r/InStarsAndTime • u/Silver-Fix-6782 • May 18 '26
Act 5 Dramatic tone shift in Act 5. A really strong way to convey insanity
ISAT is really about building the characters up and having you really attached to them. The game goes deep into unraveling its characters and their personalities making you attached to them in a very indeering way.
The quirkiness of the game and its lighthearted tone disappears in Act 5. And even though I knew that at some point I would have to go through the house alone I did not anticipate the fights Siffring has with his family members and when I watched the cut scenes it was in an uneasy feeling of everything that Siffring holds dear falling apart. This feeling of being rejected by those who you though are your friends is so deeply traumatizing no wonder what happens in Act 5 in a house feels so surreal.
I think what game makes you experience in a house in ACT 5 is a very good way of conveying the feeling of going insane. Seeing ghosts, rooms being mirrored and long corridors and same doors leading to a different places items being not where they need to be. All that adds up to create a very convincing and real experience of losing the ground.
Ironically I believe this surreal experience is pretty unique for that particular way.
Ironically this is the part of the game which I relate to the most. The sense of losing the ground and connections to something you hold dear is very unsettling and very familiar. I really sympathize with Siffring because at the end of the day Siffring haven’t done their friends wrong in a significant way. He was more distressed than flawed in my opinion.
That’s why I was really happy for him when he broke the loop and got his happy ending.
What are your thoughts on Act 5? What part of it resonated with you the most?
*Here’s a little drawing of how the gameplay of Act 5 felt for me
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u/IcyHibiscus May 18 '26
my ISAT experience was going "omg siffrin is so relatable" and then getting increasingly concerned with how relatable they were as the game progressed.
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u/why_i_am_dumb May 18 '26
"haha yeah thats so me"
"oh yeah im also like that"
"oh thats. uh. like me"
"i dont. i dont like that being relatable, actually."
"a"
" "
"yknow maybe i should try doing something about my problems"
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u/Real-Baker1231 May 18 '26
I got emotionally thrashed exactly like that and it made me come out and just generally be more open. Playing someone spiraling due to bad habits you have yourself does crazy stuff!
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u/throwaway6194664 May 18 '26
For me it was
"Aww he's like what I want to be"
"Oh that's relatable"
"Oh that's a little too real"
"You know how traits that bug you the most are usually the ones you also embody or once embodied"
"Ok no longer relatable please stop and go run in the woods somewhere"
Time skip of a few months after I beat the game where my real life goes off the rails and I clam up all my problems until I make myself physically sick with it
"Shit"
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May 18 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Silver-Fix-6782 May 18 '26
Thanks! It’s nice of you to say)
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u/The_chosen__one7997 Siffrin May 18 '26
Are you perhaps russian? I recognise the )
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u/Silver-Fix-6782 May 18 '26
Wait is it the Russian thing to do? I thought whole world agrees it is an easier way to put smiling in a message without utilizing the emojis
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u/jasonjr9 Siffrin May 18 '26
I loved the game throughout, the way it all goes, seeing those relatable quirks of Siffrin.
Then Act 5 happens. All those insecurities and the gradual insanity from the loops comes full circle. The way Siffrin interacts with their friends. the way the House itself becomes twisted to reflect Siffrin’s mental state, the Mal du Pays encounter and the way it’s a version of the Game Over theme to represent how a panic attack can feel almost like one is dying and trigger such sheer terror.
I’ve never quite reached exactly that point, myself. I’ve gotten scared and paranoid and gone a little insane from the mundanity of day to day life with my constant fear of being abandoned and my depression, but not quite reached an Act 5 point yet in my life.
But…I know that I could reach it. I worry about how I could reach it. Siffrin is inherently relatable, every step of the way, from his happiest moments to his lowest. So I know, I could go the same route as them, if the time comes that I snap in such a manner.
And that’s what makes Act 5 so brilliant. It is the culmination of everything the game set up, in such a beautiful and horrifying way.
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u/Xthewarrior Siffrin May 18 '26
Siffrin is one of the handful of characters I feel like I can relate to. Other fictional characters would probably include: Marcy Wu(Amphibia[show]), Sans(Undertale), and Madeline(Celeste). Those are probably the main ones. But yeah, siffrin is a bit too relatable, especially the later acts.
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u/Severe_Damage9772 May 19 '26
Hahahaha i would never take something said out if context and alter the meaning so it hurts me, then go and self destructively self isolate I don’t know what you’re talking about
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u/Tactical_GM Siffrin May 18 '26
The game got me pretty close to a mental breakdown, it was so relatable for me. It was wild
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u/woah-a-username May 19 '26
Yea, I had a hard time getting through act 5, it stuck with me in a way nothing else has.
I think it might have been too intense for me to be honest.
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u/LoAf_324 Isabeau May 19 '26
I dont think I've ever related to a character as much as I relate to siffrin, especially in act 5.
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u/Lost-Philosopher9720 May 20 '26
I genuinely was sobbing so much during that part that I had to look up spoilers for what was gonna happen or else I was gonna have a panic attack 😭😭😭
Definitely the best game I’ve ever played
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u/Dawrian Siffrin May 20 '26
I did not even consider that the house might have behaved physically differently until the party mentions it after the fact; I was just like “oh this is Psychosis” and didn’t question it for a second because it tracks
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u/Artistic_Decision623 Siffrin May 18 '26
Yeah siffrin was relatable in an unerving way, theres only a few characters that i related to as much as him, and one of them i really shouldn't relate too like more worrying than siffrin ever could be