Live the most formative moments in the life of a teenager while you uncover an unsettling mystery in Until Then.
High school is a euphoric period of puberty where emotions get the best of us and leave an everlasting memory, for better or worse. To recreate such a beloved and complex time in our lives with precision and universality that is difficult to pinpoint but at the same time expertly conveyed is something Until Then, a new narrative adventure set in Manila, nails down well.
Developed by Polychroma Games and published by Maximum Entertainment, Until Then does not pull its punches in its themes of loss, friendship, and its veritable cultural backdrop. From the very beginning, the melancholic music and words in a white font over a black screen talking about a missing person wanting to find themselves, it is clear to see the emotion Until Then is trying to evoke. Uncertainty in an anxious world that seems like it could end at any moment.
A testament to a wonderfully recreated point in time exists in Until Then, with its realistic characters frozen in time. The protagonist of this story is Mark, a 15-year-old living alone while his parents work abroad and struggling to find his footing at school.
The focused perspective of this personality and purposefully showing what he does in such a modern setting with elements like what he chooses to say or what posts he decides to engage with goes a long way toward his development as a three-dimensional character.
Most of the gameplay boils down to moving left to right in gorgeously rendered pixel-art renditions of real-life Philippines, but what is most impactful is the minute details. To be able to sit down and grab your phone, manually answer each message with the click of a button, or even doomscroll before going to bed, is an effective way of putting you into this young man’s shoes. What is he talking about with his friends? Is he nervous about the future? Why does he avoid talking about it?
Each character’s way of talking and writing in text messages feels authentic. Mark is cynical to cover his faults and fear of showing his true self. Uplifting moments of inspiration by his fellow friends who see how Mark is throwing his life away by being apathetic make him see that his way of doing things rushing and without more effort is not the right way of doing things.
Who hasn’t started typing out a message to a friend with a certain tone only to backtrack and rewrite what you said again with a completely different meaning? And how much does that reveal about us? The unspoken, or unwritten, words that we think of but never say out loud.
It’s part of our identity that no one sees. And yet, by the magic of video games, Until Then beautifully develops its characters with these microsecond decisions in which our fully unfiltered mind is speaking out, only to reconsider and censor any unsolicited thoughts.
Late-night vulnerable conversations with strangers are not something everyone has felt, but for those seeking that validation online that they cannot find in their real life is reflected in Until Then. It might be the story of a 15-year-old kid in Manila, but its universality is so great the emotional availability the narrative offers makes it feel like the story could be set anywhere.
While some situations are only tied to The Philippines, others can make you feel like they were tailor-made, depending on what type of person you were in your teenage years. And there is nothing wrong in feeling alone and looking for approval, as Until Then thoughtfully represents in its subdued moments of silence.
Each social media post you interact with tells you a lot more about their characteristics as a person. For example, Mark’s best friend Rydel uploads his hipster photography while top-in-the-class Louise spends her time sharing social causes to spread awareness.
Set in Christmastime but never too hamfisted to make you feel that this is a seasonal game, the themes brushed upon certainly could make it a heartwarming experience, in the end, to play in such a time. A few jingles here and there and the occasional mention that they are in that time to be jolly serves as a great contrast to the unexplainable problems leaving Mark’s life crumbling into pieces.
Not all is peaches and cream, naturally. There is an underlying paradox that permeates the everyday adventures of this young misfit unable to behave correctly at school. A strong sense of unsettling deja vu permeates things that happened or could happen to torment Mark’s everyday pleasant life. Every chapter slowly unveils a small part of this unexplainable mystery that pays off breathtakingly.
Quirky situations abound in Until Then. Mark goes to apply for a Piano School Club and finds another student shily playing Fur Elise when the music is suddenly interrupted by the player’s lack of expertise. Or when every single day at school there’s a kid who’s always sleeping. I am quite certain we all had one of those at our schools. All of this to say it achieves that feeling of being lived-in, in which every situation feels natural.
One key moment in the story is when Mark shows off his piano skills while playing Grieg’s Wedding Day, and the attention to detail in the piano recording even when he messes up and the failure he feels in the aftermath is just one of the moments I urge others to give Until Dawn a chance. The brief emotions shown by the pixelated characters reveal how the developers poured their hearts out in every way on this tale.
It is no easy feat to document the throes of young love, as innocent and delicate as it truly is. Too much will be considered cheesy, too little and it is going to be judged as a throwaway secondary plot point. But to see Mark go through it, from outright rejection to that fickle spark that we are not sure whether we should act upon it or not Until Then does an incredible job at portraying all the shades of these life-altering moments.
Fully portraying the life of a teenager with his insecurities, doubts, and aimless goals, there are few games as unapologetically themselves as Until Then. Being able to write banal comments on social media encouraging other people or sharing life experiences on the group chat with his friends while personally feeling a lack of fulfillment himself, the protagonist’s story is very much a human one.
A good video game will make you reflect on yourself if it succeeds in telling its story well. Until Then does it in such a way that it makes you at moments transport to those fleeting moments that some say are the best of your life making it an even more important game to exist.
The adrenaline of going out to study at a girl’s house you liked, being called to the principal’s office for being a spoiled brat, or just meeting friends to eat and enjoy each other’s company.
In the context of firsthand retellings of personal life stories, Until Then shines as an excellent example of using every clever advantage an interactive storytelling medium can use. Employing a charming art style and witty writing that feels just right, within its 6 to 8-hour playtime let yourself be transported to a bygone era where everything felt more easygoing yet catastrophic at the same time.
