scary.

>START AGAIN

the same dungeon. The same locked doors. the same order. Where was this key. Was I here already

oh of course I f*cking was hehehh

hahahahahah

let me just go back-

>START AGAIN

No, that's not what I wanted, I want to go forward, I want to see what I can still change, I want to escape, I want the suffrin to end, and I want to see them happy, I want to see his smile, because I am him and he is me, our thoughts connected

I don't want to forget, I want this moment to stay in my memories, but it won't, I'm not one to remember

>START AGAIN

gay autism
shadow of the colossus
pretending youre an idiot to be more relatable

this one time an african american woman went to uganda or something and expected to find home and be greeted as a returned child but all that happened was she was seen as an american

thats funny

>AGAIN

...

Alright. Breathe. In, and out.

This isn't gibberish. I told you describing this game is impossible, and even if I told you about the strange and unique ways this game messes with your head, with its flow, with its surprisingly intricate writing - that wouldn't really do anything.

Every single thing I wrote here is somehow related to the emotions of this game. And that's what this game is about, really. The game itself is merely a medium; a vessel. It just so happens that for this particular story, for these particular emotions, this vessel is the most potent one.

Before I finish, there's one thing I wanted to talk about. When I first started playing this, I felt this... fatigue. Almost all characters have some unusual pronouns or have something LGBTQ-themed to them, and that's just the norm in this world. I wholeheartedly support this kind of mindset, but it made it quite difficult for me to find something to "hook" onto. This feeling went away with time.

But then, I understood. It's easy to think this is just some "tumblr aesthetic" kinda deal (ok, Siffrin looks like Snufkin literally because of tumblr by the dev's own admission); and it is.

But it uses that as a staging ground to develop into a treatise about change. Of the world, and of its people. And about the lack of change. About opposing change. It's a little subtle, but once you connect the dots the picture that emerges is nothing short of beautiful; impactful, too. There's a big deal of literary intelligence involved, of craft. I respect that a lot.

>NO MORE

36% of players beat the game.

Oh, and there's this game, START AGAIN: A Prologue. It's a prologue to this game. But it also isn't. It's a prototype. An earlier version. A paid demo, perhaps. And you're probably wondering, should I play that first?

I don't know, should you?

If you do, do it before playing this. There are a few reasons why, but I'll just ask you to trust me on this one. It's a lot shorter.

my reviews rarely get this unhinged