Ever 17 is a visual-novel game that deals with themes of romance and existence. Put a lot of time aside.
There are certain games that just stick with you after you finish them. Games that make you want to look up fanart and write terrible fanfiction about them. Sometimes it is the tangible sense of camaraderie you feel between the protagonists that makes you want to linger for longer in a particular game world, or perhaps the inescapable seductive allure of the world lore. Ever 17 is one of those games. It sticks with you. In fact the strength of the game is lies far more in the impression it leaves on the player than the journey it takes you down. But more on that later.
Ever 17 is a Japanese-style visual novel game set in the isolated underwater theme park LeMu. The game follows the story of several characters who end up trapped in the theme park after a warning alarm triggers a mass exodus. They have a week to escape from their underwater prison before the water pressure of the ocean around the complex overwhelms it and floods them in. You chose one of two of the male leads.
Ever 17 is a visual novel made by a stalwart developer of romance/dating-sim visual novel games and those elements are also present, to an extent, here as well. The male lead will end up paired with one of the female protagonists in the game who are loosely based on character stereotypes such as loli, otaku, tsundere, yamato nedishiko and so on. What makes them interesting and enigmatic though is that their personalities have been shaped through what are revealed to be detailed (and sometimes shocking) back stories.
But it would be wholly incorrect to say that Ever 17 is a dating sim. Thematically the game deals extensively with the concept of 'existence' in way that turns out to be not only relevant but integral to what the story is ultimately about. The game demands that you play the game through four times, taking a different heroine path each time before the fifth and final path is laid out before you. It is in this final path that all the mysteries, the seemingly inane details, and the bizarre in-fighting between characters suddenly comes together in a cacophony of mind-shattering plot twists. The slow, almost oddly placed 'slice of life' vibe the game has during what should be a tension filled escape story is forgiven because when viewed again after seeing the climatic 10 hours of the game it becomes abundant how ripe all of it was with foreshadowing, plot point seeding and double-meaning; every single utterance (and non-utterance) from the characters 'clicks'. Characters you might have hated will become relatable tragic figures who you can't help but root for.
Speaking of game length the game is around 60 hours long. The first two playthroughs with each of the protagonists take around 15 hours each. The other two playthroughs required to unlock the final path are around 4-5 hours each (aided with a nifty skip feature that stops automatically when you hit an option or new content). After this the final path opens which is another 15 or so hours (though this path retreads a lot of old ground that can't be easily skipped). The weakest point of the game is that there is a lot of repetition, sometimes in places it needn't necessarily exist which can drag the pacing down painfully. There is also a load of repetition that actually turns out to be plot-integral, but during the first four plays through the player would be forgiven for feeling mildly irritated and all retreading the narrative goes over.
Some of the sound design in the game is also middling; outside of five or so really stand out tracks, most tracks are neither-here-nor-there and loop (sometimes jarringly) many times over the course of a single (lengthy) scene. The PSP version of the game also has some static noise that plays along with the character voices (likely a compression artefact). This is only noticeable when playing through headphones on scenes with no BGM, but it does bear mention.
The other aspects of the game stand up fine. The system behind the game (save anywhere, markers pointing out new content, skip-to-new-content, skip-all, quick saves and loads) is robust and has all the features you'd want. The voice acting is top notch and really bring to life the more emotionally charged scenes.
Overall Ever 17 is a slow paced visual novel with some interesting character interactions…which is redeemed and propelled into the stratosphere by the plot revelations in the final arc. I wholeheartedly recommend Ever 17 with the caveat that you should put aside time to clear the entire game (not just one or two of its endings) beforehand. Ever 17 simply doesn't stand up if you don't clear the game the whole way through.