Thank you Maximum Entertainment for providing us with a review code!

Until Then takes place in a fictional version of the Philippines after the world suffered numerous natural disasters that occurred on the same day. This 2014 event was called “The Ruling”. You play as a slacker high school student named Mark Borja. He lives alone as his parents went overseas for lucrative work. Because he’s on his own, Mark has little accountability when it comes to doing homework and academic studies. He does enjoy playing the piano as it reminds him of his mother.

Like many teenagers, Mark likes playing video games and chatting with his friends both in person and online. You’ll get to see things from his perspective when it comes to cramming for forgotten school assignments, chatting with his friends, and “doom scrolling” through social media. This format is very immersive and it does an excellent job getting you to feel for the characters in this story. I did sometimes struggle getting out of the social media or chat applications as the triggers to progress the story are a little confusing at times.

Until Then plays mostly like a visual novel where you spend most of your time reading dialogue and have the option to respond in multiple ways. Your choices will impact what characters think of Mark. There are three endings and you’ll have to play through the game multiple times to see them all.

There are various minigames such as racing and fighting video game clones as well as carnival themed ones for throwing darts or whack-a-mole. When Mark starts taking piano playing seriously there will be a rhythm minigame for playing different types of sheet music.

Mark has a handful of close friends and his best friend is a girl named Cathy. Cathy is openly gay as her and Mark discuss different girls for them to date. When Mark is scrolling through social media you’ll see multiple “love is love” posts. Aside from LGBTQ+ stuff there is a lot of language including using the Lord’s name in vain and multiple F-bombs. I chuckled at Mark’s social media banner that said something like “A good place to put inspirational quotes is up your *ss”.

There are some mature themes including self-harm and abuse. Many of the characters are struggling with the loss of friends and family members. In fact, there are many unexplained disappearances of classmates throughout the game. While the main group of characters don’t smoke, some of the adults are shown doing so.

The pixel style game art is really well done and the characters show emotion very well. Some of the game art looks rough around the edges while other parts are incredibly detailed. It’s a neat aesthetic and suits the game nicely.

While there isn’t any voice acting, there are various background noises as you move around school and throughout the town. The background music is great, especially with the piano club students.

As of this review, Until Then is not playable on the Switch 2. I had to redeem and play it on my original Switch. Hopefully the game will be compatible with Switch 2 soon. I have seen this game on sale on the PlayStation store for $10.99 which is a great bargain. The normal asking price is $19.99 which is reasonable. I highly recommend checking it out if the language and LGBTQ+ stuff doesn’t bother you.