Until Then Review Summary

Compelling, emotionally resonant story: The game features a compelling and emotionally resonant story with unexpected twists, exploring themes of love, loss, grief, and acceptance. Reviewers found the narrative to be deeply moving, often leading to tears and prompting reflection on their own lives and relationships.

Emotionally impactful soundtrack: The game's soundtrack, often featuring piano compositions, is consistently praised for its emotional depth and ability to enhance the narrative. Reviewers noted that the music elevates the impact of key scenes and creates a strong connection with the characters and their experiences.

Visually stunning pixel art: The game features beautiful and detailed pixel art, often blended with 3D environments, creating a unique and immersive visual experience. Reviewers praised the art style for its expressiveness and ability to convey emotions effectively, with detailed animations and cinematic camera work enhancing the storytelling.

Highly immersive game world: The game creates a strong sense of immersion through detailed environments, realistic ambient sounds, and subtle visual cues. Reviewers felt fully engrossed in the game world, with every detail contributing to a believable and engaging experience.

Explores profound, relatable themes: The game explores profound themes such as grief, loss, acceptance, and the importance of human connection, prompting introspection and offering valuable life lessons. Reviewers found the game to be a transformative experience that changed their perspective on life and relationships.

Technical issues, lack polish: Reviewers reported technical issues such as frame rate drops, crashes, and controller disconnections. The game also lacks polish, with awkward controller compatibility, missing quality-of-life features, and a generic UI. These issues detract from the overall player experience.

Difficult, uninspired rhythm games: The rhythm games are difficult, even with timing adjustments, and lack clear instructions. Some reviewers found it difficult to immerse themselves in the story during rhythm game segments.

Poorly executed sci-fi elements: The game's attempts to incorporate quantum physics and other sci-fi elements are often criticized as nonsensical and poorly executed. Some reviewers found these elements out of place or unnecessary, detracting from the grounded storytelling.

Slow character movement, slow start: Some reviewers found the character's slow movement and actions to be unnecessarily prolonged, which can break immersion and reduce tension. The story also has a slow start, which may test players' patience.

Missing quality-of-life features: The game lacks several quality-of-life features, including manual saving, a text history log, and autoplay functionality. The absence of these features can lead to frustration and inconvenience for players.

Narrative-focused visual novel gameplay: The game is primarily a narrative-driven visual novel with simple mechanics, focusing on dialogue, character interaction, and choices. Gameplay involves reading text, making choices, and light interaction with the environment, sometimes described as a walking simulator. Some reviewers found the gameplay engaging, while others felt it was minimal.

Multiple playthroughs, branching narrative: The game features a multi-act structure with multiple playthroughs required to see the full story and different endings. The narrative explores themes of time loops, parallel universes, and the consequences of choices, with some reviewers comparing the ending structure to Nier.

Realistic social media integration: The game features a social media and messaging system that mirrors real-life interactions, enhancing immersion and providing narrative depth. Players can interact with a simulated social media feed, send messages, and see the consequences of their actions reflected in the game world.

Limited player agency, linear story: Some reviewers found the game to be very linear with limited player agency and choices compared to other visual novels. Interactive elements are mostly cosmetic, adding little to the gameplay experience.

Filipino pop culture references: The game includes references and nods to Filipino pop culture, particularly from the 2014-2015 era, enhancing immersion for Filipino players or those familiar with Manila. The game also features parody references to video games, social media, and memes.

Visually appealing 2D-on-3D style: The game utilizes a 2D-on-3D style similar to Octopath Traveller, with some scenes being completely 2D. Reviewers praise the visuals and the impressive technical details achieved using the Godot engine.

Repetitive animations and saves: The game reuses the same animations throughout, which becomes monotonous for the player. Additionally, the game lacks quicksave/quickload functionality and any manual save options.

General jankiness and control issues: The game has some general jankiness, including clunky menus, poor gamepad controls despite claiming full support, and inconsistent sound effect volume.

Cannot take screenshots: While the game's visuals are beautiful, players are unable to take screenshots.

Game locked in place: One reviewer experienced the game being locked in place, but it was easily reset from a specific point due to the chapter system.

Must-play masterpiece; highly recommended: The game is overwhelmingly recommended as a masterpiece with an incredible story, exceptional characters, and high replay value. Reviewers highlight its unique qualities, emotional impact, and lasting impression, often urging others to experience it firsthand and praising its worth relative to its price. Many consider it a GOTY contender and a must-play experience, with some even willing to pay significantly more than its retail price.

Emotionally impactful, life-changing experience: The game evokes strong emotions, prompting reflection on life, loss, and the importance of human connection. Reviewers emphasize its ability to leave a lasting impact, change perspectives, and offer a message of hope and resilience. It's recommended for those seeking a deeply moving and transformative experience, with warnings to prepare for an emotional rollercoaster.

Meaningful for Filipino players: The game is particularly meaningful for Filipino players due to its cultural representation and demonstration of Filipino developer talent. Reviewers suggest a need for more games with Filipino language support, highlighting the game's significance within the Filipino gaming community.

Desire for more content: Some reviewers express a desire for additional content, such as a DLC or sequel, to further expand the story or provide a more satisfying conclusion. However, others acknowledge that such additions might not align with the game's narrative or thematic intentions.

Immerse fully; play beyond credits: Reviewers advise players to fully immerse themselves in the game, paying attention to details and savoring every moment. They also suggest continuing beyond the initial ending and after the credits to experience the full scope of the story and unlock additional content, enhancing the overall experience.

Set in a Filipino setting: The game is set in a fictionalized version of the Philippines after a natural disaster, incorporating Filipino culture, landmarks, and societal elements. It offers a glimpse into Southeast Asian culture, referencing Hispanic-Catholic influences and local details like jeepneys and traditional foods. The setting provides a unique backdrop for the story's themes.

Explores themes of grief and loss: The game explores heavy themes such as grief, loss, acceptance, and the importance of human connection in the face of adversity. It emphasizes cherishing relationships, forgiveness, and understanding, often within the context of overcoming difficult trials and personal struggles. The narrative resonates with feelings of loss, especially related to natural disasters and political issues.

Evokes strong emotional responses: The game evokes strong emotional responses from players, with some reviewers expressing deep personal connections to the story and characters. The narrative can be heartbreaking and impactful, conveying messages of loneliness and resonating with players on a personal level.

Requires multiple playthroughs: The game features a multi-layered narrative structure that requires multiple playthroughs to fully understand the story. Players must complete the game at least three times to experience all the different endings and character perspectives, with each playthrough revealing new information and diverging from the initial storyline.

Appealing and unique art style: The game features a distinctive and appealing art style, often described as a mix of 2D pixel art and 3D elements. Reviewers were drawn to the game because of its visuals, praising the overall aesthetic and phenomenal pixel art.