A recap of...
Until Then
In February 2014, a series of natural disasters known as "The Ruling" caused widespread destruction worldwide, including parts of the Philippines. However, the city of Liamson in the national capital remained largely unaffected.
Mark Borja, a high school student at Liamson, lives alone with his parents working abroad. He and his classmate Louise experience bouts of déjà vu, which cause their memories to be unreliable. He meets a new transfer student, Nicole, who he feels oddly familiar with. At a hospital with Louise and her best friend Sofia, Mark hallucinates and sees the hospital halls become dark and twisted. Later, at a Christmas funfair, he remains uneasy and experiences episodes from what happened earlier, only calming down after meeting Nicole. She admits to Mark that her family were victims of the Ruling, and that they moved to the capital for a better life.
Mark resolves to join the school's piano club and signs up for their auditions. While practicing, Mark plays a composition made by Nicole for her best friend Jake, who had disappeared years prior. She agrees to be Mark's piano instructor, and they begin to practice for the upcoming club auditions. Nicole's mother thanks Mark for giving Nicole the spark to play the piano again, after having stopped since the disappearance of Jake. Meanwhile, Louise investigates and theorizes that their déjà vu, the mysterious disappearances of students, and The Ruling are from parallel universes colliding with theirs and interacting. Nicole withdraws from the auditions, and Mark, while accompanying her on a trip to her destroyed hometown, lashes out at her for being unable to let go of her past. Recognizing this, he comes to terms with the disappearance of his mother right before the start of the Ruling.
Mark's best friend Cathy goes missing after her parents forcefully bring her back home from prom. Assuming she had disappeared, Mark chases after her, but she is hit by a truck while trying to reach him. Years later, Mark plays against her recorded racing gameplay. The game then hits a false ending. Afterwards, time is reset to the start of Mark's commute at the start of the game.
The game continues similarly, yet distinctly, from the first playthrough. At a café, Mark finds Louise performing the double-slit experiment with anomalous results. Those anomalies occur at "hotspots"; areas significantly affected by the Ruling or its victims. At another hotspot, the pattern of the double-slit experiment suddenly fluctuates rapidly, and Mark, Nicole, and Louise disappear and experience alternate lifetimes of themselves. After this, they monitor the double-slit experiment to be alerted for future fluctuations. On the day of prom, Mark runs after a missing Cathy again. He finds Cathy, but she and Louise disappear shortly after. In denial, Mark returns to the café, waiting for the anomalous pattern of the double-slit experiment to re-emerge. The game then resets again.
Mark and Nicole both retain their memories after a series of resets. Louise suggests that their interactions are the source of the fluctuations. After another reset, the two try to avoid each other, but a coincidental meeting at the hospital sends them into a distorted reality. Noticing that a hotspot disappears whenever they come into eye contact inside one, they travel to different hotspots and repeat the cycle. For each cycle, Mark and Nicole experience parts of each other's childhood and Liamson falls into further chaos. In one cycle, they fail to maintain eye contact. Mark then wakes up in an evacuation center and is unable to find Nicole. The world slowly disappears around him, and both he and Nicole are left in a dark void. They both watch moments of each other's life play out leading up to the disappearances of Jake and Mark's mother. They then appear in front of Mark and Nicole, revealing that each lifetime was an attempt at giving them a better life after their disappearances, but in each one, they still had not stopped looking for them. As Mark and Nicole see each other again, they both learn to let go and say goodbye. The Ruling is undone, and they both live their lives separately and normally, with no recollection of each other.
Mark Borja, a high school student at Liamson, lives alone with his parents working abroad. He and his classmate Louise experience bouts of déjà vu, which cause their memories to be unreliable. He meets a new transfer student, Nicole, who he feels oddly familiar with. At a hospital with Louise and her best friend Sofia, Mark hallucinates and sees the hospital halls become dark and twisted. Later, at a Christmas funfair, he remains uneasy and experiences episodes from what happened earlier, only calming down after meeting Nicole. She admits to Mark that her family were victims of the Ruling, and that they moved to the capital for a better life.
Mark resolves to join the school's piano club and signs up for their auditions. While practicing, Mark plays a composition made by Nicole for her best friend Jake, who had disappeared years prior. She agrees to be Mark's piano instructor, and they begin to practice for the upcoming club auditions. Nicole's mother thanks Mark for giving Nicole the spark to play the piano again, after having stopped since the disappearance of Jake. Meanwhile, Louise investigates and theorizes that their déjà vu, the mysterious disappearances of students, and The Ruling are from parallel universes colliding with theirs and interacting. Nicole withdraws from the auditions, and Mark, while accompanying her on a trip to her destroyed hometown, lashes out at her for being unable to let go of her past. Recognizing this, he comes to terms with the disappearance of his mother right before the start of the Ruling.
Mark's best friend Cathy goes missing after her parents forcefully bring her back home from prom. Assuming she had disappeared, Mark chases after her, but she is hit by a truck while trying to reach him. Years later, Mark plays against her recorded racing gameplay. The game then hits a false ending. Afterwards, time is reset to the start of Mark's commute at the start of the game.
The game continues similarly, yet distinctly, from the first playthrough. At a café, Mark finds Louise performing the double-slit experiment with anomalous results. Those anomalies occur at "hotspots"; areas significantly affected by the Ruling or its victims. At another hotspot, the pattern of the double-slit experiment suddenly fluctuates rapidly, and Mark, Nicole, and Louise disappear and experience alternate lifetimes of themselves. After this, they monitor the double-slit experiment to be alerted for future fluctuations. On the day of prom, Mark runs after a missing Cathy again. He finds Cathy, but she and Louise disappear shortly after. In denial, Mark returns to the café, waiting for the anomalous pattern of the double-slit experiment to re-emerge. The game then resets again.
Mark and Nicole both retain their memories after a series of resets. Louise suggests that their interactions are the source of the fluctuations. After another reset, the two try to avoid each other, but a coincidental meeting at the hospital sends them into a distorted reality. Noticing that a hotspot disappears whenever they come into eye contact inside one, they travel to different hotspots and repeat the cycle. For each cycle, Mark and Nicole experience parts of each other's childhood and Liamson falls into further chaos. In one cycle, they fail to maintain eye contact. Mark then wakes up in an evacuation center and is unable to find Nicole. The world slowly disappears around him, and both he and Nicole are left in a dark void. They both watch moments of each other's life play out leading up to the disappearances of Jake and Mark's mother. They then appear in front of Mark and Nicole, revealing that each lifetime was an attempt at giving them a better life after their disappearances, but in each one, they still had not stopped looking for them. As Mark and Nicole see each other again, they both learn to let go and say goodbye. The Ruling is undone, and they both live their lives separately and normally, with no recollection of each other.
