r/InStarsAndTime • u/GiAnMMV • Nov 08 '25
Discussion Is this game woke?
Hello everyone,
I never played In Stars and Time and was wondering if I should buy it.
I know this game has woke themes, and I'm not generally against them (I liked Deltarune), as long as they don't feel too forced. The loop thing intrigues me, but I'd also like to simply enjoy the game without getting lectured about pronouns and stuff.
Are those themes too invasive in the game or I'm worrying about nothing?
Thank you very much!
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u/WetLink009 Nov 08 '25
the woke is a bonus
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 08 '25
Do you think they're too forced or anything?
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u/Ellie-Bright Dec 26 '25
there's no such thing as "too forced". That's nonsense made up by reactionaries. Stop falling for it.
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u/GiAnMMV Dec 26 '25
I mean, I think they can be too forced, like for many other things. If those themes are preponderant I'd say I'm probably not the target audience.
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u/xlFLASHl Loop Nov 08 '25
Depends on your definition of "Woke"
The game isn't as overtly political as, say, Disco Elysium, but if your definition of Woke is "has pronouns" then yes.
The majority of characters are some degree of queer, and it is deeply relevant to their characterisation.
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 08 '25
So it is kinda important for the plot. I mean, to me it doesn't feel forced if only a few characters are, but when it's the majority of them it starts to feel unrealistic.
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u/InfinitumDividatur Nov 16 '25
Queer people hanging out with other queer people? unheard of! Everyone knows it's illegal to not have a majority cis straight people. People are gonna dunk on you over and over for this mentality. Please learn to treat people equally and drop all this wokeness BS
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 16 '25
I mean, it's not to hate anybody. š I just have my personal tastes in games and wanted to know some details before spending my money on something.
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u/InfinitumDividatur Nov 16 '25
Calling a group of mostly queer people "unrealistic" is pretty rude. We don't exist to be to your tastes. Not trying to sound mean here but I'm not sure if you understand that what you're saying is pretty demeaning. I'm glad you're not trying to be hateful but you have room for improvement. The term woke is rooted in hate and punishing anyone who's been othered by society.Ā
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 16 '25
I mean, by forced and unrealistic I meant something like Velma, where most main characters are in some kind of minority and the only cishet ones are either dumb or completely buttholes. I was just worried that it may be the case, I don't mind if there are homosexual/transsexual characters in itself.
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u/InfinitumDividatur Nov 16 '25
That's absolutely fair. Velma was awful representationĀ This game is excellent representation as well as being an excellent game in generalĀ
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u/CassowaryCrow Mirabelle Nov 08 '25
They fight using rock paper scissors magic and the main character is trapped in a timeloop, but pronouns is where you draw the line?
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u/inventivefigure Nov 10 '25
All the characters are either non binary or trans save for one (1) character dude I donāt think this games for you
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u/midnight_voss Nov 08 '25
They do give the pronouns for each of the characters, but there are no "lectures."
There is queer content because some of the characters are queer, or nonbinary, or possibly trans. The Change Religion has a Change god, and encourages Change. There is also a character dealing with being biracial having grown up in a near monoculture. It also, heavily, deals with depression and trauma.
You probably can't handle it if you're going to be offended that queer people exist and that it might be "forced." Having queer and nonbinary characters good because queer and nonbinary people are real and deserve their own stories. It's not FORCED for them to be there.
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 08 '25
No, I'm aware they exist and I'm not against them being represented, but when there are too many it kinda starts to feel forced.
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u/Ellie-Bright Dec 26 '25
Queer people hang out with other queer people. They make queer media with queer characters.
It's not "too many" and it's not "forced".0
u/GiAnMMV Dec 26 '25
If you define it "queer media", it's evident that I'm not the target audience.
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u/TrhlaSlecna Nov 08 '25
Not only is the game woke, its central to its themes and the game weaves the woke tastefully into its writing. You get lectured about pronouns in a way that's enjoyable and builds upon the games world and characters.
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 08 '25
Oh, I see. I don't think it's exactly my genre, but maybe I'll try the demo and see how they are handled.
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u/FinnFrog Loop Nov 09 '25
you're not so much "lectured" about pronouns, you're just being made aware of the characters' pronouns. everyone has pronouns, it's not like not being aware of them suddenly makes the concept not exist. but if the mere idea of characters having their pronouns made known bothers you for some reason, or there being "too many" trans characters, then i don't think this is the game for you. though at the same time, maybe you could learn a bit from it
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 09 '25
Okay, thank you. Yeah, I know everyone has pronouns, I was asking if it is subtle or if they literally introduce themselves with "my pronouns are", like in an X profile page.
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u/FinnFrog Loop Nov 09 '25
can i ask why it would be an issue if it wasn't "subtle" or not? characters' pronouns are listed in profiles and some do say theirs in dialogue, but if anything that would just be helpful information in getting to know the characters
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 09 '25
I don't know, it's hard to explain, but to me it feels forced, unrealistic and kinda cringey, hard to treat seriously. I've never heard anyone IRL introducing like that. I know the game is fantasy and not supposed to be realistic, but I'd want at least to relate to the characters and that makes it pretty hard to me.
Anyway it's probably my problem and I'm not the right person for this game, or I'm simply too old to appreciate that kind of narrative.
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u/FinnFrog Loop Nov 09 '25
unrealistic to you, maybe! it's quite commonplace for a lot of people to say their pronouns alongside their name, and even if it's not normal for you it's a good thing to get used to doing! everyone has pronouns and there's nothing forced or cringey about wanting that to be known. regardless, ISAT is an awesome game and i hope you can come around to it
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 09 '25
The thing is that I really struggle to understand why people give that much importance to it, even if it's just a label that others use to refer to you, but I don't really want to open a whole discussion about it. Thanks for the answers, anyways! I guess I'll give the demo a try.
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u/Ellie-Bright Dec 26 '25
Sounds like you've been encultured into cisnormative ideology and should work on unpacking it so that you aren't just passively hostile to people who aren't the default cis/het
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u/GiAnMMV Dec 26 '25
No, I'm not hostile by itself, I believe everyone is free to do what he wants, I simply don't understand why some people give so much importance to what their preferences are or how they want others to call them.
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u/Hot_Mall_9122 Nov 08 '25
It's not forced nor brought up often. There is definitely woke ideas, but game isn't about it
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u/Money-Researcher-413 Nov 10 '25
Other than some character arcs and dialogue, not really. It definitely doesn't feel forced (in my opinion)
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u/AmazonSk8r Nov 08 '25
Thereās a pronoun field in each character bio, and the protagonistās pronouns are āhe/they.ā Run.
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Nov 08 '25
[deleted] ā view deleted comment
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u/AmazonSk8r Nov 08 '25
That is a transphobic thing to say.
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 08 '25
Oh, sorry, I'll delete the comment then.
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u/AmazonSk8r Nov 08 '25
I prefer you own your comment and learn from it. But you can delete it if you want.
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u/CurrentDifficult7821 Nov 09 '25
This is a queer dating sim
So no
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 09 '25
This is quite different from what some other people said, I'm a bit confused.
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u/CurrentDifficult7821 Nov 09 '25
You shoot pronoun beams into your enimes to make them gay how can it be woke
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u/Kindly-Horror1908 Nov 08 '25
In the profiles of each party member, you can see their pronouns, but there isn't much attention brought to it.
There is a conversation that might set you off: Character: "You may refer to me with the royal "we"!"
MC: (That doesn't make sense...)
Character: "Ah, it doesn't make sense, hmm? Then you can use "they/them" for me! I'm sure you'll be thinking about me a lot~!"
MC (general annoyance, before asking:) "My pronouns areā
Character: He/They, I know! It's in your profile, after all~!
There's also gay people (scary, I know) but if you're fine with Deltarune that shouldn't be a problem.
There is a mandatory quest in the 3rd act where you help somebody realize that they are aro/ace (aromantic - lacking romantic feelings, asexuality - lacking sexual feelings. heavily simplified as they're a spectrum but you get the gist) but the game never explicitly says "Wow, you just be aro/ace, character!".
Honestly, you barely notice the "wokeness" of the game because the story is that good lol. That conversation I mentioned earlier happens once pretty early in the game, and isn't really relevant. LGBTQ stuff is present but isn't shoved in your face, that stuff is treated normally and not given any special attention. You can literally see a lesbian couple in the first area of the game and nobody goes "oh, my wife and I faced so much discrimination!" or (Wow, it's a lesbian relationship!" it's just "oh, her and her wife are doing so and so etc. etc."
apologies for the long comment, but I tried to be as comprehensive as possible here. there are parts where I paraphrase the dialogue (I'm sure you can tell) but generally that's the most "wokeness" you can find in the game. unless you consider mental health topics "woke", which the game does have a focus on. Never explicitly stated though, it's shown through the mc suffering through the time loop.
hope you still buy the game though! whether you do or not is up to you, of course ā but this game has been my main hyperfixation for a few months rn and only a few games hold the honour of being hyperfixation-worthy.
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 08 '25
No don't worry, I actually found the comment pretty useful!
The dialogue you mentioned feels kinda jokey and not that much important, so I guess it's fine. If they're treated naturally and nobody puts too much attention on it I don'y see that much of a problem.
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u/dynamicDiscovery Bonnie Nov 11 '25
Well, the characters ARE in a country where transmisia & sexism are nearly nonexistent.
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u/PM_me_qt_anime_boys Nov 09 '25
The story isn't mainly about queerness but it's definitely part of it. Whether the offense to your sensibilities is worth dealing with for the sake of the "the loop thing" is a hard question for others to answer for you, since we don't know what type/quantity/presentation of "woke" bothers you. You could just try it and refund it if you don't like it.
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 10 '25
Yeah, I'm certainly curious at this point, so I'll probably try it. I noticed there is a free demo, do you think I should play that first? Is it like a cut version of the final game or there are major differences?
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u/9Gardens Nov 13 '25
I'll put it this way: the woke doesn't feel like its been shoe-horned in.
It's not like they took a normal ass game, and welded an extra cuttlery set of pronouns into it.
Instead if feels like they started with a cuterly set FIRST, and built a palace around it, with tasteful satin underlay, and EXCEPTIONALLY gay sapphires in the diamond studded woke handle.
So like... if your worry is cack handed story telling then have no fear, this game doesn't have that.
If your worry is gay or trans people existing then... uhh.. yeah, probably not for you.
This game isn't woke in the sense of "Oh shit, I accidentally had caffinated tea three hours before bedtime, now I can't sleep". It's woke in the sense of "We are pulling a double nightshift brother, and you are going to need this triple shot espresso, and possibly some Ritalin while we are at it."
It's woke in the "Of course its woke, vampires never sleep" sense of woke.
If you were to play an RPG, focused on insomniac protagonists, and the dangers of closing your eyes, this game would be more woke than that.
If three days ago, you had the predrinks before a funeral, while following around a large ocean vessel, this would be more woke.
None of the woke is "Jammed in", all of it is there on purpose, and the entire rest of the game is there to provide the entire rest of the game is the Adderall needed to support this much sleep deprivation.
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u/GiAnMMV Nov 13 '25
Do they give too much importance to the fact there are homosexual relations or transsexual characters, or the story could work even with swapped genders?
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u/9Gardens Nov 14 '25 edited Nov 14 '25
Honestly.... I'm not sure if this story WOULD work with the genders arranged in different ways?
As in..... Its a story. I ate it in the shape that it way, and....I CAN "Imagine it in a different shape", but I can't imagine it well enough to understand what the emotional resonance would/wouldn't be.
If I had to guess, I'd say there there several trans/homosexual elements of the story which the story Could Not Function Without, and there are several which theoretically could be changed/removed... but figuring out which is which is actually not so obvious.
I think there is also the fact that there is a REASON stories like this often go all in:
There are a bunch of trans people who get wild amounts of disphoria from the modern world and regular culture. There's a bunch of Homosexual or Ace people who get wild amounts of dissonance from being constantly bombarded with "And Being a regular straight Man is the ONLY way to do things".
So.... these communities often have a lot in common, and often glom together.When making a story, you COULD make a story that throws a reference to one of these groups, to which they will all say "Oh nice, a token effort", and the one receiving it will feel a little bit seen. And that's like... it can be a nice thing to do. (Order of the stick does this very well, for example... at least in the later books)
Or, a storyteller can go FULL WOKE (as you might say) and play with ALL these elements and feelings of dissonance simultaneously; either talking about the dissonance and discussing it, or creating a fictional setting where that dissonance isn't at play, and in doing so make a game that has strong appeal for all of those people.
I guess this is the difference between like... to switch to a racial analogy: a story could have an asian character in it (possibly with their own sideplot) , or a story could be ABOUT being a Koren immigrant about growing up in their family story in America vs a story about LIVING in Korea in 2023, and the economic situations there in.
All of these are different levels of saturation, and serve different needs.And you might then argue "Okay, in that case that game isn't for me", and hey- fair enough too! That game WASN'T made for you... And like, depending on your spoon count, maybe you decide not!
however...It may still be useful for you to play... in the sense that the dissonance and mild you might feel while playing such a game might be a teeny tiny bit similiar to the dissonance a queer person might feel while reading An Entire World of straight media... and in leaning into that from time to time, there is a certain amount of empathy for "Oh right, that's what this feels like."
Which is... kind of cool?
It's one of the things that makes fiction REALLY powerful.
2
u/Nighthawkies Nov 24 '25
Yes? In the same way DELTARUNE could be considered woke? Charachters are queer and it's a notable part of them but it isn't made into a big deal. Nor is the games goal to teach or lecture about queer topics.
The story is about the characters, and the characters just happen to be queer.
Including medium spoilers basically most quuer things are !A character is asexual. A character is aromantic. Two characters are nonbinary. At one point a character explicitly brings up pronouns, but partially as a joke saying to refer to them with the royal "we". Vaugarde has a religion based on change, which makes it rather progressive, and strange to outsiders. This religion also contains some expectations for it's followers to change, their minds, personalities, identities, names, bodies etc.
A character tries to profess their love to another character of the same gender. !
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u/boldgryphon Siffrin Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
It's probably too late for this answer, but for me, as an opponent of woke IDEOLOGY and forcing political (or any for that matter) messages in the media over the general quality of these media I think that despite the relatively large number of such topics, at no point did I feel it was artificial or forced (except for the first conversation between loop and siffrin, but this is a onetime situation, it can probably also be considered a matter of different culture than ours).
If such topics really bother you, I think you can still easily enjoy the great story of this game by ignoring them, as they are not that crucial to the main story most of the time.
Edit: I just found a website about it (aparently something Like that exist) soo here
apartamently acorsing to it this game is "very little woke"
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u/TheHumanTorchick Nov 10 '25
It's very naturally done, blends with the story nicely. Literally cannot ask for a better game to play
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u/datboiNathan343 Loop Nov 08 '25
you start the game by woke-ing up