Today, Kotaro Uchikoshi is a well-known name among fans of mystery and puzzle games; he’s responsible for theZero Escapeseries, theAI: THE SOMNIUM FILESgames, and many more. But long beforeZero EscapeandAIthere was theInfinityseries, visual novels thematically linked by science fiction elements and themes of time looping and escaping from confined spaces. Over 20 years after their original release, the first twoInfinitygames,Never 7: The End of InfinityandEver 17: The Out of Infinity,finally debuted in the West in remastered editions developed by MAGES and published bySpike Chunsoft, Inc.
Game Rant spoke to Kotaro Uchikoshi about the development process of theInfinityseries, both what it was like initially creating the games and how it felt to see them remastered two decades later. Uchikoshi described the initial development as “a nightmarish scenario” because he had so little time to completeNever 7,but one that ultimately turned out for the best as he was given time to re-work the game and later make games more in tune with his interests.
From Glitch To Hit: The Journey OfNever 7
Never 7,originally titled simplyInfinity,was released in Japan for thePlayStationin 2000. Uchikoshi and his team had had only six months to develop the game, and had been unable to complete the romance route for one of the girls, Izumi Morino. “We had to release the route in a cut-off form,” Uchikoshi explained, “On top of that, we didn’t have time for debugging, which resulted in a terrifying major bug that made it impossible to even reach the unfinished Izumi Route.”
The original release ofInfinitywas “completely torn apart by criticism.” However, the game was already planned to be ported to theDreamcast, so Uchikoshi and his team were given more time and allowed to debug the game and finish Izumi’s route.Never 7,in the form the developers intended, was released to much more positive results; Uchikoshi credits the continuation of his career to this opportunity:
“If that bug had never existed, the higher-ups would have surely ordered a direct port of the PlayStation version to the Dreamcast to cut costs. In other words, Never7 only came to be because of that bug. To me, Never7 is like my origin story. If that bug had never happened, Ever17, the Zero Escape series, and even the AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES series would never have existed. Fate truly is ironic.”
The Development OfEver 17And Beyond
Because of concerns about what would sell at the time,Never 7was in many ways atraditional visual novel, focusing on romancewith multiple girls for protagonist Makoto to date. “At that time, I believed that only that type of story could be accepted as a visual novel,” Uchikoshi said. But when it was released in its full form,Never 7sold well, and Uchikoshi found himself able to experiment more with what he wanted to write.Ever 17,which was released in 2002, lowered the focus on romance and introduced the mystery / science fiction hybrid plots he would come to be known for.
Uchikoshi describedNever 7’ssuccess as a revelation. “When the complete version ofNever 7was released, it was surprisingly well-received, and sales were strong! That’s when I realized: ‘Wait… I can write what I want, and people will still embrace it?'” He maintained that philosophy as he went on to writeEver 17,the followingInfinitygames,and theZero EscapeandAI: THE SOMNIUM FILESseries.
Despite the difficult development process,Uchikoshiis thrilled to seeNever 7andEver 17re-released after so long. “It’s extremely rare for a title to get a remastered version a quarter of a century after its original release. This is all thanks to the fans who continued to support it. I’m truly grateful from the bottom of my heart!”
