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

[v0.08.0]

The writing is generally pretty good. There are decently captivating moments. Dev does a good job making you care for the little girls. There is a pretty organic feel to their relationship and how it develops. All in all, the writing is definitely above average for this site.

I didn't look extensively under the hood, but the walktrhough alludes to many dialogue variations based on the girls stats. I thought the Nerve stat was pretty novel.

The "now and then" storytelling is done quite well. Providing flashbacks at opportune moments to flesh out the characters and backstory.

I personally would have liked more focus and thought put into the horror and survival aspects. There is very little tension and suspense during the scenes. Some attention to the lighting, camera work, music, and lighting during the zombie parts could have gone a long way in making things much more suspenseful, raising the stakes. The survival aspects are bit off too. Expiration dates on perishables don't quite match up with how much time has passed since the outbreak. Looting should have been rampant where almost everything is cleaned out, but all the stores seem to have things to scavenge. The threat of zombies and gangs are not emphasized enough, written to seem more like a nuisance than a life threatening entity.

Still, I played it through in 2 sittings and had a pretty good time with it.

Love this game! Carol is adorable, the story is catching, and even with few LI it's almost impossible to not like them. It's rare to find a good post apocalyptic game and that's one of them (better yet it's about zombies).
This is a story I can't wait to see the completion of. I hope to make some babies with Carol soon!

[Reviewed v0.08.0]

One of the best games currently in development.

The setting / circumstances has been done before but the specific spin this game puts on it is well done. The characters are well-formed and the story itself is gripping. Enough horror / action to keep your attention between the story progression and h-scenes.

The developer does the best he can with the Honey Select models and the female characters are all attractive in realistic ways. The animations are also well-done in that overly-gyrating Honey Select way. MC seems like a good action-movie star -- knows what to do in every situation but things play out in believable ways. You feel the stakes.

Excited to see where Part 2 goes.

First and foremost the story that is told is amazing enough that even it had the h-scenes removed it has me hooked. Everything from the pacing to the world building is done very well and I have zero complaints. This game is easily one of my favorite games to have played.

Updates have been steady and the developer is great at communicating with the people on this site.

This game is what a game should be striving for. The Dev puts thought into the dialog, and choices make a difference for what dialog you get. The graphics are excellent for this game and the story telling is original and easily relatable. On top of that the Dev does about a chapter a month and is a good 30 minute play time per chapter. Code is tight, and rarely needs rework or patches.

ILS Productions is a great dev group and I hope they continue to do this kind of work into the future as I will definitely be following them going forward.

(I didn't catch up with the last updates and I'm not sure what update I'm actually at so some things I say might not be relevant anymore)

Love the setup and the characters. Even tho I wish the MC was a little darker at times. Not pervert kind of dark but like desperate, and that he would get over it when he realizes how happy he's to be with Carol and how in love he's. That would be so cute.....(re-reading this, what I may actually want is actually more romance I think or a more convincing one)

Renders are good enough to not be a turn off nor to make the setup look ridiculous.
-contains few spoilers-
I enjoy the plot. it was getting a little boring when MC & Carol began to have sex and then the timelapse.
But it got interesting again when MC found Naomi. It made things move, differents emotions/problematics etc.
Carol is my favourite tho don't get me wrong I'd never trade her.

Anyway, try this game out, I'm sure you'll like it !

Very well written storyline. I like how it drags you in like a novel really should not having to deal with 30 choices and 30 women all at the same time barely being able to keep up with it all. Sometimes has you sitting on the edge waiting to to if something bad is going to happen because you become connected to the characters. Not all sex all the time but enough to keep it believable in the storyline and plot. Love the characters and the renders and animations aren't too bad, will definitely be looking forward to the updates.

I've been following this game for a few releases now and I think it's time to write a review.

PROS

- Amazing Honey Select renders. I've used HS myself quite a bit and have played many other HS games too and I can safely say the dev has done an amazing job with getting his renders looking of this quality. The characters and environment look great and the dev has done a great job with showing the post-apocalyptic environment.

- Fantastic characters. We haven't met a lot of characters yet (which makes sense since a lot of people are dead), but the characters we have met are fleshed out well and I assume will continue to be as the story progresses. The MC is written well and has the traits I like in an MC, especially for a post-apocalyptic setting. Smart, Leader, Caring, Resourceful, etc. Carol who is my favourite LI has a great personality, design, dialogue, etc. So the characters are very well done.

- Well written dialogue. The dialogue for this game flows and immerses you in the story. It's coherent and makes sense as well as balancing a lot of key elements. Post-apocalyptic survival, romance, intimacy, interactions, daily life. I also judge dialogue based on whether I think what the character said aligns with their personality and I can say that the dialogue in the game does. All the characters have a unique voice and personality which perfectly correspond with what they say.

- The overall story is great. It is very interesting and appealing. It balances all the elements involved in the game perfectly and is seriously engaging. The premise behind the game is interesting and so far all the scenes in the game have been fun to read. I have high hopes going forward with what is to happen and I think the story will only get better from here.

- Great choices. You don't really make many choices in the game, but the ones you do make, matter. I like that the choices we have to make carry weight and aren't purely pointless. I also like how you're not forced to be with other girls, but can choose based on your choices who you end up with which was something I wasn't sure would happen.

CONS
- There are a few minor things I think can be improved but I wouldn't consider them enough to be a con so I don't have any cons for the game.

OVERALL GRADING
Story 5/5
Characters 5/5
Graphics 5/5
Dialogue 5/5
Overall 5/5

Cliche boring zombie story.
Girl has no personality, pretty much an empty sex doll with a small talk.
Main character is a creep with no redeemable qualities except every woman finds him sexy for no reason, since hes also a bland self insert. We know nothing about him, except hes a typical westen "progressive" simpleton and had lost a wife(which is only there so this adoption premise isn't even more creepy and unrealistic).
Lives in a city full of bandits and looters, doesn't even bother to board his windows, stands around on a balcony every day like a retard and lets everyone in the mile radius know that hes living there for months, by openly burning light out of his windows every night. Doesn't bother to secure his apartment in any way for MONTHS. Goes to look for supplies with a tiny girly backpack. Has a gun and ammo, doesn't bother to shoot a couple of times to save a girl from certain death because hes such a coward, but isn't afraid of riding in a muscle car around the city or run around looking for a
bra.
Sex is typical incel fantasy where every girl wants his dick(big dick naturally) for no reason.
Renders are below average.

Captivating storytelling, beautiful characters, nice music, good dialogues.
Great usage of Honey-Select, great atmosphere, great H-scenes.
Absolutely well-made game.
Highly recommended.

Not a big fan of the art style (honey?), but the storytelling is amazing. Enjoyed the dialogues, pace, etc. Not much is known about the apocalypse, would like for it to go scifi style slowly (but fine with slowburn as well). Also like that it's not open world, but I'm open to it. Looking forward to the next versions.

The storytelling and plot in this game are excellent. The art and animated scenes are also quite good. Definitely one of the most enjoyable games on F95Zone!! Do not miss out playing this one and please support the developer if you like the game. I definitely want to see how this game ends.

No criticism on my part, Now & Then is simply one of the best VNs I've ever played. Very realistic and likeable characters, if you don't like them, you're prolly an ass. Slow paced but never boring, the perfect slice of life in a post-apocalytic environment.

If you like true romance, this is the game for you!

Best plot I've played through by far. Great character development throughout, which instantly made this game stand out from so many others. Remarkable game made me forget I came here to fap, not to feel

Here my opinion so far :
The premises are well set. The overall atmosphere stay interesting enough to keep a eyes (or two) on this game.
Few illogic behavior but that still stay acceptable according to the script.
My more precise note: 9 / 10

[v0.10.0]
A very good game overall, but it can get quite boring at times.

Story and dialogues are the strong points about this game, with the former not presenting anything truly original but it's well structured and told.
Dialogues are fine, everything looks and feels genuine and believable given the thematics and environment.
Even though the dialogues are good, they tend to be a little too descriptive/uninteresting, most of the time the characters are talking about everyday stuff that could have been omitted for the sake of this game's overall pace.

Story: 7.5/10 - Good, but I think the pace can be improved
Characters: 7.5/10 with an ok female character and the classic mc acting like a creep whenever the opposite sex falls inside a 0.5m range to him. After chapter 5 he starts to behave like a normal human being, though.
Graphics: 8/10 Average to above average, this is mainly due to the engine used. However, the dev put a lot of work into scenario making and it shows.
Sex: 6/10 - Sex scenes are pretty much vanilla with stock animations, what really shines here are the dialogues, once again.

Do I recommend this game? It's a slow burn (but not too slow) so if you're ok with that and don't care much about the graphics, then it's a go-ahead.

A good game so far with good story, good characters and has great potential. A little bit too much of stories but i understand why. The game has a fairly limited action, so it's normal to have more stories of the past. It would be great if in the future you could choose different patch (Single love, Harem love, NTR single or herem as well) eventually in a bigger house. That would mean he can reduce the past story with much more action in present. Very important, the developer to be able to do it in such a way that so you can select at any decision what patch you want to follow, what characters you want in harem, what characters of your harem you want in the NTR patch. In this way much more people would be interested in the game because it would cover a wider range of tastes. I hope my ideas help the developer in the future of the game. I look forward to future updates.

This game has some of the best writing on this site, and it's definitely worth checking out. It's not without the occasional grammatical or spelling error, but the English in it is quite good, and you can tell that the developer really cares about making a quality product.

The game requires a bit of patience, as you don't just immediately start fucking every girl you see. I can appreciate a slow pace or a fast pace, and this game definitely pulls off the slower pace well.

The first "true" sex scene in this game is one of the best out of any VN I've played. The buildup to it is done well, and that helps the entire scene to be more emotionally engaging.

The models aren't bad, and the main girl is cute, but overall the graphics are pretty standard for Honey Select. From my personal experience, good environments are hard to find for HS, but the dev has done a good job with the environments he's worked with.

As for negatives, sometimes the lighting isn't great, and as I mentioned before, there are occasional spelling/grammatical issues. The MC's pubes can be distracting in certain scenes -- I don't have a problem with pubic hair, but the mod that the dev uses for them on the MC is pretty ghastly.

Overall, this game stands apart due to its writing. The characters are likeable, and the story has been well-told so far. It's definitely more emotionally engaging than most games on this site as well. I'm enjoying it very much so far, and I'm hoping for a happy ending!

It's a story first and porn second. That alone makes it stand out here.

The writing is engaging and on an almost professional level. It is one of the games that are actually worth reading rather than clicking through.

And what really made me write this review:
I have played a lot of games here and 'Now and then' eventually has by far THE best, most natural and realistic sex scene of all of them. It is extraordinarily well done.

5 stars. Easy.

An excellent excellent game....there's no other word for it

-The progression of story is good,
-The pace of the story isn't rushed or slow,
-The characters are unique and lovable,
-The scenes are hot as well (though may need some refinement as sometimes frame drops happens randomly in my pc),
-The music supports the theme of the story or what the mc has in his mind and,
-English is very good

Overall, I have no complaints about the game and want to see where the story takes us. Also hope the game and the dev get the recognition they deserve