Preview: Until Then – A Side-Scroller with a Heart and Mystery

Looking back at all the games I love, they all have one thing in common: They made me feel things. Sometimes, it was love for the characters and the setting; other times, joy, sadness, or, in some cases, fear. Jumping into the demo for Until Then, I was delighted by the emotion it elicited within me in the short hour I spent with the game.

Until Then is a side-scroller scheduled for release in 2024. It is published by Modus Games and made by Polychroma Games, an indie studio. The game is a labor of love; you can feel the passion for this project and the setting throughout the demo. The setting is a fictional version of the developers’ home country of the Philippines. Their deep and intimate knowledge of this environment is evident in every nook and cranny of this side-scroller – the many little details give this world a ton of personality.

The air of mystery surrounding the plot was what really gripped me.

Throughout Until Then, I was left to browse through social media and newspaper snippets via the main character, Mark’s, phone, which felt like a very natural way to piece together the characters’ context.

Mark is a young teen living in a world recovering from a catastrophic event called “The Ruling” or “The Judgement.” This series of natural disasters affected the entire planet and left the world in disarray. With the global economy slowly recovering, Mark struggles with the aftermath of this catastrophe while grappling with the everyday challenges of teenage life.

The game masterfully intertwines the everyday challenges of teenage life with the aftermath of a global catastrophe, creating a relatable yet intriguing narrative.

All the characters you meet fall neatly within a classic character archetype but with a twist. Mark first seems like a typical slacking student but is impressively smart and ambitious to become a successful pianist. Louise, class genius and the most popular girl in school, is secretly an avid gamer, and her ditzy best friend Sofia shows her serious side when grappling with the consequences of the Ruling. In my short time with them, I found the cast of characters to be very memorable and well-characterized, and I can’t wait to learn more about them. I was also very impressed by the portrayal of young adult relationships – seeing the characters interact with each other made me feel nostalgic for my teenage years.

But what would be a high school plot without a deeper intrigue and a mounting sense of dread?

This is done through characters’ recollections of past events just not lining up correctly, visual effects such as chromatic aberration, and an increasingly tense OST. Characters realize their memories are not reliable and something terrible might be about to happen. The demo is short enough to leave you guessing, and the plot remains shrouded in mystery.

The mounting sense of unease Until Then builds was definitely a highlight for me. However, it is also a delight in its more light-hearted moments, such as minigames that have you trying (and failing) to insert a USB stick the right way on the first try or make you compete to impale the most fish balls on a wooden stick (and losing). The core gameplay comes from picking between various dialogue options and seeing how your decisions play out. It was nice to see even smaller actions, like leaving a like on a social media post, affecting characters’ dialogue later on. However, it is still unclear just how big of an impact your decisions will have on the grand scheme of things and the game’s ending.

Until Then is a labor of love, with its setting in a fictional version of the Philippines bursting with personality and intimate details.

But it wasn’t just the plot that caught my interest: The visuals are stunning and filled with personality. Until Then sports hand-drawn pixel art with warm colors and gorgeous lighting, adding tremendous depth to its graphics. I was surprised by how cinematic the game felt: the sound design is immersive, with many small details like cars passing through in the background, faint music in the background, and small animations like flyers being blown through the streets in the wind. The animations make the environment feel alive. However, I felt like the character’s movements were almost too dynamic at times, distracting me from tense moments or the unvoiced dialogue on screen. The camera work, however, helps balance it out again, adding to the atmosphere with panning and zooming in the right moments.

The Until Then demo accomplished a great deal quickly; I can’t wait for the full release. Suppose you, like me, love story-character-driven games and a mysterious plot that keeps you guessing. In that case, I recommend picking up the free demo, available via Steam from February 5 through February 12.

Until Then is coming to PC via Steam.