until then RPG

🧠 So, in one sentence, what's the story?
Until Then tells the story of two teenagers, Mark and Nicole, who are both unable to accept the loss of a loved one; their traumas cause interactions between different realities, creating numerous time loops, until they realize they must finally accept their loss and learn to move on.
And the important thing to remember: the game isn't really about "saving" Maria or Jake. It's about understanding that you can love someone, keep their memory alive, and still move on with your life. 🦋
The game therefore uses its time loops as a metaphor for grief: Mark and Nicole relive their story over and over again because they refuse to accept the end.

☕ 12. The final scene
Years later, Mark goes to the Tadhana Café for a date.
Nicole is also in the cafe...
And she too is accompanied by someone.
They are literally sitting close to each other.
But they don't recognize each other.
Mark glances briefly in his direction.
Nicole gives him a smile.
But neither of them knows why this person seems vaguely familiar.
It's extremely symbolic.
They have lost their memories...
But something seems to remain nonetheless.
🦋 13. The two butterflies
Outside the cafe, there are two black butterflies.
They represent Maria and Jake.
They are watching Mark and Nicole.
But this time...
They're doing nothing.
They don't reset reality.
They are not creating a new timeline.
They simply leave.
Because Mark and Nicole are finally doing well.
⚰️ 14. The post-credits scene
In the post-credits scene, Mark goes with his father to Maria's grave.
And this time, Mark isn't trying to bring her back.
He finally accepts his death.
He and his father talk about her and can finally begin to grieve normally.

🌅 11. The real reality
And that's where the game shows us the true timeline.
The ruling never actually took place in the same way.
Mark and Nicole therefore no longer have any reason to meet as they did in the different realities.
They are now living normal lives.
They have no memory of anything that happened.
Mark is continuing his studies.
Nicole also continues with her life.
And most importantly:
Mark and Nicole do not officially become a couple in the real timeline.

😭 10. Mark and Nicole finally need to let go
This is the true heart of the game.
Mark must accept:
Maria is dead.
Nicole must accept:
Jake is dead.
They cannot bring them back.
And above all, they understand that loving someone who is dead does not mean having to spend their whole life searching for them.
They finally say goodbye to Maria and Jake.
And by doing so, they finally stop fighting against their downfall.
The fluctuations cease.
The different realities collapse.

🦋 9. Maria and Jake
Mark and Nicole witness the most important moments of their lives.
They finally understand that Maria and Jake are linked to these different realities.
They appear in the form of black butterflies.
And here, we learn something very important:
The different realities were attempts to give them a better life.
Maria and Jake had created/maintained these possibilities so that Mark and Nicole could have a life in which they would not be destroyed by their losses.
But there was a problem.
Mark and Nicole continued to search for those they had lost.
They never really managed to make any progress.
Each new reality thus became a new attempt.
And a new loop.

🌊 8. Chaos
The situation is becoming uncontrollable.
Liamson is starting to be completely ravaged by the fluctuations.
Mark and Nicole try to find each other through different realities.
But eventually, the world around them begins to disappear.
They find themselves in a kind of black void, separated from the rest of the world.
And that's where the game finally reveals what's behind it all.

🦋 7. Mark and Nicole are starting to understand
After several time loops, Mark and Nicole begin to retain memories of previous realities.
They gradually realize that they have already experienced certain situations.
They then try to solve the problem.
But each attempt causes even more disruption.
Realities are literally starting to collapse into one another.
Mark and Nicole experience different versions of their lives and even begin to see memories belonging to each other.
In this way, they discover each other's childhoods and gain a better understanding of their traumas.

🌌 6. The true nature of the problem
Louise eventually understood something much bigger:
Mark's world is interacting with other realities.
The events related to the Ruling caused a kind of "wave" between different timelines.
And Mark and Nicole seem to be at the center of these fluctuations.
For what ?
Because they are both unable to let go of someone they have lost.
Mark is still looking for Maria.
Nicole is still looking for Jake.
Their traumas create disturbances that ultimately cause different realities to interact.

🔄 5. The second pass
And that's when the player understands that the game isn't simply a linear story.
Some things change.
Characters who were present before are no longer present in the same way.
Events happen differently.
Mark is also starting to experience déjà vu.
Louise continues her research and discovers that the phenomena appear to be linked to quantum fluctuations.
She notably uses Young's double-slit experiment to try to understand what is happening.
She discovers particular places called hotspots, where fluctuations are much greater.

🎓 4. The Ball and Cathy
Mark continues his life with his friends and is notably preparing for the ball.
But Cathy has big problems with her parents.
During the ball, her parents come to get her against her will.
Cathy ran away.
Mark is pursuing her because he wants to help her.
And that's where the tragedy occurs:
🚚 Cathy is hit by a truck.
Mark is unable to save her.
Cathy dies.
And after this event, Mark continues to live with the memory of Cathy.
But something is wrong.
The game seems to be ending...
Then a butterfly landed on Mark's hand.
And suddenly...
⏪ Time returns to the beginning.
Mark finds himself back at the beginning of the story.

💔 3. Mark's Trauma
Mark desperately wants to find his mother.
The problem is that he can't accept her disappearance.
Nicole, on the other hand, does exactly the same thing with Jake.
And that's precisely what becomes important: Mark and Nicole are two people trapped in the same grief mechanism.
Mark even ends up blaming Nicole for not being able to move on from Jake.
But then he realizes that he is exactly the same with his mother.
He eventually came to accept, deep down, that Maria was probably dead.
And that's where things get completely crazy.

🏫 2. The arrival of Nicole
Mark then meets Nicole Lacsamana, a new student.
Nicole is also linked to a tragedy: her brother Jake disappeared during the Ruling, a gigantic catastrophic event that struck the Philippines.
Nicole played piano before Jake disappeared, but she has stopped since.
Mark and Nicole are gradually starting to get closer.
Mark, in particular, rekindles her desire to play the piano and agrees to help her practice.
Meanwhile, Louise, an extremely intelligent classmate, begins to notice strange things:
memories that do not always correspond to reality;
people who seem to have disappeared;
strange phenomena related to Ruling;
sorts of "anomalies" in the environment.
She begins to suspect that reality itself is fluctuating.

🌧️ 1. The beginning: Mark, Cathy and Ridel
The story takes place in the Philippines, primarily at Liamson High School.
We follow Mark Borja, a fairly normal high school student who lives with his father. His two best friends are:
Cathy Portillo: his best friend, very close to him and extremely important to the story.
Ridel Gonzales: his other best friend, passionate about photography.
Mark also plays the piano.
At first, his life seems relatively normal, even though something is weighing heavily on him: his mother Maria disappeared in a plane crash. Mark truly refuses to accept that she is dead and clings to the hope that she will return.