Until Then

Until Then is a 2024 adventure game from Polychroma Games, published by Maximum Entertainment. It takes place in Liamson, a fictional city within the Philippine National Capital Region. The story centers on Mark Borja, who experiences recurring déjà vu in the months following a worldwide disaster called "The Ruling," which left widespread destruction and casualties across the Philippines. The game is a visual novel presented as a 2.5D sidescroller, combining pixel art with a three-dimensional environment.

Development started in 2020 under director Mickole Klein Nulud. The team prioritized Filipino representation while aiming for a universal, cinematic feel within the visual novel format. The game launched on June 25, 2024, for Linux, PlayStation 5, and Windows. A Nintendo Switch port followed on June 26, 2025, and an Xbox Series X/S port arrived on April 23, 2026. Critics praised the game for its interactivity, narrative, and Filipino representation. A paid story expansion, *Until Then: Afterimages*, came out on June 18, 2026.

**Gameplay**

*Until Then* is a side-scrolling adventure game with pixel art graphics, using 2D sprites in a 3D space. It functions as a visual novel but includes more interactive elements than typical entries in the genre. Players control Mark Borja, a high school student living alone while his parents work overseas. The player moves Mark left or right through environments and interacts with specific objects to progress the story. At key points, the player uses a smartphone with a messaging app and a social media platform, where they can like or share posts from other characters. During messaging, the player must press any key to slowly type out Mark's messages, which are either predetermined or chosen by the player. The game also includes minigames, such as skewering fish balls by timing the skewer's position and force, singing on a videoke machine by pressing correct keys as they reach the top of the screen, and painting by clicking and dragging specific patterns.

**Plot**

**Act One** In February 2014, a series of natural disasters called "The Ruling" devastated much of the world, including parts of the Philippines, though Liamson remained largely untouched. Mark Borja lives alone while his parents work abroad. He and his classmate Louise experience bouts of déjà vu that make their memories unreliable. Two new transfer student