Until Then Review – Review

It’s not often I think about my teenage years. In the recesses of my brain, I recall key inflection points, but the moment-to-moment experience is like when you throw a stone in the water. The farther the ripples go out, the weaker and less defined they become. You kind of remember how it felt, but it seems quaint compared to the real world struggles that plague adult life. Often the depiction of that cohort is almost cartoonish, with people who behave like adults pretending to be kids rather than how you might remember it being. There are faint striking memories when coming across a song that earmarked a meaningful moment and can elicit a strong emotional reaction, but Until Then is the first time I’ve felt fully immersed like I’m back in the year 2004.

Until Then follows the story of Mark, a slacker who barely passes his classes and carries himself with a nonchalant and sarcastic attitude that amuses his best friend Cath and annoys practically everyone else. In his personal life, he lives in an empty home, with parents who work abroad to financially provide for him in a way their work on the island couldn’t provide. The lack of structure is at the root of his aimlessness until he befriends Louise, the class president. Afterward, he has an encounter with Nicole, a new student whose art project gets destroyed when Mark barrels into her in a rush to finish his homework in a matter of minutes. When Mark first meets them, he has these strong feelings of déjà vu, almost like he’d live those moments before. As he gains Nicole’s trust, it’s revealed that she has also been experiencing those moments and wants your help with a working hypothesis of its cause. Like any good coming of age story, these threads weave together into a holistic view of his life that feels robust.

This game is functionally a walking simulator. Controlling Mark through a 2D plane, you’ll be put into a setting like the school or home of which a handful of noteworthy icons to interact with spit out either a bit of dialogue with characters, an errant thought from Mark, or move the story forward directly. Until Then is broken into chapters, each of which have several story beats that usually end in a climactic moment. Some moments include a mini game. For example, early on Mark joins his friends at a carnival and you compete in games like darts and whack-a-mole. They’re very rudimentary snippets of activity that feel like the developers understood there needed to be a teensy bit of action beyond the chatter. In most cases during the minigames characters will have conversations or dialogue that isn’t story critical but gives more dimension to their relationships. One challenge I had with the game was the story pacing. There’s this broad world-altering backdrop behind the day-to-day personal stories that feels half-baked. It’s touched on here and there, with a visual fuzziness and flashes when the déjà vu moments pop up from time to time, but the story structure feels like an 80/20 of personal relationship building vs. addressing the broader threats.
I get the sense that the developers fell in love with the characters and put the big mystery on the backburner. Mark and Nicole are the main drivers of that story arc, and while they have occasional conversations around the question of what exactly is happening, it never feels fully developed. Nicole gives vague pontification about whether a theory of hers is correct, keeping Mark in the dark despite asking for his help. The problem is there’s no good story impetus for why she’s so cagey on their shared experience, so it comes off as shallow. Conversely, the stuff focused on Mark’s personal life is excellent. In so many story-driven games it’s evident that the creators don’t know how to believably write teenage characters. There can be a tendency to have characters explicitly tell people their thoughts and feelings transparently within a monologue that is too maturely written. The writers breathe life into the cast by writing their dialogue, thoughts, and actions as three separate threads. Dialogue is surface level, fumbling, inarticulate speech that doesn’t convey adequately the thoughts going through the characters’ mind. Their actions are rash, spur of the moment behavior, consequences be damned. They work in concert with each other to make the people in this world feel genuine. The teenage experience of not being able to express the thoughts in your head clearly through words then fumbling over yourself to push through misunderstandings is uncomfortably relatable and exactly what it should be.

With that well-defined character development there is a heavy emphasis on slow facial reaction shots. At times the camera shot will zoom into a person’s profile for moments of facial expressions to match the mood of the moment. It felt a little too slow at first, but I came to understand how important these small moments are to make these heartfelt moments bloom. Your patience is rewarded with emotional transitions that make their pain and loss more gut wrenching, and their wins more triumphant. Where I wish there was more attention paid is the audio. The general noises of audience chatter, stepping, and errant background noise are just fine, they mostly fill the empty space and keep things feeling lively. It’s the music that struggles to meet the moment. They lean heavily on public domain music, which can lead to some dissonant tones in scenes. In one of the early chapters, you visit a friend’s grandmother who’s in a coma. Imagine my confusion when Twinkle Twinkle Little Star started playing as the accompanying music. It was a discordant moment that undercut what was supposed to be a somber moment.

I’ve had Until Then stuck in my brain since hitting credits. It dredged up memories, transporting me back to my own history of youthful desperation to be heard, understood, and cared about. The undercooked mystery backdrop is a small blemish because they nailed the writing and character development. Even an underwhelming soundtrack can’t diminish the heart on-display through emotionally raw dialogue and facial expressions. Give yourself the experience of reigniting those moments that were powerful at the time but seem small in retrospect. Allow yourself to feel the volatility of teenage life through the eyes of Mark. Play Until Then.