Ever17: The Out of Infinity

released on Aug 29, 2002

Ever 17: The Out of Infinity is a visual novel video game developed by KID. It is the second entry in the Infinity series; it is preceded by Never 7: The End of Infinity, and followed by Remember 11: The Age of Infinity, 12Riven: The Psi-Climinal of Integral, and Code_18. From VNDB: "Ever17 is the tale of seven individuals who come to be trapped 153 feet within the underwater marine theme park, LeMU. During an apparently normal day at the park, a massive accident happens, placing almost half of the facility underwater. The path to the surface and the communication lines are cut off. In addition, LeMU is under constant assault by severe water pressure, limiting time to find a means of escape to 119 hours. Escape is not the only concern, however; many questions arise as to the legitimacy of the accident and whether or not those trapped there were brought there for a purpose."


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I had low expectations about this title coming from Never7, which were kinda confirmed at first. The first playthrough felt eternal, but I loved the (Sora) ending. After that, I really liked completing the other endings because of how they make you understand the characters and the whole picture.
Then, I went for the true ending, and man it felt slow, but once it gets started, it's trully a mindfuck. You think you know how the plot will end and then they throw you plotwist after plotwist after plotwist, until you are afraid to think that a human mind could actually create such a story. Kotaro Uchikoshi, you're a fucking genius.

Despite having some pacing issues and Sora's route being awful, this is a good visual novel with a great cast, an interesting story, and a fantastic soundtrack.

Zero Escape did some of this better, but the optimistic frutiger aero mood and atmosphere this game had going on is glorious. Far from perfect and I still love it to pieces. If you don't mind shitty pacing and an increase of slice-of-life characterization content over the sci-fi, it's a good read. Nails the ending.

Ever17 was the first sci-fi mystery VN of the genre I read. It had some of the most mindblowing twists I've seen in fiction along with some really memorable emotional moments. It's a shame the official release is out of print and really expensive, this VN is one of the best.

The only reason I get this a 9 out of 10 instead of a 10 out of 10 is because I don't like one of the final twists.

Should have logged this in 2020 when I first tried this game. I tried Ever17 because I'd heard it praised amongst VN fans and especially those who like 999. Completed Tsugumi's route underwhelmed and uninterested in her relationship with Takeshi (that is his name, right?) so I decided to look up the rest of the plot and basically confirmed anything I liked about Ever17 was also later reused in 999 and fleshed out to a degree that I thought was more interesting. Glad it exists so 999 could exist, but I don't know how or why people could think this is an improvement upon 999 in any way. I do like the setting, but the borderline anime harem-y vibes of "guy stuck with girls who fight over his attention" is just......yeah, I can't do it anymore, guys.