We often look to earlier works to see how an artist has developed. The slide of Picasso’s work as he transitioned from the Blue Period into his Cubism phase showcases a dramatic shift in ideas and manifestations, even as he maintained a common thread of humanity. Sugar Ray’s Lemonade and Brownies is such a far cry from Little Yachty you’d be shocked to see they’re the same band. And Uchikoshi Kotaro, the writer behind Zero Escape and World End Club, cut his teeth creating a phenomenal series of visual novels simply called Infinity. Previously lost to the sands of time, the folk of Spike Chunsoft have spearheaded the movement to bring these classics to modern players officially in English for the first time. Now, fans around the world can finally dive into Never 7: The End of Infinity.

Releasing a visual novel that’s now twenty five years old has its positives and negatives, and honestly some rather brazen gambles. On the one hand, Never 7 is iconic in both what it was and what it created. The story of Makoto, who awakens in a cabin after an emotional nightmare that he can’t quite figure out: the prone figure of a girl, dead, a single bell falling from her hand. He gains his bearings and remembers he’s on a seminar retreat with some classmates from college, a mandatory field trip that will be part of his final grade. Sharing the cabin with one other boy and two girls, Makoto tries to enjoy his time, but is constantly nagged by a feeling of unease, a feeling further exacerbated by his unpredictable bouts of precognition. These moments culminate six days later, when his dream comes true…and it all begins again.

What, like six months ago? Girl, SAME.

A time loop visual novel is nothing new by today’s standards, wasn’t new at the time, and the premise has been explored by many other writers with different mechanics and concepts. Steins;GATE played around with it in one of the side stories; WORLD END SYNDROME is a personal favorite of mine, and animes like Haruhi Suzumiya have incorporated it into spinoff projects. Moreover, the concept is further explored with different twists and interpretations. Yu-No makes sure exploration mechanics are utilized more fully, Anonymous;CODE demands players interact at the right times…the list goes on. So for Never 7 to be both a little simplistic in concept and also a bit demanding in execution, is an intriguing paradox, especially knowing what we know now about the game’s development.

Throughout Never 7, you’ll be tasked with interacting with the fine folks of the retreat, from the three other cabin mates (Yuka, Okuhiko and Haruka) to some of the locals (Izumi, Saki and Kurumi) and slowly try to win one of them over. I mean, not Okuhiko, this game is nowhere near that progressive. You get to choose different activities based on conversation prompts and, slowly but surely, end up on a path to romance with one of them. The characters all have decent range in terms of personality, but I sincerely enjoyed Haruka’s character the most. A bit distant and cold initially, she really opens up about her thoughts, however bizarre they may be, and makes her a sympathetic character throughout. I enjoyed conversing with everyone else as well (Kurumi was surprisingly complex and deep), but Haruka remained a favorite and a clear inspiration for future Infinity characters.

Haruka casually dropping serial killer vibes while Okuhiko reacts…appropriately.

The reason I bring up development is that Uchikoshi never wanted to make this a dating game. Never 7 was supposed to stand on its own as a science fiction vehicle with mild elements of human interaction, but the publisher felt it would never sell without girls you could fall in love with. The result is a rather hamfisted approach to try and make players give a damn about different women in different incarnations in order to solve the mystery of what on earth is happening, but this just results in players sort of speed running relationships and, honestly, giving birth to the quick save/load approach to conversation and finding the right words.

In order to fully unlock the story of Never 7, you’re required to play the game through multiple times to achieve multiple good endings. Once you’ve successfully gotten the good endings of all the main female characters, you then have a chance to discover the real ending, which is a baffling choice that also doesn’t have any preamble if you only do the previous storylines. That is to say, if, like me, you end up with Yuka (the very first girl you meet), then it’s easy enough to make the right decisions and quick save/load to cheese a good ending. Does it take time? Absolutely, but that’s what visual novels are for. With just a binary good or bad ending to achieve, the results are easy enough to follow along with and create success.

“What, you don’t know??? You’re so stupid!” *BANG* BAD END

But Yuka, Saki and Kurumi’s routes never really hint at what’s happening behind the scenes. Kurumi, being a younger sister character, is the closest to the truth yet never reveals anything because she’s as in the dark as I was. Even Haruka’s route is vague, yet it was the biggest insight as to how this particular scenario came to be. It’s only when you’ve done these four to “good” completion and then moved onto Izumi that you discover the truth behind it all, which, frankly, feels like it comes from left field. It makes sense, but only if you make the absolute most extreme presumptions about everyone and everything you meet, and that’s not a healthy way to interact with the world.

But those gripes exist because I can tell what Never 7 wanted to be, and I am fascinated by what it is. First and foremost, the actual storyline is so intriguing because it’s done with a real sense of unease and detachment. Makoto literally keeps seeing what will happen or what has happened with no apparent rhyme or reason, and he’s constantly gaslit by the others into thinking he’s making this up or has some kind of ulterior motives. There are moments of futurism that are just casually dropped in that make this world feel very lived in. For example, as this game is from the turn of the century, cell phones were available and prevalent, yet make no discernible impact in this game. But the casual revelation that clones exist and just walk amongst the people is a bombshell that also doesn’t change a lot.

Absolute props for leaving in Japanese here and there for players to better appreciate some elements.

Additionally, it’s crazy well done. The pacing for something that could either become too fluffy or too esoteric quickly, instead rides the razor’s edge throughout. Just as you’re getting fed up with all the pointless chatter about barbeques and swimming, Makoto will have a flash. it’ll lead to an inner monologue, and then he’ll have some deep, thoughtful conversation with another character. Before that gets too heady, you get yanked back into the real world by a fight over beer or cooking preferences. The cadence of this game swivels back and forth like the head of a cobra, swaying to an unseen rhythm and hypnotizing you into complacency, before striking with lightning speed of shock and dismay.

What you really get from Never 7 is there’s always something just below the surface for the duration of the game. There is so much that I deeply appreciate, and I think Spike Chunsoft did the right call by using an updated set of the original 2D figures, accomodating for widescreen viewing. The throwback anime style puts you in the proper mindset of Makoto’s existence, and it helps to illustrate the disconnect between the present day and the time capsule of the alternate past where clones are a thing but common sense is not. The environments, while not particularly varied, have plenty of veracity and importance, and are detailed in all the right ways for an atmospheric scope.

All the girls just announced where they were going, so this isn’t complex to figure out.

Lastly, the music should not be ignored. While a lot of the stings and ambience are very expected anime beats of upbeat, post-citypop vibe, there are moments of dissonance that play very well with the ambience of the world. For example, anytime you end up on a moonlit beach (which is quite a few), there are subtle cues that can turn the environment from peaceful to melancholy and then gradually into sinister or unnerving. The genius behind it is how this particular visual novel handles the transitions and crossfading, allowing the music and sound effects to become more complex or to subvert what you thought you were hearing. Much like my recent play with Recall: Empty Wishes, it’s the little things that turn what would be hokey into something much more compelling.

Ultimately, the distraction of Never 7 comes from the forced dating branches and the implication of the good and bad endings that have so little to do with the story. Nearly all the bad forks are just “you died” and all the good forks are “yay love.” I kept wanting to shake Makoto and insist that he should probably be more focused on the distorted reality, and not on whether the teenager who looks too young is into him or not (why won’t some tropes just go away?). It’s fun, don’t get me wrong, but it’s like visiting a city famous for its exotic cuisine and grabbing a Big Mac. The burger is probably fantastic, but you’re surrounded by so much potential and you go for the mundane. 

Ladies and gentlemen, peak visual novel writing.

I still had a fabulous time, don’t get me wrong, and I absolutely recommend this cornerstone visual novel to better understand the history of Uchikoshi and all of his subsequent works. Never 7: The End of Infinity sets certain ideas in motion for future works: fantastical sci-fi passed off as normal, deceptively innocent ideas that grow into massive plot points, and the darker nature of humanity when it comes to curiosity and experimentation. Never 7 was the last time the Infinity series would deviate from its mission statement, and we can all appreciate what needed to be done to pander to the pursestrings in order to clear the way for an even more compelling future.

Never 7: The End of Infinity is available now on PC, PlayStation 4/5, and Nintendo Switch.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

A copy of Never 7: The End of Infinity was provided by the publisher.