For all intents and purposes, I have combat solved. Nothing can get in my way. Some enemies are tough, a bit too hard to brute force. But I know what to do. Buffs are cast, debuffs inflicted. They’re slow, we’re fast. Our attack is higher, their defense is lower, I know what they’re weak to. Combat ends like all the others. I gained exp, but it’s hardly useful. No enemy poses a threat. There’s a plotline too, but I started skipping over it a while ago. It’s nothing that I haven’t already heard. Character interactions I’ve read again and again. Sometimes I have to make a choice in the dialogue, but that’s autopilot by now. I progress. I fight bosses. I win.

The game restarts. Something inside of me frays. And I have never understood a protagonist’s struggles more.

Tedium isn’t fun. It’s an accident in most games, enemies were given too much health or something similar. Sometimes it’s intentional and profit motivated, where the player has the option to skip the grind for a small fee. It’s not a good thing, right? In Stars and Time made tedium work.

The monochromatic time loop RPG by developer insertdisc5 makes you and the protagonist Siffrin experience the same thing. The same couple of days on repeat, to conquer impossible odds. Traps you never could’ve seen coming can be avoided, puzzles solved, passwords learned ahead of time, achieving success in a way nobody else can. It’s empowering and invigorating, at first. You master the game’s systems, learn everything you need to do, know the right things to say.

Then you have to do it again. And again. And again. Siffrin gets visibly more tired, and I do too. The only satisfaction leveling up gives either of us is the ability to finish loops faster, search for an ending faster. Every return to the start is painful. At least you’ve figured out another way to make your friends happy; another task to add to every future loop.

It’s rare for a game to do the same thing to both player and protagonist. Injuries don’t transfer, emotional weight is different. But the exhaustion is real. The tedium is real. It enhanced the story and how I experienced it. I didn’t think something I hate in so many games could work so well. I’ve never related to a protagonist in the same way I related to Siffrin, and I don’t know if I ever will again.

By all means, share your thoughts in the comments and join us on our Discord channel.

Featured Image: insertdisc5

The Boss Rush Podcast – A Podcast About Video Games

The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of The Boss Rush Network and Boss Rush Media. Each week, hosts Corey Dirrig, Stephanie Klimov, LeRon Dawkins, and Pat Klein come together with their friends, colleagues, and fellow creators to talk about their week in video games, discuss industry topics, conduct interviews, answer listener questions, and more. New episodes every Monday. Get each episode one week early and more perks over on the Boss Rush Network Patreon page.

This feed also includes Boss Rush Spotlight podcasts and Boss Rush Video Game Book Club. Get both shows early on Patreon. 

Email the Show: podcast.bossrush@gmail.com

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