Until Then

Until Then is a 2024 Filipino adventure game and developed by Polychroma Games and published by Maximum Entertainment. The game follows Mark Borja and his moments of déjà vu months after the events of The Ruling, a global catastrophe which caused widespread casualties and infrastructural damage all over the Philippines. The game is presented as a visual novel in a 2.5D sidescroller, featuring pixel art in a three-dimensional environment.

The game began development in 2020 with a team headed by director Mickole Klein Nulud. It was released on June 25, 2024 for Linux, PlayStation 5, and Windows.

Gameplay
Until Then is a side-scrolling adventure game with pixel art graphics. It is also described as a visual novel, though with more interactive elements compared to conventional games in the genre. The player controls Mark Borja, a high school student who lives alone in his family's home as his parents work overseas. The player can move left and right in the current environment and interact with specific objects to advance the game's story. At specific moments in the game's story, the player can interact with a smartphone which includes a messaging app and an in-universe version of Facebook, where the player can choose to like and share posts made by other characters in the story. When messaging, the player is required to press random keys on the keyboard to slowly type the message to be sent by Mark, both predetermined or chosen by the player.

The game also features several minigames, like skewering fish balls by timing the skewer's position and force; singing on a videoke machine by pressing the correct keys once they reach the top of the screen; and painting by clicking and dragging specific patterns on the screen.

Development
Polychroma Games, an indie game studio based in the Philippines headed by game director Mickole Klein Nulud, started active development on the game in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The development team consisted of 10 core people, with additional contributions from others. A demo version of the game was released as part of the Steam Next Fest in February 2024. Release of the game was slated for May 23, 2024, but was delayed weeks before release. After announcing another release slated for June 23, it was pushed back another two days before finally being released on June 25, 2024 for Linux, PlayStation 5, and Windows.

The setting for Until Then is based on Metro Manila in the Philippines in 2014. Due to travel restrictions from the pandemic, the game's artists relied on Google Earth and memory for inspiration on creating the game's setting, falling back to usual Filipino architecture for generic locations. Manila was chosen as the basis for the game's setting as it best represented the experiences of the developers growing up in the Philippines. Despite the setting, Nulud wanted the setting to be universal. As a result, the game makes many references to Filipino culture while ensuring that "everyone would appreciate the main story itself." It also features references to the Katipunan LRT-2 station, Quezon Memorial Circle, and numerous parodies of Filipino business names. Liamson Integrated School was based off of Rizal National Science High School, where Nulud graduated. This high school setting was chosen to evoke nostalgia among players, according to Nulud and senior environmental artist Pia Demanawa. Both Nulud and Demanawa also focus on "communication" as one of the main themes of the game, while writer Mariel Tuble describes it as "coming to terms with change, loss, and the passage of time." Nulud and Tuble describe the game as a "cinematic experience" albeit with interactive elements.

The game also drew inspiration from Life Is Strange, Night in the Woods, The Last Night, Your Lie in April, and films by Makoto Shinkai. As development progressed, the team found new inspiration, such as with films by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Initially, the characters sprites were designed with equal pixel density to background sprites. This was eventually changed to "have more real estate with poses and expressions", according to Demanawa.

Reception
Until Then received "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic.

Prior to its final release, reviewers provided generally favorable reviews for the game's Steam Next Fest demo. Katharine Castle of Rock Paper Shotgun praises the game's "gorgeous mix of expressive pixel art and 3D environments." She also commended the games interactivity, along with Hope Bellingham of GamesRadar+, who was "amazed by how interactive it was." Thomas Kent of Hardcore Gamer praised the game for its "compelling narrative that explores the intricacies of teenage life." Castle and Kent both also praise the game's environment and sound design.

Ed Thorn from Rock Paper Shotgun highlights the game's story and progression, also commending the game's interactivity. John Cal McCormick of Push Square praises the game's "authentic portrayal of teenage life" and "well paced story", giving the game an 8 out of 10 rating. Jason Rodriguez of Eurogamer describes the game as "a coming-of-age story, a tale of love and loss, friendships and fears" and lauds its references to Filipino pop culture. However, Rodriguez also criticizes the language used in the game, which is written in English, describing some dialogue as "using more 'Western' terms instead of the local vernacular". Mitchell Demorest of Slant Magazine shares this concern, writing that "some phrases coming off too literal", while also raising issues with the game's pacing.

Bellingham, Castle, and George Yang of GameSpot, compared the game to A Space for the Unbound, another adventure game which also featured an emotional story presented in pixel art style.