Until I Have You
A 2D platformer with time-altering exosuit abilities and sanity mechanics.
Until I Have You is a 2D side-scrolling action platformer from Wormwood Studios, created by James Spanos and Andrea Ferrara. Digital Tribe published it, and it launched on Steam for Windows and Linux on April 4, 2016. The game earned mostly positive reviews and snagged three out of nine AGS Award nominations, including the win for Best Gameplay.
The game is built around an exoskeleton suit that grants the player special abilities—like slowing down or rewinding time, similar to *Max Payne*—but using these powers drains a sanity gauge. When sanity runs out, the character hallucinates, which alters both gameplay and level design. Each of the 12 chapters contains four stages and a unique boss, all set in different environments. Players move left to right through platforming sections, traps, and enemies, aiming to finish each stage as fast as possible with as few deaths as possible. Dying lets you instantly restart the stage, encouraging quick trial-and-error refinement. Along the way, you collect weapons and upgrades, each with a specific use. Performance is graded at the end of each stage based on factors like how you died, whether you killed enemies, and what you used to kill them.
The main protagonist, The Artist, is voiced by Kieran Flitton, while the primary antagonist, Keiroth, is voiced by Vincent van Ommen. The Newscaster, a broadcaster who offers story insights, is voiced by Marissa Lenti (known for *One Piece* and *Attack on Titan*).
The official soundtrack, a synth-driven atmospheric score by James Spanos, is available as free DLC on Steam in MP3 and FLAC formats, with 34 tracks. Spanos cited influences including Lazerhawk, Hans Zimmer's *Interstellar* score, Miami Nights, Garth Knight, and Tangerine Dream.
Critics praised the cyberpunk aesthetic, solid voice-acting, and nuanced story, as well as the soundtrack for enhancing the bleak, retro atmosphere. *Rock, Paper, Shotgun* highlighted the parallax scrolling, art, 2D effects, moving platforms, bosses, and enemy variety. *Hardcore Gamer* gave it a 3/5, noting the graphics and music captured classic cyberpunk and that each level felt distinct, with high marks for story and gameplay. *OperationRainFall* awarded it 3.5/5, specifically lauding the voice-acting as better than most dubs in localized Japanese titles. *Hookedgamers* praised the story, design, and voice-acting, calling the bleak retro cyb
- Developer
- Wormwood Studios
- Publisher
- Digital Tribe
- Release Date
- April 4, 2016
- Platforms
- Microsoft Windows, Linux
- Genre
- Side-scrolling action platformer
- Creators
- James Spanos, Andrea Ferrara
- AGS Awards Won
- 3 (Best Gameplay, Best Programming, Best Non Adventure Game Created with AGS)
Lore & Background
Until I Have You is a 2D side-scrolling action platform video game with 12 chapters, each containing 4 stages and a unique boss. The player navigates from left to right through platforming sections, death traps, and enemies, aiming to reach the end as fast as possible without falling, dying, or depleting a sanity gauge. Central to the game is an exoskeleton suit that grants abilities to slow down or rewind time, but overuse depletes the sanity bar, causing hallucinations that alter gameplay mechanics and level design. The player can restart each stage immediately upon death to fine-tune their approach, and performance is graded at the end of each stage based on factors such as method of death and enemy kills.
Reader's Guide
Until I Have You is significant as a independently developed game that garnered critical attention for its cyberpunk aesthetic, story, voice-acting, and synth-driven soundtrack. It was nominated for nine AGS Awards in 2016 and won three, including Best Gameplay, highlighting its design achievements within the Adventure Game Studio community. Reviewers praised the game's consistent bleak retro cyberpunk feel, nuanced story, and solid voice-acting, while noting its steep difficulty as a potential drawback. The soundtrack, created by James Spanos and influenced by artists such as Lazerhawk and Hans Zimmer's Interstellar, was lauded for accentuating the game's atmosphere. The game's legacy lies in its demonstration of how a small team could produce a polished, challenging platformer with innovative sanity-based mechanics and a distinctive audio-visual style.
Did You Know?
- The game was nominated for nine AGS Awards and won three: Best Gameplay, Best Programming, and Best Non Adventure Game Created with AGS.
- The exoskeleton suit allows the player to slow down or rewind time, but overuse depletes a sanity bar causing hallucinations.
- The main protagonist, The Artist, is voiced by Kieran Flitton, and the primary antagonist, Keiroth, is voiced by Vincent van Ommen.
- The official soundtrack contains 34 tracks and is freely available on Steam as downloadable content.
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