Until Then Review - Soulcrushingly Beautiful

Until Then is Polychroma Games's entry ticket to the limelight. The Filipino studio has created narrative games since 2018, but with Until Then’s release, they finally have struck gold.

This game is one of the few video games that spoke directly to my soul. It unearthed emotions that I thought I'd already moved on from. I couldn't be more wrong.

The game's story follows a high school student, Mark, who lives in a world affected by an almost world-ending disaster called “The Ruling.” Throughout his journey, he encounters different people and makes difficult choices as he tries to make sense of the world around him.

Reading Between the Lines

Just like other narrative adventures, there’s not much in terms of gameplay in Until Then. You’re mostly going to move around and talk to the people around you. At times, there will be minigames that would keep the players more engaged compared to just hitting the space bar and reading texts.

However, some of these minigames can be tedious at times, particularly the rhythm game parts, which I will explain further down the line.

Proudly Filipino

Until Then's setting is my home country, the Philippines. The developers have paid close attention to this detail as they've used an alphabet Filipinos used before the Spanish colonization, called the Baybayin. Graffiti and vandalism also use the native language which are nice touches.

Some of the banners and shops seen in the game are also direct references to real-life stores and banners that we see here daily. Attention to detail like this can be a make-or-break games that have a focus on narrative as a single article that feels out of place can break immersion. Even the main menu sound effects, where someone is shouting “Taho!” at the top of their lungs, are nice touches as these are the exact sounds people in the Philippines hear when they wake up in the morning. Especially, if they’re located in an urban area.

Most of the minigames in this game are also Filipino-influenced. For example, there's a minigame about skewering fish balls from a street food vendor which is a thing that we do quite a lot when we want to eat something really quick. The fairs and the minigames associated with them also transport me back to when I was a kid and always went to one with my parents. These minigames are properly implemented and don't seem intrusive.

While the setting is undoubtedly Filipino, some parts of it have been changed due to one of Until Then’s central events, The Ruling, morphing much of the landscape outside the main area where the game takes place.

An Emotional Masterpiece

The most important part of a narrative adventure game is the story it tells, and I’m happy to say that Until Then is a masterpiece in this regard.

The feelings of regret, love, and loss are strong here, and how the game navigates around these themes is masterful. Coincidentally, these were emotions that I thought I had already moved on from. The way Mark deals with his emotions and the situations he’s put into, despite just being a high school student, left me in shambles at times.

Face-to-face dialogue isn’t the only way characters interact in Until Then. In fact, the first piece of character interaction in the game comes from a text message. Not just that, there’s also a social media site that closely resembles Facebook that is fully interactable.

You can comment on some posts, like them, and share them. You can even click on articles and read them. I found this fascinating as it makes the game feel much more alive as you see characters–even those that you don’t interact with–have their own lives separate from the story. They’re all just chilling and doing their own thing.

Polychroma Games has also achieved something I haven’t seen much with games that have similar graphics: convey emotions. Most pixel-art games usually let the dialogue handle the emotional part of a scene. However, Until Then managed to find ways to convey a character’s emotions using just a few pixels. This is evident in scenes where characters are seen tearing up and a few light blue pixels can be seen under their eyes.

However, Until Then is not without its faults. If you’re familiar with how NieR: Automata handles its storytelling, then you probably have an idea of the kind of problem the game is suffering.

Not As Smooth

As I mentioned earlier, this game needs to be played a couple more times after the first one to get to the true ending. However, as you go through it the second time, it suffers from pacing issues.

Just like NieR: Automata’s second playthrough, much of Until Then’s second playthrough is similar to its first playthrough. There are some minor differences to keep the players engaged, but the overall story progression remains the same.

At times, I found the second playthrough boring as there was not much new, and things wouldn't make sense until the latter half of it. This is a huge step away from the first playthrough which left me a crying mess. However, it’s still worth going through for the true ending.

Another part of Until Then that I wasn’t too happy about is the rhythm game sections. Towards the latter part of the first playthrough, you will encounter rhythm game sections where you have to press the arrow keys to the beat. I know that music is a huge part of the game, with Mark being intent on becoming a pianist, but there are a few times I found the rhythm game sections pretty tedious due to the randomness of their appearance.

I still remember the first time I encountered it at the latter parts of the first playthrough and was bewildered by how abrupt it was. During the first part of the second playthrough, you’ll also encounter a random rhythm game section that’s pretty similar to Rhythm Heaven. Which just seemed completely out of nowhere. While I do appreciate that they’re highlighting Filipino culture with the latter minigame, I think the developers could’ve done a better job of easing the player into it.

A life-changing experience

While it suffers a little in pacing and the rhythm game sections, it doesn’t dull the wonderful story Until Then is trying to tell. The game’s top-notch graphics and story left me smiling and even crying in its strongest moments.

Until Then is a game for the masses, but it also has its target audience. As someone in that specific set of player base, I can proudly say that it has destroyed me emotionally. But at the end of it all, it has also taught me how to forgive myself.

Until Then was reviewed on PC with a copy provided by Polychroma Games over the course of 24 hours of gameplay - all screenshots were taken during the process of review.