START AGAIN: a prologue

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**START AGAIN START AGAIN START AGAIN: A PROLOGUE** (also known simply as *START AGAIN: a prologue*) is a story-driven fantasy RPG Maker game, developed by insertdisc5.
 The game was self-published on Itch.io on February 27th, 2021, and on Steam on August 18th, 2021.

While it contains the same characters (and ostensibly, has the same premise) as In Stars and Time, it's much shorter, and has its own self-contained story which does not take place within the same continuity. As a result, playing one of them is not required to understand the other.

## Summary

> **START AGAIN START AGAIN START AGAIN: A PROLOGUE** (or: **START AGAIN: a prologue**) is a story driven turn-based RPG where you, Siffrin, are stuck in a **time loop** for no reason you can find. The country is frozen in time, and together with your allies you fought your way through the castle and fought the King to put an end to this curse… And you died and found yourself right back at the entrance. Again. And again. **And again.** But you’re the only one who remembers it; your allies are none the wiser. And there’s no end in sight.
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> You're fine though! **Hiding your knowledge** from your friends is easy! **Fighting the same enemies** is easy! Dying to the same final boss **over and over again** is ***easy***! Explore the castle, make your way to the king, and try to **break the loop**. Maybe this time, it’ll be different. Because if you fail, if you die, you’ll find yourself right back where you started.
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> You have to make sure your friends don't find out about the super fun time travel times you're having though.
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> They can't know.
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> They can't.
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> **[START AGAIN's Steam description]**

## Story

*(You listen to them say knowledge you already know with a smile on your face.)*The section below contains **spoilers** for ****START AGAIN: a prologue****.

Proceed with caution!

### Endings

show/hide spoilers

 **Time** ending | In tears and time. [Ending 2] **Memory of Time**
 **Perfect** ending | You now remember why you stopped acting like you did your first time. [Ending 3] **Memory of Perfection**
 **True** ending | You hadn't eaten in so long... [...] **Memory of Food**
The True ending is the fourth and, as its name implies, true ending of the game: to obtain it, Siffrin must act as weird as possible, and do everything to set the party off. This includes solving puzzles before having encountered them, using the "(Just Attack.)" Craft skill, choosing weird options when interacting with the party or overworld (e.g. skipping dialogue), or otherwise simply speaking or acting in a weird way: causing the party to become increasingly worried about Siffrin. Depending on the specific weird actions performed (and whether it was already achieved before or not), this ending can have a lot of different dialogue. If it was obtained correctly, in the corridor prior to the room before fighting the King, a cutscene will play showing the Kid walking up to Siffrin: they say that they look to be doing really bad, before giving them a candy. The Fighter jokes about it, to which they reply by giving him an unimpressive rock. Siffrin eats the candy, which satisfies the Kid, and the party looks on happily at them — causing him to wonder whether this has happened before. Upon entering the room itself, the Housemaiden and the Fighter will be whispering to each other, before being surprised by Siffrin. They approach him, with the Fighter starting to say that they've noticed he's acting weird, before the Housemaiden interrupts and asks Siffrin to tell them what's wrong: they keep forgetting things, know too much, are too strong, and "look sad and tired every time you think we're not looking". The Researcher and the Kid approach as well, with the latter saying that his behavior is bumming them out, the Housemaiden saying that they can talk to them if something's on their mind, and the Researcher saying that, if they keep being down, it'll affect their fight against the King. They state that they want to help him, and that they love him. Being confronted causes Siffrin to panic, not knowing what to answer — as this had never happened before: with one dialogue option dodging the question, and the other saying that there's nothing wrong. Regardless of choice, the party will doubt him, but everyone will remain silent. After a bit, the Researcher says to just say one thing — it doesn't have to be *the* thing — that's bothering them now; unable to bring themself to say anything too close to the truth, Siffrin simply says that he's hungry, which causes the Kid to gasp and exclaim that their time has come. They dig around their pockets for snacks, and present them with three options: a potato samoussa, a palmier, and a whole salmon fish head — which Siffrin hates (but finds to at least be "different"), loves, and gives a tidbit about respectively. Regardless of choice, they'll eat it, reminiscing that they haven't eaten in a long time, and wondering how long it's been since something new happened — since they became trapped. The Housemaiden takes Siffrin's hands, as the rest of the party stand around them; the calluses on her hands prompting them to remember about the battles they've all been in. She says that they can move on to fight the King whenever he's ready. From there, it's possible to chat with each individual party member, with each of them comforting them further in some way: the Housemaiden holding their face, reminiscing about the time they met and when he lost his eye protecting one of them; the Fighter holding their hands as well and becoming flustered about his sweaty hands, causing them to laugh; the Researcher asking for another thing with worries them — to which he can reply that they're either forgetting things (causing her to say that this — their quest, and defeating the King — is a very stressful situation, and that it'll all come back to him eventually), or that they feel overwhelmed (causing her to note that they've been spacing out and wonder whether they should all talk less, before noticing them panicking and saying that they should try and focus on what's around them for the time being); and the Kid being upset about not having noticed he was sad, prompting him to tell them either that he's sorry too, or not to worry, before asking if they have any more snacks as a distraction — which they answer by giving them a lot. Moving on to the fight against the King, everyone is determined to defeat him and protect Vaugarde — receiving a stats buff; but as the fight goes on, Siffrin realizes that he can't remember his friends's names anymore, which causes him to have a mental breakdown. He wonders whether it's because he is cursed, is under the effect of Craft, or because he simply refused to remember them. As the King begins to cry, the Kid yells at him that he really doesn't have the right to, having caused so much hurt to everyone; that everything he froze in time — their village, their family, and their sister — may not ever move again.  Siffrin admonishes himself for not remembering the party's names, saying that although they've known them for months, years at this point, and that they surely introduced themselves to them, he is incapable of recalling any of them — calling themself a "terrible friend" for it. He remembers everything else — the torch in the infirmary, and the key in the book, for instance — but that, as though it wasn't worth remembering; asking if it was because it was simply easier to forget, as to not have to feel pain from being trapped in a time loop with them, and having to hear them repeat the same things over and over again. As the King charges his final attack, they freeze, panicking and unable to do anything: not wanting to lose what they've achieved so far, but resigned as to their death and not wanting to fight anymore, they close their eyes. The Fighter intervenes in time however, and protects them from the attack: Siffrin remembers his name as being Isabeau. The party rallies around them: with Odile — the Researcher — telling him that the King was weakened, and Bonnie — the Kid — giving them a Sour Tonic. Mirabelle — the Housemaiden — calls out to him, saying that together they can defeat him, and that this is their chance to save everyone. Motivated by their friends, Siffrin does so, finally defeating the King. The ending concludes with everyone, in a now lit-up House, celebrating their victory, as Siffrin reminisces about each of them. Isabeau exclaims to him that they won, to which he starts crying, either staying silent, or asking whether they truly did; to which Isabeau replies excitedly, saying that everything will be okay. Mirabelle comforts him once more as well, saying that they prevailed, and that they'll all be able to go home: as everyone rejoices about the idea, however, Siffrin feels his heart being tugged at. Suddenly, time rewinds once again — but this time, all the way back to before they all came to the House. As Siffrin lies down in a meadow, seemingly having been abruptly woken up, Mirabelle calls out to him. She at first appears shocked that he is taking a nap, before relaxing and saying that maybe she should follow their lead on this one, and get some rest while they can: as, tomorrow, they'll have to fight against the King.

## Characters

*(You listen to them say knowledge you already know with a smile on your face.)*The section below contains **spoilers** for ****START AGAIN: a prologue****.

Proceed with caution!

## Development

*START AGAIN: a prologue* started development in July 2020. It is based off of a series of comics made by insertdisc5 between 2017 and 2020.

Alongside the game, the soundtrack was released on Bandcamp, on February 27th, 2021; and alongside its Steam release on August 18th, 2021, an artbook for the game was made available.

## References

show/hide references

1. ↑ "START AGAIN: a prologue is the first installment (out of two, with In Stars and Time coming out in 2023) in the START AGAIN series, but this game is complete and you will not finish it feeling like you only read Chapter 1 of a 1000 page book! This prologue is more akin to a side story, a prototype for In Stars and Time, and stands completely on its own.

Also "prologue" is just a cool word." - START AGAIN: a prologue's Steam description.
2. ↑ https://insertdisc5.tumblr.com/post/677347108946411520/sasasap-postmortem-time
3. ↑ "Both games are based on a series of short comics I’ve made, which you can read **here**!" - In Stars and Time's FAQ.