To me the biggest part of this game, and the reason it's my favorite of the series, is the overwhelming sense of not belonging. You're a stranger there, it's not your world. Nothing is how it should be. It's rather subtle in general, but it's just different enough to make you feel paranoid. It's a haunting game, and all the more beautiful for it. You go through the game, resetting the days so often that you become very detached from everything. Nothing you do matters. None of the interactions you experience with the characters will be remembered. You meet them again and again, watching them go about their daily business. The town mayor caught in between two groups bickering about the festival. The gang of kids laughing and playing as the world ends. The town guards solemnly standing at their posts as the moon falls on their city and consumes all in flame. The girls from the farm devastated after aliens kidnap their cows and destroy their livelihood. The sorrowful bride-to-be reunited with her transformed lover, happy enough just to be finally together even though they both will die in an hour.
And then, you play a song. And it all begins again. They don't remember anything. The carpenters go back to complaining. The postman makes his rounds. All are oblivious. But you, you remember everything. The silent protector of the world, forced to relive these tragedies again and again.