Publisher Armor Games Studios and developer Adrienne Bazir have today announced In Stars and Time. The game stars a family of adventurers that discover they are somehow trapped in an endless time loop, forcing them to memorize and work around the dangerous fantasy world they find themselves in to defeat the evil king who is slowly freezing time.
In Stars and Time uses a top-down camera to help players understand and explore its weird and wonderful world. The atmosphere is reminiscent of Earthbound, but the core mechanics differ somewhat. Most encounters occur in corridors, with the camera shifting to a pixellated first-person perspective that wouldn’t look out of place in Undertale.
Each encounter, be it a trap in a dungeon, or a failed battle, will end with the same result. The party dies, time rewinds, and you begin the time loop again. Like Blackreef in Deathloop, no one else seems to be aware of this time loop, meaning the party can slowly work their way through every hazard until they come face to face with the evil king.
Unlike most other games with time loop mechanics, In Stars and Time will show the impact that such a reality has on the people it affects through the diverse cast of characters in the player’s party and how they feel about being stuck in an endlessly repeating day. The game is slated for a 2023 release.
