GAME REVIEW | "Until Then" a True Roller Coaster of Emotions
My heart was aching as I witnessed what I assumed was the ending of Until Then. The scenarios I experienced felt like I had gone through a sob-inducing anime, something like Your Lie in April or Anohana. But then, just as the end credits had finished rolling, a beacon of hope appeared: a Continue button. And that’s when I realized that I had barely scratched the surface of Polychroma Games’s latest game, with my heart fluttering like an excited butterfly.
At first, Until Then seemed to take a slice-of-life approach to its narrative. You play as Mark, a kind slacker of a high schooler who wings it at life. His best friend Cath has his back, even though it seems like she has her own share of problems. But one day, a new transfer student arrives, of whom Mark literally crashes into. The girl — Nicole — arrives with a bountiful of baggage to lay claim to. However, when Mark starts playing a mysterious song on her piano, their worlds start to collide, both figuratively and literally.
As the story goes on, Mark, Nicole, Cath, class president Louise, and a few others reveal the kind of stuff they’re into. Alas, we’re not talking about hobbies; we’re instead focusing on the things that eat high schoolers inside their gut. Missing friends, abusive parents, exams & tryouts, and the occasional anomaly. It’s the last thing that puts Mark, Nicole, and Louise into a cycle of deja vu moments and scenarios, and the more they experience it, the more their worlds are flipped upside-down.
Granted, there’s time for fun with these kids. Grabbing some fried food, playing carnival games, doing a little PlayStation 1-era racing, and giving some residents a good spook in a haunted house are just a handful of things you’ll do to escape the mundane stuff happening in life. However, without warning, Until Then will latch something onto these fun moments and twist your heart like a pretzel. What should be carefree times instead transform into something harrowing for these students, as the weight of existence rests on their shoulders.
It all plays into the 2013 Bohol Earthquake, which shattered the Philippines and caused insurmountable damage to the Central Visayas area. This true life moment plays a role into why Nicole enters Mark’s life, as well as why his parents are nowhere to be found. Only when you dive deeper into the lives of these two do you realize how much they have lost in such a short amount of time. But the hardest part for these two is the next step: moving on.
This is when Until Then starts taking a more sci-fi approach to its narrative. Mark, Nicole, and Louise find themselves studying odd activities, many of which play into the reason why time keeps repeating unto itself. Strange rooms, mind-throbbing memories, and the occasional disappearance or death are all keys to solving what’s happening in this world they all live in. However, the more they dive in, the worse off the damage their surroundings becomes.
That’s when the game asks you a simple question: “Is it worth it?” People always tell you to soldier through a problematic situation, but what good can come out of it if all it does is create more destruction? Can a world be ripped in half, only for the right scenario to make everything better? Mark and Nicole, through the thick and thin of it, try to muster it all, but not without a plethora of mental and spiritual pain.
But the one that’ll feel the most pain throughout Until Then is you, dear reader. Watching what these characters go through, the things they bear witness to, and the levels of anguishing acceptance they have to take on will make your heart weep for days on end! Polychroma Games have crafted multi-dimensional characters set in a beautiful 2D side-scrolling world, filled with more layers than your average Sundance indie film darling. And the worst part: you won’t see any of this coming a mile away!
I cannot in good conscience spoil what lies ahead for those who wish to experience this game. In fact, I feel like I may have revealed a bit too much. But I will say this: in the 20 hours I played through Until Then, I laughed, cried, felt, and related so much to these video game characters in ways I haven’t felt in a very long time. And I urge any one of you readers to take the plunge and go in as blind as you can.
PROS:
- Beautiful narrative, soundtrack
- Lovable characters, cool mini-games
- Unpredictable from start-to-finish
CONS:
- It’ll break your heart…a lot!
- Minor bugs
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Until Then is a visual novel triumph. Its story, characters, and world has more layers than one would think a video game would be capable of. My hope is that this is the first of many jaw-dropping experiences Polychroma Games has up its sleeve. This is one game I wish I could experience for the first time over and over again, as Until Then brings one major (and sometimes majorly upsetting) surprise after another in waves.
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided by Thomas Schulenberg of Tinsley PR. Reviewed on the PS5.
