VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Now & Then [v1.00.0] [ILSProductions]

Now & Then....

I want to say this game deserves all the 5-star ratings, I really do... but it just doesn't. Not by a long-shot.

To start with, the graphics are really dated. They are your average HS1 graphics, and compared to HS2, barely acceptable nowadays (This isn't a place to gawk at the ladies in 4K). Still, you could find worse Daz Studio games, so there's that.

But the story - which is the supposed strength of this game - is lacking in so many areas, it quite literally caused me to start skipping through the game past the increasingly tedious middle point.

The characters repeat themselves far too many times, and the writer frustratingly endlessly reused the same exact sentences for the exact same situations. It honestly felt like time rewinded whenever that part of the dialogue was happening, because the MC and all other characters kept repeating themselves ad nauseam.

I started this game off by taking my time to read all of the dialogue, but eventually it became too mind-numbing to keep wasting time reading the exact same sentences over & over again, so I felt forced to give up and enable the "skip unread" text option, just so that the plot can move.

And while it moved ahead, I never felt like I missed a grand revelation or event. Instead, I was glad that I was still skipping, because MC literally started banging all the women introduced into the plot. Far more than I expected for such a "serious" apocalyptic story. Turned into a right harem romp instead of a survival scenario.

Frankly, I am just so frustrated how the game loses focus throughout the middle part, and it never recovers. It quite literally killed my drive to play the game properly, so if there was some deep emotional pay off for sticking through it - I wouldn't say it is worth it at all.

I... my frustration is making my hands shake. I can't keep typing anymore. This is it for my review....

A 10/10 game recommendation to those who want a great story to enjoy that thrilling, great suspense, and romantic interest where it builds off the story through each individual experiences.

Gameplay : Most choices do matter to a certain degree, and affects the ending, which will all turn out good, but just minor differences (how scenes play out). I highly recommend checking out the MOD which highlights the proper choices to get the best ending with most scenes, but you can just use the stats that is in-game *Should come in game or from the mod*.

Story : *SPOILER* This world that the MC lives in is taking place during a "zombie" apocalypse. I emphasized zombie because in the story, the MC didn't like describing the situation as zombies, but just people infect. He lives with his adopted daughter in an apartment in a city somewhere in North Carolina. While scavenging for food, certain events lead to another, as well as his relationship with his adopted daughter. But meanwhile, miracles happen when he reunites with old friends and find new ones, that soon also turn romantic as time passes on. Each character has a different dynamic with the MC, and the connection can be felt between all individuals. Some healing from their past traumas mixed with new ones, while others dealing with much loss that they can't get over until the MC appears in their lives. He embarks on a journey to get out of the city, as each day resources become scare and dangerous around every corner increases.

Visuals : Pretty good visuals that you can tell there was much skill and time put into the game. Lighting was great, many sound effects, and details that you can tell going into the game. Each character looked different (except enemies or infected), so it wasn't just a copy and paste. The physics of the scenes were great, body parts move and even jiggle (IYK, YK).

Scenes : Scenes are pretty great, with a lot of animations. When I mean a lot, I mean like every single scene is an animation. You can see each body part moving, like in real life. Obviously, there are even close ups that can be selected as well, for those who are into that I guess. The only thing I would change is the voice effects, they are repetitive since its the same exact voice line for all characters, but I can't complain.

Customer Support : N/A

Overall, a great game that is worth the try, and the story + its content lasts easily for days. It wasn't boring, instead keeping you in suspense of wanting more. I could honestly see myself reading this as a book, even it without being a VN. The endings are great, scenes are amazing. I couldn't have asked for more.

One of the best games of this type, has a good story, good characters, several endings, something that could be improved are the decisions, such as being able to save the 3 girls who die in the game, or that there is an option to let the bandit of chapter 25 live.

For being so hard to find on Itch.io this is one of the best VN's I've tried. If you like protagonists that think and do things intelligently then this is a game for you.

A post collapse society makes for an interesting setting, and the story progresses nicely throughout the game. Part 2 did drag on a little but it picks up soon enough. The music is good but more variety would have been nice.

Good visuals, good characters, and great writing. Give it a try!

This is a Masterpiece .....
Its one of the best VN can anyone find.
And probably the best dystopia VN you can play.
I admit that i had it on standby for a while now and i haven't played it until few days ago because i didn't like the visuals at first , but i when i started playing the game they grown on me fast and in the end i liked them.
The strongest point of the VN though is the story and the characters.
I liked the MC and i loved Carol (Main LI). Moreover there are 5 more possibly LI and i liked the fact that there where optional you could refuse them (furthermore you can refuse a Li to be bi and have lesbian scenes with another LI)
The ending is also Very satisfying and i believe the VN had a great ending with multiple possible flavors of the ending (depends which li you choose) but the main location of the end stays the same but the MC and LI relations changes depending what you choose during the game.
If someday found this game in the steam im gonna buy it because the creator deserves the support for this gem.
I truly enjoyed it.

I'll hopefully return to both this game and review, but for now I'll just leave it at three stars. Minor (largely obvious?) spoilers ahead.

The game has a pretty slow opening, but it didn't feel too bad. Essentially it's a story that takes place in the apocalypse, so the first "Part" so to speak (of which there are three I think?) is jam pack full of filler trying to do some small world building as well as throwing in PLENTY of flashbacks (almost too many as it gets frustrating at times).

The way the story works as well is that it's pretty streamlined for the sake of letting different events occur. An example of this is that
Later on your daughter's best friend gets found by the MC and you save her which leads to more slow development. I was still decently engaged at this point since I believed that the high ratings for this game meant that all the world and character building was going somewhere, but it ultimately started to drag instead of feeling beneficial. Something that really upset me was The entire execution of this part just felt completely out of place and pissed me off, and of course it was because that's the only way the author could think of to "progress the plot" instead of like... I don't know, having some sort of more logical character building.

Overall, the animations are pretty decent if that's the main think you're looking for, but it takes a while for any to really pop up. Once they do start though, they don't stop. Due to the nature of their execution it almost was getting annoying at times as well and I'd find myself skipping past them because they felt way too forced.

If you're on the fence and read this far, maybe check out a few positive reviews to see what people liked about this, but just beware that it's definitely a slow burner. I'm somewhat hopeful for it, but I just don't have it in me to continue for now.

I can only applaud this story. I am here to fapping myself. Like everyone else. But... but... then there are stories like this. When I come across stories like this, the erotic content becomes a finger up my ass because it slows me down in the story. There are stories that knock you over emotionally. This is one of them and now that I've learned what I like... I'm looking for stories like this. There's a gallery and you can unlock it. So there's no particular problem in seeing the erotic content. But the story.... I'm reading it line by line. I'm not interested in getting to the next erotic scene. I want to know what happens next. Really good game.

It's just that good. I love everything about this game. It's long, with good plot and characters. And porn is very good. Highly recommended.
Dev is very good, too - we have constant updates with consistent quality.

Now and Then is a wonderfully made Visual Novel. The game excels in storytelling, the experience of raising and protecting the two main heroines are especially remarkable. The character designs are nice, I personally prefer these models, and soundtrack was well chosen and enhances the atmosphere the story creates, nothing seems or feels out of place here. Now and Then is an exceptional journey, a must-play for fans of narrative-driven games.

Looked hella promising during COVID (Chapter 10 at the time if i remember) and i'm not desappointed !

Got emotionaly involved with most characters, rarely and the want to keep ready for several hours just to know what will happen next.
Definitly one of the story that I won't forget

Spoilers for first couple of hours below.

An ambitious story of how a zombie apocalypse forces characters to embrace the day - and others - while they still can. The build-up to the main character entering into a romantic and sexual relationship with his adopted daughter Carol is spectacularly paced and utterly thrilling. His dilemma is masterfully explored through inner monologue; caught between fatherly affection and growing sexual attraction, it's the uncertainty of what the next day will bring that eventually forces him to act on his desires.

Following this excellent intro, other characters enter the orbit of the MC and Carol, including people they believed dead and people they hadn't met before. What develops - should the player wish it - is a harem situation that, for once, feels entirely appropriate. Not only are circumstances the driving force for characters to embrace the idea of enjoying what they can while they can; but the MC is usually competent, wise, and composed. It's easy to see why the women in the game would be attracted to him. The female characters are well written, all with discernible personality and believable dilemmas and motivations.

The game's writing is technically excellent in general: there are basically no typos or grammatical errors while dialogue and conversations read exceptionally natural.

Unfortunately the story meanders a bit too much during its long middle period - between the intro with Carol and the final few chapters - the narrative unable to maintain momentum. That's not to say there aren't many interesting developments and tense scenes throughout, though, and by the end the journey is worth it.

Now and Then is a long game, I'd estimate around 20-25 hours, and if you make the right decisions there's a lot of sex. Scenes are generally good and sufficiently lengthy, though almost all are MxF and vanilla in flavor. Even relatively mild fetishes like anal are rare, and anything involving more than two participants is confined to endings. Things are shaken up a little by a woman the MC meets later in the game, but by and large scenes follow a similar pattern with samey dialogue and repetitive voice samples - though, granted, it can't be easy to write this many sex scene and retain sanity, never mind make them all unique.

The Honey Select 1 graphics look somewhat dated but female characters are attractive, with a range of breast sizes and pubic hair. Thank you, ILSProductions, for full bush Carol.

Wrote more than I intended. I like this game a lot. It's great. Play it.

Top notch: actual branches that affect the endings, that's rarified air. The visuals, pace music and UI are all on point.

Nothing much else, just had to leave this review to recommend a great game and look forward to next one.

It’s a long story with a somewhat satisfying ending that has its ups and downs throughout.

Story
The story is straight forward enough, survival in a post pandemic world with infected “zombies”. However unlike most other post apocalyptic games, N&T focuses more on individuals sharing their daily lives in a confined setting rather than any actual zombie actions which are few and far between.

The format is more reminiscent of Dairy of Anne Frank rather than Resident Evil. The plus point is it allows more time for character development, but consequently makes the story quite stale after a while as we are just looking at a repetitive sequence of patrol, eat, fuck and sleep routine day after day.

The tempo degrades significantly during the middle to late portions of the game as nothing of consequence happens. At the last arc before the finale, the MC is just walking around the house fucking 1-3 LIs randomly on a daily basis.

Game Mechanics
Standard VN with choices. The game has a very well-defined LI point system and the points actually do make a difference to the day to day dialogue, sex scenes availability and ultimately the ending.

The only thing to note is there is no true harem ending available, if you choose to max out points for every LI it will just default to the Carol ending with others as FWBs.

Background / Character Renders

N&T graphics and animations were built with HS1 and the age shows in 2024. However, credit must be given that the developers pushed HS1 to the limits so the end product is still passable.

The general ambience and color tone of the game is mostly dim and sunset yellowish. This occasionally causes distortions in shading and some of the characters look unsightly at certain angles.

Background is very limited as most of the action takes place within the confined spaces the characters are living in.

Character Development
N&T’s strongest suite given the nature of the story. Players will be living through the lives of a small troupe of characters daily and reading their daily banter in great detail. However, the two main LIs’s (Carol & Noami) character development plateaued by midpoint of the game and after that it was just repetitive sex scenes.

On the other hand secondary LIs like Hana, Sydney and Julie were far more interesting and varied. This could be due to time devoted to them being less which gives the impression that the MC makes more meaningful relationship progress with them compared to Carol and Naomi.

Sex Scenes
There are many of them for each LI, so if you are into quantity this is definitely a plus. However all the scenes are tame and consist of plain vanilla sex. It’s also very procedural and gives the impression of a cut and paste job.

Having said that, the level of detail and animation is as good as HS1 goes. All of the scenes feature multiple animations, different camera angles and different positions.

The dialogue is sterile and unpassionate porn like, so the sex scenes run counter to the main story which focuses a lot on relationship development. The use of the same Jap porn moaning sound clip for every scene is also a sore thumb when you hear it for the 200th time.

This can get very boring after a while and if you’ve read previous reviews, many players have also commented that they fast forwarded the sex scenes just to get on with the story. Totally understandable.

BGM and Sound Effects
The BGM track list is short and given how long the game is, you will be hearing that standard daily life track all the time until you can memorize them in your sleep. Sound effects are only gunshots and human falling i.e. bare minimal.

Conclusion
The developer’s take on a post-apocalyptic zombie focusing more on mundane daily interactions is new and refreshing. However the story doesn’t have enough content to justify its length which results in extended mundane moments where nothing happens except going from one sex scene to another.

The two main LIs Carol and Naomi are already stale at the second half of the game once they’ve sorted out their relationship with MC. Thankfully the other LIs that appear at the latter half keep the momentum going and shit stirring Hana (love or hate her) at least injects some drama towards the end and helps players grind through the final 1/3 of the game.

The writing/dialogue is cringy, the graphics are cartoonish (I can't get immersed or interested in them) and the game has a slow and boring pace to start. Overall the game seems weird and I don't like the hypocritical MC. It's the end of the world and they are obsessed with condoms and inhibitions. Even worse is the hypocritical propaganda/brainwashing from the dev...it waffles between woke, feminist and perverted. Ugh.

Overall - 9/10 - Must play if zombie surival genre enjoyer
TWD season 1 - Nails it thematically - Us against the worlds feeling, wanting to protect the girls throughout
Tons of dialogue - gives you plentiful information about characters, who, what, when ,why
Character depth is very good
Encapsulates themes super well - camera work + sound + character depth -> incredibly intense moments
A lot of Hscenes Some scenes + dialogue are tricky to get have to play around options and their feelings sheet - or use a guide
Story - 9/10
Think of TWD season 1 - Vibes of lee and clem. This game encapsulates that lonely, realistic feeling with intense moments.
Zombie apocalypse setting - Step father + daughter combo fending against zombies + bandits + survival needs.
Characters all have their own personalities with problems stemming from the apocalyptic nature.
Not an original story type, this concept is overplayed - however they hit the mark with this.
Renders - 9/10
Models look good
Animations - 7.5/10
Quite simple animations, nothing special but it's good enough
A lot of Hscenes - A LOT Sound - 8/10
BGM is basic - does the job well, but timing on the scenes are very good. Creates tension + suspense in tough moments and peace other times.
Same moans though game
Playbility - 9.5/10
CHOICES MATTER - So many options -> leads to stats -> will affect future options Super long play through
Characters are cool + immersive - you will get the feeling to protect these girls
Many Hscenes

Excellent shit. Really got to care about the characters. Wouldn't have minded a few group scenes but plenty of hot sex and not too stupid post apocalyptic planning. God help them find enough tissues for cleaning up afterwards though

Horrible writing. Where to begin...

Let's start with the biggest problem I have with the game - inconsistencies in the characters, what they stand for, and their subsequent interactions. The MC has an open relationship with his adopted daughter and her best friend (and eventually her mother). A completely open one physically where anything's possible, at the discretion of his daughter (she's his main). i.e. if she says it's okay for the MC to play around with someone else from then on, he can. They totally trust each other and tell one another everything. It's their base nature.

One of the other LI's who he isn't fooling around with tells the MC that his adopted daughter gave them permission to screw around, and they end up getting busy. Turns out that that was an utter lie - the LI hadn't asked for permission, but just wanted to fuck with people, take what she wanted, and avoid any consequences.

The MC of course is a completely stand-up guy. He values honesty and truth above perhaps anything else. And when he finds out he was lied to and had his trust betrayed, he lays into the LI verbally for lying. At which point drama ensues, yadda-yadda-yadda, and his adopted daughter ends up forgiving the LI and telling the MC he can do what he wants as long as she doesn't hear about it... even tells the LI it's okay to do the MC after that.

At which point (after the MC had his daughter's best friend attacked, and he had to shoot a 13 year old who was infected, ALL IN THE SAME DAY) the LI tries to get him to have sex with her again that night (zero pause in the story) - literally trying to ignore what she did and take what she wants again.

That... is RAPE. This LI had raped both the MC and his adopted daughter's relationship AND trust, as surely as anything else. The lie, betrayal of trust (and the goodwill the MC and his crew had shown the LI) was literally just disgusting. And she's trying to do it again, after the fact?

Why in the hell would the MC even want to go near this LI again after what she'd done? He's allowed to turn her down of course, at which point they agree to be "friends".

I mean seriously, WHAT THE FUCK?

No amount of apologizing in a 24 hour period would even get me to look at that LI again, much less agree to give her what she wants (another good dicking), much less be FRIENDS. That is NOT HOW THE MC WAS WRITTEN AS A CHARACTER.

And to top this all off, I have to take the disgusting route of accepting her bang request to keep her as a LI throughout the game, instead of what should have happened - she should have been ostracized by the group for literally weeks first, until she'd been thoroughly chastized and had tried multiple times to make amends. THEN perhaps the sex route with her could have opened up again.

And the worst part - the rapist LI was one of the best looking girls in the game, and now she's either off the table, or she's the most disgusting choice to make - totally betraying the inner nature of the MC.

I won't bother to go into other parts of the game at this point - it has other issues that stand out (animations, some truly dumb fucking humans in the core group, etc). Even though many of the LIs are attractive, and have interesting stories, this one just totally turned me off from the game. It has to be some of the worst writing I've seen for how people stay true to their nature and act accordingly.

I really don't even have the interest to keep playing after seeing this level of departure from what should have happened. It wasn't good writing. It wasn't how people would have actually played that out. And it makes one of the best looking LIs in the game a poor choice.

People on Reddit appear to love this particular LI, which I find unbelievable. I think she's a lying, distrustful, betraying rapist of a woman, and deserved to be taken down several notches by the core group in the game, not just given a clear pass to get busy again.

So yeah, the game just took a total departure from any sense of believability, and totally turned me off from it.

Finally finished this one and boy, it was felt like a long one. I didn't hate the game, but I'm going to write out my main criticisms that kept me from giving it a higher score.

The game starts out pretty slow and boring. It feels like it didn't truly pick up until the cast leaves the school (which is considerably far into the game). Even then, the pacing is sluggish.

That feeds in to my next problem. It feels like so much of the dialogue in this game is recounting what happened to other characters. It makes sense that it'd would happen in real life, but it does not make good dialogue or story. Whenever something of note happens, I knew I'd spend the next minute clicking through dialogue about shit I already know, while skimming to make sure I don't miss anything new.

Speaking of dialogue, the sex dialogue is really not great. As others have mentioned, I'd start clicking through lewds just so the story would move forward.

As far as lewd scenes? They're good, for the most part. The dev uses some default Honey Select animations (like initial penetration and climaxing) but not too often. He also uses HS audio for the girls, which I'm sort of on the fence about. Some animations that were clearly made by him can look a bit janky and sometimes the penis will clip outside the girl's body, but at this point I feel like I'm nitpicking.

There's also too many lewd scenes. I get the feeling the Dev made them to fill a sex-per-episode quota. Every time you're alone in a room with one of the LIs, it's gonna go down. This also severely bogs down the story. So much of the game feels like boring day-to-day apocalypse survival, followed by banging one of the girls at night, over and over again until something interesting finally happens.

The game is old. There are some pretty ugly looking renders here. I might chalk this up to the Dev's inexperience with lighting and shot composition. Also, this old-school "don't show the MC's face" really limits what can be down in renders and animation. Especially since this MC is NOT a blank slate by any means. He's got his own history and personality.

The games title, "Now & Then" is also the game's main narrative device, or gimmick, if you will. The MC will have flashbacks to before the outbreak and compare/contrast to what's happening in the present. Unfortunately, this wears pretty thin by the middle of the game. After a while, it starts feeling forced: "Well, I named my game this, so I've gotta add a few flashbacks this episode." I feel like nothing new is really ever learned, and I never felt big feelings, especially at the very end of the game before the epilogue.

As a side note, flashing back to when 2 of the main LI's were underage made me pretty uncomfortable.

I couldn't fit this in anywhere, but the whole "Kill All Men Cassie" plot point was pretty weird.
Julie somehow ended up as my main lover which feels impossible, given how little she's the character with the least screen time by far. Alice gang.

So you're reading this, trying to decide if this is worth playing? If the premise sounds good, and you don't mind really long games, give it a go. Like I said, I didn't hate the game, several aspects of it left me feeling unsatisfied. I'm still interested in trying out the dev's next game.

Started out pretty good with lots of potential. I tried to look past the dated renderings and focus on the story since it was pretty engaging at first.
However, it quickly turned stale mid way through, like the author wasn't sure which way to carry the narrative. Lots of hooks that fell short, plenty of dialogs or scenes that were just unnecessary and broke the rhythm.
H scenes were okay for the first maybe 10 chapters, and beyond that it felt like just CTRL+C CTRL+V. Like a generic porn video doing the same stuff over and over.
And the dialogs during these scenes.. who even talks like that. At some point I started skipping H scenes to get on with the story.

I really thought and wished this would become one of my all time favorites. A remake maybe?

Surprisingly detailed and immersive experience.

Absolutely loved the characters! Every one of them had their distinct and lovable personalities!

All of them had something to offer in this simple tale of hardship and perseverence. In the order of my personal preference:

Carol: Brave and Loyal
Hana: Unsocial and Pessimistic
Naomi: Flirty and Fun loving
Alice: Mature and Motherly
Sydney: Cautious and Pragmatic
Julie: Protective and Determined

Thank you for letting us enjoy this gem!