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

Awesome survival/romance game! The story is very interesting and packed with suspense but also calmer scenes where the characters have time for introspection and closeness.
The game is very focused on the few main characters who we get to know intimately. The love interests are cute and likeable. The player character behaves in most scenes like I would want to in his position so I could identify myself very well with him.
The worldbuilding is well done. I look forward to see how the characters will handle their continuously changing situation and deal with the incoming threats.
My playtime with Version 0.14 was approximately 15 hours for a single, very enjoyable walkthrough. That's pretty awesome for a game that is only one year old.

this one flies too far under the radar for its production quality. i suppose it doesn't cater enough to the sexual perverts; the emotional perverts must be fewer in number, or at least less vocal. excellent writing and visuals create a top-quality soap opera experience within the medium. plenty of player agency for a rigid narrative (even if the payoff is minor difference in dialogue/scenes, choices never feel superfluous), rapid and regular releases, dutch angles everywhere. 5/5 i wonder how portishead is technopop masquerading as triphip.

A really great game. I'm not a fan of incest but nonetheless this has a nice and consistent story, it is well written and all the characters are well rounded and believable. The graphics are carefully crafted, really hard to find real flaws in this game. You gotta give it a try

Good game all around. For once a game that benefits from "fake" incest by building a good story around the adoption of the daughter. Between the great story structure and overall treatmant of the characters, the game is far better than your generic zombie game in the site, and I wanted to talk about how it accomplishes that,

First of all, well written, competent characters. Except for a little realism thrown out the window in order to work some porn in, the dialogues, scenarios and overall writting on the characters is great. Mc isn't a generic hero, none of the female characters are generic damsels in distress. This greatly facilitates the group dynamic and allows for good emotional engagement, that comes from interacting with the dangers of the "zombie" world. That danger is mostly fake though.

As with most zombie novels on this site, the danger the group is in is just for show. Dangerous situations that create drama and spectacle, while still letting you know everything will be fine. You may count this as a negative, but that's just how it goes. I, for one, am glad not to worry about having to sit through a rape scene. The danger does create stakes though, and ways to keep the story moving. You know they'll be fine through the attack of the infected, but that doesn't matter, because it's still interesting to see what happens, and how the characters are changed by it.

And the characters do change. Sometimes in drastic events, dometimes slowly as the pressure of the world molds them anew, and that's just great. As the mc has to take more and more responsabilities, so do the girls, and that alters the way the group functions. It gives some much needed variety to the storytelling, contrasting some of the most repetitive parts of the story.

The repetition comes mostly in the exposition of the characters relashionship from before the game started. The flashbacks are overall great and well structured, but many of them do fit the same purpose. The story would be lesser without them, so the repetition isn't bad, but it does give the fresher parts of the story a bit of a contrast.

If there's one thing to complain about, the start of the game is a little lacking. A short narration of the events that led to the current situation is a bit of a slog and were it not well written, would have been a quick reason to drop the game. If you stick with it though, it improves a lot, taking it's place as probably the best zombie novel on the site.

the story is good. the character development is also good. the reason i put 3 star is because i didn't like the constant flashback it's like watching naruto shippuden all over again. hahaha kidding aside flashback is ok, but do it once in a while not every time since it's disrupting the story flow.

Somewhat new to the forum. I have to say finding this game was like finding a gem. Well written unique and thoroughly worth the download and the 5 star rating.

Well worth subbing to which I have to support this very well made VN

v14 Now and Then

Now and Then has really grown on me. I like the methodical pace as it sets the tone better; the story is more about emotions and acceptance rather than beheading enemies. The atmosphere (settings, light and music) is really effective and plays a huge role for a VN that is currently about only four characters. I also appreciate that outside unknowns and potential dangers haven't always in the fore-front of the story as it isn't required... yet.

I would have liked to see Carol's and Naomi's relationship developped more (and I am not talking sex here)... more depth and colour would be great.

But my one true criticism is the female "voice" duting the sex scenes. Ugh.

Now and Then is a fabulous project and is easily worth the 5 stars.

N&T succeeds by making a number of highly intelligent choices concerning the use of narrative (judicious flashbacks) and characterization.

Its greatest success is in building an emotionally resonant and believable harem situation. Most harem games feel bogus to me -- people do not like to share partners, and quite a lot of harem games just ignore that fact. That makes them feel unreal. N&T doesn't make that mistake: partly because of its setting/situation, and partly through the creation of brilliant characters.

This is the very rare porn game that works on multiple levels: as a narrative, as a setting/emotional context AND and as fap material.

Good story, nice girls, good animations, match my fetishes... Nicely pace updates and hot sex conversations. It's nice to see a good build up between the characters and how they starts to have sex and talk about protection and what not... until later, when there's no need for it anymore. One of a kind.

Excellent adult visual novel set in a zombie/pandemic world where society is breaking down and people are adapting, some just trying to get by, some becoming bandits, etc. I skipped this one for a while because it looked depressing, but really it's well done, worth trying, and isn't relentlessly bleak.

Relationships have excellent development and make good use of flashbacks to fill in history with a sense of nostalgia. Writing, characters, and conversations are great. The world is a bit limited in what stories can be told, so a lot of interactions are built on top of daily chores, survival, and some danger. Still it kept me engaged the whole time.

The art is not particularly unique, but it's good enough. Sex scenes usually have good animations although can be a bit off sometimes. The scenes usually have great buildup and interactions which significantly improve them.

There's a lot of text so this really is more of an adult novel than a porn game.

I really liked the story, it flowed really well and made logical scenes for the most part, I also really liked the character development. However that being said the ambient sound effects in some areas could use some work, such as the rooftop of Glenn Davies the second time you go up there, the bird sound effect loop is really noticeable and happens every 2.5ish seconds. Other then that a few of the animations also have noticeable loops and sudden cutoff's, if you were to change the cut off to be a bit smoother as well as the looping it would make the scenes far better. There already brilliant but that would improve them substantially, another thing, I noticed an occastional mistake in wording such as adding an extra word. For example writing "then then" (I did encouter this early on, between chapter 4 and 6 I think but I could be wrong) , I understand it's an easy mistake to make, just suggesting to look out for it a bit more during proof reading or playtesting. Other then that everything else is really good, thanks for the great game. Looking forward to it's final release.

This game is one of few I've found that have fantastic writing, and good sex scenes. The protagonist is smart, he isn't an asshole, and he isn't a wimp. The girls have dazzling personalities to go with their raw sex appeal. The dialogue is witty. Sexual acts without emotion are empty, and this game evokes emotion brilliantly.

Good stuff I actually didn't hit skip from start to finish wow. The characters look amazing, sure your choices don't really impact too much (there is definitely a level of linearity) but at the same time, the way little choices actually affect the story was actually surprised me since they usually took place further down in the story line but really its neat stuff.

Dammit I love this game.

I'm not much for flashbacks normally and back and forth in a story but I just love Carol and Jack and their relationship that I can't seem to get enough of it.

It is a game that requires patience to be sure. Jack is a bit of a thinker, but it builds a relationship between the cast that pays off so much.

Inside gallery you will also find a christmas and halloween, they do a great showcase of Jack's fathering style

I cannot recommend it enough, on my 3rd playthrough in 4 days, just sitting and reading this brilliant story.

Took a look at this when it was discussed on the discord of another game.
One play through impression of version 0.13.0

Short Version: 5 stars, mostly due to the writing and characters.

Detail
This is an AVN with emphasis on the N.
Linear, no sandboxing. You're in an IN-PROGRESS-apocalyptic world with strong romance and story elements. Branching is very light although there are a few choices that have some effect in later scenes and dialogues.

The adult portion is widower/young woman relationship building into harem (technically late adopted daughter in one case, but that didn't feel so much like a father-daughter thing, more just scene setting up front than anything.)

This is slice of life during the zombie apocalypse. You see what the characters do every day and what they encounter every step along the way, down to cold showers and doing laundry. You watch and occasionally direct them in their activities and decisions (some of which haunt them), but you are often along for the ride rather than directing the action.

The Good
- Story 5.0
The story is really good, there are a few things that are a bit contrived, and some things are a touch obvious. Humor is a present but not overwhelming. Various references show up, but are not a focus. The story is the focus. Interesting take on the 'zombies'


- The Characters 4.5
The main characters are relatable and well written, and reasonably realistic all things considered. The bandits are pure bad. The infected seem to last longer than I would expect. There's also a bit of the usual shallow parental unit stereotyping in play, but that's arguably in part from the 'teen perspective' .

The Meh
- Rendering (4.0)
The rendering has some odd moments (washed out white skin at times, odd elongations). These are noticeable when they happen but don't distract from the story.

- The THEN of "Now and Then"
1/2-2/3 of the way through the playthrough I found myself starting to skim the 'Then' cutscenes. At first they added a lot of needed background, but in later chapters i found myself much more interested in the progression of the main story than memories of the past and was anxious to get past them.

The Bad
Nothing about this qualifies as 'bad'

Overall
5.0, a very enjoyable AVN with a solid story and good writing. If you like your AVNs story rich and with plenty of content, you'll want to check this one out.

Review of version 0.13

This is probably my favourite VN storywise. This is not only a zombie postapocaliptic story, IMO the infection per se is secondary here, it gives me a lot of vibes from The Road.

This is centered in the survival part itself, the decay, how characters always try to avoid engaging in dangerous situations, the difficult to trust other people or to settle in a permanent location. No trigger-happy characters or zombies slaughtered all the time, it's really focused in people and how they struggle with apocalypse.

If you like a good survivalist story this is a must, even the adult part is greatly done, slow paced and totally coherent.

Not a fan of HS models but once you get used to them you find what a great game this is, and animations are really nice.

5 stars for you

About the reviewer:
I’m playing or have played over 130 games. Roughly 30 of which have been completed. I generally don’t play games early in their development but I watch for new games and if their reviews are compelling from players whose opinion’s I respect I will play them early. Even if I don’t use a walkthrough, I’ll often skim it to get a better sense of the structure of the game to determine it I think I’ll enjoy playing it.

The Review: NowAnd Then
Version: 13
Time played: Played through multiple updates but roughly 8 hours
Current progress: End of current content
Mods: ZoeyRaven walkthrough (not always followed)
Cheats used: None
Walkthrough(s) used: Both walkthrough on the OP (used as reference not always followed)
Bugginess: - Clean game no exceptions encountered very smooth play
Observations:
This a solid piece of work. Well written and reasonably well plotted. Quality renders and an organic growth to physical intimacy between the characters. The MC and his adopted daughter already have developed a close emotionally intimate relationship so part of the flow is watching catastrophic events bend that to a physical relationship as well. The addition of Naomi and Sydney is handled in a (given the circumstances) believable and equally organic fashion.

Flaws:
In any “survival” plot the writers must balance introducing potential threats with the actions of the protagonist to address those threats. Both in dealing with the bandits and the infected the MC fails to make reasonable defensive preparations that would occur to almost any thinking person. A simple example would be to channel any intruders into traps and kill zones. Throughout the game (to date), while he does barricade various access points, he fails to think of handling intruders in any way other than confrontation with weapons. He also fails to take adequate steps to identify potential threats. Consider his failure to track down the smoker at first detection.

However, while annoying, these are relatively minor flaws in an otherwise well written and entertaining game.

Summary:
A high quality well written game by a developer that has demonstrated consistent releases over a reasonable period of time. Well worth downloading and playing.
So a 4.5+ star effort with the potential to hit 5 stars if the plot tightens up a bit.

What a fantastic game and story! So well written, and so engaging. I became completely absorbed into the story, and with the characters. The story seemed really professional, and totally believable. I loved the girls, and the struggles of the MC. The erotic parts were very good, with animations.

One of the best WEGs I've played, by a long shot. The characters are believable, lifelike, and interesting. I appreciate that none of them do anything really dumb and that their characterizations are consistent. I also like that the cast is so small, it really gives time for all of the characters to develop. The relationships between them are also satisfying. The models aren't anything groundbreaking, but they're still really good. The writing is really, really good, in my opinion. Even by non-WEG standards.

Honestly, one of the best games out there, just in terms of story. The renders, for HS, are pretty good and don't distract from the setting and style of the game. Which, frankly, is a genuine concern here. But this game does a fantastic job of making use of the tools available and giving a solid, interesting story of survival in the apocalypse.

The characters are interesting and engaging, and so far the writer hasn't relied on the trope so common in zombie apocalypse scenarios: characters who do dumb shit for no reason. It's good to see the MC and other characters behaving in a smart, realistic manner (for the most part). I don't always agree with the priorities shown, but they do make sense in context.

Definitely worth your time, especially if you like the genre.