In Stars and Time (ISAT, for short) is a small rpgmaker game about a guy being stuck in a time loop. I'm not actually quite finished with it yet, but I'm ten hours in and it's damn fucking good so I'm recommending it.
But that's fine, because today I don't want to talk to you about themes & symbolisms, which would require me to actually finish the game (though I'm sure I'll have many things to say once I'm done.) Right now, I want to tell you guys about worldbuilding.
When people do worldbuilding in fantasy settings, the followings usually happen:
Neither of these things are inherently bad, mind you. I'm always happy to see fantasy France interact with fantasy China. And sometimes you just want to explore a funky little setting without worrying too much about every single Implications you just introduced.
But my point is: worldbuilding that truly feels like peering into another world is hard. And I think In Stars And Time managed just that.
The cultures in ISAT are very obviously inspired by real cultures (Vaugarde being Fantasy France and Ka Bue being Fantasy Japan as far as I can tell) but they're also so much more than that. They all have their own beliefs, religions, morals, and it doesn't just show through exposition- it shows through the way every character acts, how their culture molded them one way or another.
Vaugarde is the house of the god of change. The belief that things & people can and MUST change is an integral part of the Vaugardian characters. The most obvious exemple would be Isabeau, who would be trans by the standards of our world- but in Vaugarde, being "trans" or "cis" doesn't mean anything, because to Change (gender, personality, appearance) is seen as perfectly natural, while the concept of "no items two genders only final destination" would be fucking bewildering to these people. A lesser writer would do a 1:1 on gender with gender in our own society. Here, Vaugarde is portrayed with the logic of "ok, if their main belief is all about Change, what would be their logical view on trans people?"
Another good exemple would be Siffrin. Sif is unable to infodump about their culture for plot reasons. But it still transpires through their every word, their every actions, that they're from a very different place as all the other characters. He swears to different gods then the others. He curses with different swear words. He doesn't understand Vaugardian dislike of crab. In the gap between Siffrin's culture and everyone else's, you can perceive a world much richer than just "what if x country but with rock paper scissor magic."
The one other story I can think of that made me feel that way is Homestuck, which truly made me feel like I was reading about an alien culture with completely different offenses and priorities. And I know a lot of you are thinking "homestuck? innit cringe?" but unfortunately for you I do unironically think that homestuck is good so take it as praise.