Never 7: The End of Infinity

Find true love and escape from a tragic time loop in Never 7, a classic visual novel now remastered and available in English for the first time.

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...

Never 7: The End of Infinity still has some charm all these years later, but perhaps it hasn't aged so gracefully. Messy pacing makes what would be a relaxing experience an often tedious one. Fans of classic visual novels and anime who don't mind the older aesthetic and simplistic story could have a great time, however.

For fans of Uchikoshi’s works, picking up Never 7 is an interesting experience to see where he got his start, so long as you’re prepared for a twenty-year-old game with some questionable design choices. If this would be your first visual novel, though, I would recommend passing on this one for now. Pick up Ever 17 instead.

It’s tough being a slacker. This is a common truism for people who write game reviews, need to accomplish heroic amounts of tasks at work or just don’t feel like attending school. It's the latter that's most applicable for the protagonist of Never 7: The End of Infinity. Our boy Makoto is reticent about attending his classes and finds himself “punished” with a mandatory class trip to a Japanese island in the middle of nowhere, engaging in tennis, fishing and basically enjoying a chill vacation. If only laziness like that paid dividends in other areas of life.

It’s great to see Never 7: The End of Infinity get a worldwide release, but playing it is a different story. It’s saved with good characters and a fantastic soundtrack, but the writing tries its best to drag them down.