So, a history lesson. The year is 2002—long before the Science Adventure series was so much as a thought in anyone’s mind. The developer Kindle Imagine Develop, aka “KID,” are starting to make a name for themselves in the world of visual novels. Their Memories Off series has been running for a few years, with a third mainline entry already on the way. They’ve also released a host of one-off titles for the SEGA Dreamcast, a few of which have garnered a pretty decent reputation. But most relevant to this review was a certain title released back in late 2000: Never7: The End of Infinity.
Never7 hadn’t been the breakout commercial hit KID had hoped for, but where it lacked in commercial success, it made up for in critical reception. Never7 was very positively received when it came out, and it was this reception that ultimately propelled KID to greenlight a sequel, giving the (at the time) relatively unknown duo of Kotaro Uchikoshi (Zero Escape, AI: The Somnium Files) and Takumi Nakazawa (Root Double) much more freedom to do what they wanted with the game’s story and themes.
The result was Ever17: The Out of Infinity. Uchikoshi’s earlier work was very good, to be clear, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that Ever17 is the game that truly launched his career into the heights it’s reached today. Renowned at the time for its complex story and mind-bending twists, Ever17 made a particular impact on the fledgling Western community, being one of the first story-focused visual novels to ever reach English-speaking shores officially all the way back in 2005.
And what a title it was. Ever17’s influence can still be felt in the sci-fi genre today. From later games by the same creative staff, to even hugely popular titles like STEINS;GATE, you don’t have to look far to find something this landmark story has inspired.
Unfortunately, while the game remains a cult classic in Japan and other territories, it’s been unavailable on English storefronts for nearly two decades. It seemed it would be forever doomed to obscurity—but now, twenty-three years after its original release, MAGES. and Spike Chunsoft, Inc. have finally decided to give us a remaster of this foundational title…
…Or have they?
Overview; Where is Heaven?
While I’d love to jump right into the meat of this review, there is one rather important bit of preamble that anyone interested in picking this game up should be aware of. In case you are unaware: this is not a remaster of the original version of Ever17 that was released in 2002. Instead, it’s a remaster-remake hybrid of the previously untranslated 2011 remake of the game for Xbox 360.
This 2011 remake was a complete rewrite of the original story with no involvement from any of the original writers. The broad strokes of the narrative are mostly the same, but the connective tissue between them is very, very different. The bottom line is, whether you’re a new player looking to experience Ever17 for the first time or an existing fan who wants to revisit an old classic, you should keep in mind that Ever17’s 2025 remaster is a very different game from the original Ever17—and one that Kotaro Uchikoshi had close to zero involvement in.
Now, as big a fan of the original game as I am, I’ve made every effort to set aside any biases I may have and review this new version of the game fairly on its own merits. I will go into some comparison between the two versions later in the review, but for the time being, let’s finally get to actually talking about Ever17…
Story; Transcending Time and Space
In Ever17, you take on the role of Takeshi Kuranari, a college student just trying to enjoy a day out with his friends at the underwater theme park, LeMU. Unfortunately for him, tragedy strikes—an accident leaves Takeshi and a small group of other individuals trapped inside the park, far below sea level. Worse still, LeMU is under constant assault from water pressure, leaving them with only 170 hours before the facility implodes and sends them to a watery grave. With all of the emergency escape routes seemingly cut off, the group is faced with an ultimatum—either await rescue, or try and find another way out themselves.
Ever17’s opening hours are striking. They pull the reader’s attention in with large, exciting setpieces that feel very in line with Uchikoshi’s later work, such as Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. However, once the adrenaline has worn off, what’s left is a story that chooses to zero in on its characters and setting rather than focus on bombastic and exciting setpieces. Something anyone who’s played Ever17 will almost surely note when recommending the game is that it’s most certainly a slow-burn. There is a fair bit of lighthearted comedy sprinkled throughout the game, but this relaxed pacing coupled with the otherworldly setting actually adds to an incredibly unique atmosphere that’s unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced in the visual novel medium.
As the days wear on, the game’s mysteries begin to come to the forefront. How and why did the accident occur? Is help even coming? Were the people trapped in LeMU brought there for a purpose? Ever17 has a host of intriguing mysteries for the reader to unravel, and it’s all wrapped up in a compelling narrative that, while slow, has twists and turns that will leave readers second-guessing themselves at every corner.
As I mentioned, Ever17 is a story that places a great emphasis on its characters, and you’ll be happy to hear that I quite enjoyed what the cast had to offer. There’s Tsugumi Komachi, a cold and distant young woman who wants nothing to do with Takeshi; Sora Akanegasaki, a helpful guide at LeMU and professional computer engineer; You Tanaka, an upbeat tomboy working part-time at LeMU; Sara Matsunaga, a quirky girl and (alleged) ninja; and finally, Coco Yagami, a childish and… we’ll say “eccentric” little girl who’s never seen without her pet dog, PiPi.
Some of the characters are, admittedly, kind of surface-level with not much beyond their immediate traits, but I still found myself caring for each of the heroines by the end of their respective routes. A particular highlight for me was Tsugumi, who felt flawed in a very believable and human way, and whose arc was enjoyable to watch play out as the game went on.
There’s also the two male characters—the aforementioned protagonist, Takeshi, and an amnesiac boy who can’t remember the first thing about himself and is only referred to as “The Kid.” There’s not too much to say about either of these guys. I did enjoy them, particularly Takeshi, but they don’t go through any radical development that changes them over the course of the game—beyond there being a subplot where they develop a kind of brothership that was heartwarming to see. The fact both of them are only partially voiced certainly doesn’t help matters, although given most protagonists from VNs around this time weren’t voiced at all, I’m happy we got what we got.
The setting itself, LeMU, almost feels as alive as the characters themselves do. It perfectly adds to the game’s atmosphere of total isolation from the outside world, which both enhances the dreamlike quality of the more surreal moments and adds to the unease of some of the game’s mysteries.
Presentation; Enhancing the Undersea Atmosphere
Ever17’s atmosphere is well complemented by its presentation. When I first heard this remaster was going to be combining the sprites from the original 2002 game with the backgrounds from the 2011 remake, I was worried there’d be a significant stylistic clash. Fortunately, I was wrong; the sprites actually pair decently well with the new backgrounds, which are very visually striking and give LeMU a futuristic facelift that’s still faithful enough to be distinctly recognizable.
A visual comparison between the 2005 Japanese PC release, 2011 Xbox 360 remake with 3D models, and the new 2025 remaster.
(Xbox 360 visuals sourced from reabo)
I was actually pleasantly surprised with how the sprites have been adapted to fit the game. As you can see via the above comparison, the Xbox 360 remake that this release is based on used 3D models, with a few new expressions that the original sprites didn’t have. An early example is a scene where Takeshi is standing behind Tsugumi and only sees her back. There was no sprite for this in the original game, but a new one was drawn specifically for this remaster. It’s something I was pleasantly surprised to see, and shows that there was some pretty significant care put into the presentation of this new release.
Supposedly, the art assets in this game have been upscaled, but as I did most of my testing on a Steam Deck at 720p (the native resolution of most assets here), I didn’t notice any egregious visual problems while playing. When going to get screenshots for this review, I did notice the backgrounds appeared a little blurry at 1080p, but it wasn’t significant enough to distract me.
Audibly, Ever17 is a treat for the ears. Given the 2011 remake this remaster is based on has a new script, it was entirely revoiced with the same voice actors from the original, and that voicework was reused here. The voice direction differs pretty drastically from the original game for some characters, but not only do they still do a superb job, I’d argue a handful of them even go beyond the performances they gave back in 2002, delivering some truly amazing renditions of their lines.
Even beyond that, however, is the game’s superb soundtrack, done by none other than the legendary Takeshi Abo of Science Adventure fame. Ever17 may be one of his earliest showings, but I’d argue its music still holds up as some of his finest work all these years later.
There is one caveat, and that’s that the soundtrack was drastically overhauled with new remixes in the Xbox 360 remake, and it’s these versions of the tracks that have made it into the remaster. I’m not a fan of every change here; some of the more high-intensity tracks do benefit from the faster pace and added instruments, but the instrumentation in a lot of the slower-paced tracks feels… almost spacey? It’s still excellent stuff, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not quite as timeless as the original arrangements of these classic songs.
Still, Abo’s genius shines through. Be it the upbeat “Insel null” that perfectly captures the refreshing nature of a summer day, the mysterious and dreamlike “Qualle,” the foreboding “Drittestock,” the intense “IBF Notfall” that never fails to get my blood pumping, or the heartbreaking main theme, “Karma,” Ever17 is still a serious contender for one of Abo’s best soundtracks. There are also a few new piano arrangements used in key scenes, which are perfect for the moments they play in.
Changes; A Longtime Fan’s “Perspective”
We can only go so long before having to address this—the “elephant in the room” of this release, and that’s the major alterations that were made to the remake’s script.
I’m aware people who haven’t yet played Ever17 likely won’t care about whatever changes there are between this new version and the original, but I think it’s important to outline just how completely different of an experience this retelling of Ever17 is, compared to the one that’s been so critically acclaimed for all these years. Again, I want to stress that this is an entirely different game from the 2002 original. The rewrites go far beyond simply “changing some plot elements”; the game at its core is a very different one.
I went into this new take on Ever17 not really expecting much, and while I came out of it feeling mixed on quite a few things, I appreciated the effort made to modernize the story.
I’d call the first half of this remake-slash-remaster “a streamlined take on Ever17, for both better and worse.” Though the game still spends plenty of time on lighthearted comedy, the pacing on the whole is much improved. Parts of the story that were frequently derided as “dull” or “uninteresting” have either been shortened or cut entirely. Everything feels much tighter now, and though this does kind of weaken some of the game’s atmosphere, I’m sure players who struggled to get into the original Ever17 will take that trade-off. The game feels like much more of an actual “escape story” now.
To give credit where it’s due, I was actually pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed the first half of this take on the story. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t agree with every single change that was made, but I’d say I still felt more positively than negatively toward it.
Unfortunately… that’s where the positives ended for me. The second half of the remake feels to me like it’s trying way too hard to do something different, or to wow returning players by changing up things from the original game. Sara’s route has been pretty much entirely rewritten, and while it’s still a very good story that I enjoyed a lot, it feels tonally incongruent with the rest of the game—it doesn’t feel like it belongs. I understand the desire to inject some drama into this route—I really do—but what’s there just jumps the shark in my opinion.
Likewise, the true route has also seen a lot of major alterations made to it, most of which I don’t really understand the need for. A lot of iconic scenes that many would argue made the original route are either cut down or entirely removed in favor of things that technically make more sense, but don’t make for nearly as compelling of a story. Don’t get me wrong, it is still great, but it’s not quite as great as what was already there to begin with.
The last major “change” to the remake is the addition of a new bonus after-story that’s unlocked after clearing all of the game’s endings. It’s not very long—only taking me about an hour to complete—but despite a few very nice scenes sprinkled throughout, I thought the overall conclusion of it was unnecessary and kind of cheapened the game’s actual true ending. It felt more like fanservice for people who’d played the original than it did a serious part of the story.
Foreshadowing; A Premonition Seen Too Soon
If the changes to the remake ended there, I think I would still be fine with recommending this release to newcomers. It’s not my ideal version of the game, but at the end of the day, it’s still Ever17, and even a slightly worse Ever17 is still an excellent game…
But of course, the changes don’t stop there. We’ve yet to talk about what is by far the remake script’s biggest sin—the foreshadowing.
If there’s one thing Ever17 is famous for, it’s the twists—in fact, the game was somewhat infamous back in the day for having some of the most “mind-blowing” twists any visual novel had to offer. Though plenty of games since have tried to replicate what makes Ever17‘s twists so great, I still believe this is one of the best executions of what it tries to do that the world of visual novels has to offer. Likewise, the original Ever17 is also extremely careful about how it foreshadows these major twists.
I knew going into the remake that it had made some things more overt, and that it had thrown out some of the original’s careful foreshadowing in favor of its own way of doing things—but nothing could have prepared me for getting halfway through one of the heroine routes and just… getting openly spoiled on one of the main twists of the game right there. No reason, no forewarning, no grand reveal, nothing. The same happened during another heroine route with another major twist, and I really have no idea why. It’s such a baffling choice, and it robs the true ending of so much of its bite. It’s practically impossible to get there and not have most of the game’s mysteries long since figured out.
I seriously cannot stress how huge a misstep this is. It doesn’t singlehandedly ruin the game like some will no doubt claim, but it does make this new release very hard to recommend to newcomers who want to experience Ever17 for the first time. In a game famous for having one of the most mind-blowing stories in the genre, these relatively small changes end up having a massive ripple effect that causes the whole mystery to fall apart at the seams.
Translation; A Rocky Seabed
Going by the first two or three hours of my time with Ever17, I was seriously expecting to have to write a scathing critique on the English script of this release, because those first couple hours were a really bad first impression. The narration was stiff, the dialogue was robotic, there were a couple of grammatical issues here and there, onomatopoeia was translated incorrectly, and there were a small handful of translation decisions that I thought were pretty poor and made scenes needlessly difficult to follow.
But I’m happy to say that this initial impression wasn’t representative of the game’s translation as a whole. Ever17’s English translation is decent; not great, not awful, just somewhere in the middle. Generally I felt it improved as the game went on, and though it never quite reached a level where I was truly impressed by it, the quality of it is good enough to where I think most English readers will find it passable. There are still quite a few stilted lines, but it’s pretty evident that an effort was made to translate distinctions in character voice and speech quirks.
I do still have a few nitpicks, however. While typos weren’t particularly common (although at one point, I did run into what was seemingly an editor’s note accidentally inserted as a line of dialogue, funnily enough), there is one persistent issue throughout the entire translation related to the Kid’s name. I can only assume some kind of find-and-replace error was made in the translation process, because all instances of the word “kid” are capitalized throughout the script, even when it’s not being used as a name. On top of that, pretty much anything that isn’t the actual game text itself refers to him as “Boy” instead of “Kid.” The nametags seen on the in-game textbox, the save menu, the opening video, the credits—all “Boy.” I’m not sure exactly what happened there, and it’s something I stopped noticing pretty quickly, but it’s just a very odd issue.
This is a minor grievance, but the translation loves to overuse all-caps to convey emphasis. Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this in principle, but it’s overused to the point where basically any remotely emphatic sentence is entirely capitalized. It feels cheap and unprofessional, as though they couldn’t have been bothered to write more expressive text and just decided to capitalize the sentence every time someone was angry or laughing. Several of the game’s more emotional moments are upstaged by this, but again, it becomes less frequent as time goes on.
Outside of those two problems, there are also quite a few instances of present tense being used to refer to something that’s already happened in a previous scene, which can make some narration somewhat hard to follow. There are also a few instances where jokes aren’t properly translated (where they reasonably could have been) and are instead just explained to the reader—but this isn’t super common, and there are jokes that were properly translated as well.
There’s not much more I can say on Ever17’s translation. It’s solid enough, all things considered, but it is still on the weaker side when it comes to MAGES. game translations released over the past few years. I’d put it above something like CHAOS;HEAD NOAH, at least, but it doesn’t remotely reach the heights of ANONYMOUS;CODE, or even what I’ve played of SINce Memories. It’s somewhere in the middle, and though I think that will be enough to satisfy the majority of readers, I do hope we can see something of a slightly higher caliber from this team should MAGES. choose to remaster any of their other classic titles.
Portability; LeMU on the Go
If you plan to play Ever17 on the go—whether that’s on Nintendo Switch or the Steam Deck—rest assured that you’re in good hands. I logged most of my playtime in Ever17 on Steam Deck, and I never noticed any issues specific to the platform; it runs on the same engine as most of MAGES.’ other visual novels on Steam, and that engine generally plays nicely with the Deck. A “Game Actions” menu was also added to the controller configuration screen in Steam itself, making it easier to remap game-specific functions to different controller buttons.
Likewise, Ever17 looks to run like a charm on Nintendo Switch. We weren’t able to devote as much time to testing on the platform, but the game doesn’t appear to suffer from any particular performance or visual problems—at worst, you might lose a little bit of visual fidelity while playing in handheld mode. It’s another great option for those who’d prefer more flexibility in terms of where and when they can play.
Conclusion; Not Quite Above the Sky
In case I haven’t made it painfully obvious throughout this whole review, Ever17 is one of my favorite games out there. It’s pretty much the game that got me so infatuated with visual novels in the first place, and it’s done the same with plenty of other people, too. I desperately wanted to be able to wholeheartedly recommend this remaster—to be able to point here and finally say, “Here’s an easy way to experience this superb story.”
As it stands, though, I have a few too many grievances with this release to be entirely happy. I think the Xbox 360 script that was reused here, despite being packed with some genuine improvements, significantly weakens the core mystery and the conclusion as a whole, to the point that I would personally struggle to recommend it to someone who hasn’t played Ever17 before.
That said, it’s not like the game’s been completely massacred or anything. Despite some undeniable issues, what makes Ever17 fundamentally great still shines through in this release, even if not quite as brightly as it once did.
6.5/10
Though Ever17 is still a truly excellent story, the decision to remaster a version of the game that muddies much of what made it acclaimed in the first place is as baffling as it is unfortunate. What’s left is still a good game, and one that longtime fans will likely get some enjoyment out of, but newcomers should be wary—this fundamentally isn’t the same game that’s received so much critical acclaim over the years.
Ever17: The Out of Infinity releases March 6, 2025 on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4. It will also be made available in a discounted double pack with the remaster of its predecessor, Never7: The End of Infinity. Readers interested in our thoughts on Never7 can read our review here.
A huge thank-you to Spike Chunsoft, Inc., the Western publisher, for providing review copies of the game and a generous review period. Please note that this provision has not influenced the opinions expressed herein in any way.
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