VN - Ren'Py - The Interim Domain [v0.24.0] [ILSProductions]

Love the story, the ladies are just a plus. The writing for ILS Productions really pull you into what's going on in the game. Some of it is long winded with some of the ladies at times though. I feel like things develop very slowly with some characters and others are done EXTREMELY fast. There's a fine line in with a plot like this, but the surprises are worth the time.

I start by saying that I really liked the developer's last game.

I'm also usually someone who plays slow burn games but here I struggle to go beyond the first 30 mins of reading.

I'm sorry but the start is horrible, boring, not enticing. I suppose the story might get better after a while but man the struggle to go further is real.

I'd like to give this project 3 stars but I'll give it 2 because the renders and the models are pretty much the same of the past project which first came out years ago. So, no improvement whatsoever in this regard.

I'd suggest a remake of the first minutes of the story and add more rythm to the narration.

ILSProduction is probably the only developer on this site which makes adult games I play primarily for the story and not the porn. While I am a sucker for anything zombie and horror related hence why I prefer their previous work (Now and Then), but Interim Domain retains the same premium quality in its writing and pacing. Highly recommended.

Before starting i will tell i like his old work.
So why do i think about this one ?
Honestly i hate it, you take everything i liked in the old game ... you remove it and push some new thing i don't like and boom interim domain.

First the story is .. ok not fan fan but interesting at minimum.
The problem lie in the fact this game smell too much a game, after like 3 or time i just hit control and make the game run without reading.

Unlike the precedent game he've done this one i don't care about the NPC because or they don't exist or they are people trapped in their life.

Second the overaull quality of texture don't have changed, so i really canot give star for that.

At the end of the day this game is enough rebutting to me to not even watch it hoping it change.

Will watch from afar the dev hoping it's next game will be better for me.

ILSProductions has done it again. I didn't think I could be more impressed with a VN than Now & Then, (their previous work), but I find my self at least equally enthralled with The Interim Domain. It's nearly impossible to create an erotic visual novel with this many romanceable characters and have each one feel not only completely justified, but also well rounded and worthy of empathy. Each of these "lingering humans" give the reader a completely unique and heartwrenching story which both captivates far beyond what normally is written in these types of stories and forces them to care for these characters. I found myself more interested in helping each of these women deal with the bonds which force them to be tethered to this purgatoryesque nightmare than I was in seducing them (but obviously I also wanted to seduce them, they're all gorgeous). I cannot wait to see what else ILSProductions has to come, and I'm anxiously awaiting each update. Consider me a fan for life.

v0.21.0

Great story, Beautiful LI's, an alright MC. This game is surely a bit underrated in my opinion, it has a lot of events and lewd scenes too.

All the LI's have unique character which makes them interesting, there are also some side girls who are good.

The main highlight is the story, which intertwines within the world and is interconnected and weaved together beautifully, I am sure it's nearing the end, but it surely doesn't disappoint with its aesthetic and story telling, must watch out game for someone planning to try a new game.

PROS
- The ILS specialty, generous amount of H content and it doesnt feel like its forced or done for fan service reasons. They make sense and are well placed relative to the game's narrative.
- No time wasting mechanics like RNG or clicking on locations on a specific ass time to get scenes. You get a choose from a menu screen on who you want to pursue, very direct and straight forward.
- Its (almost) everything you expect from a high quality HS game. Decent visuals, good animations, sound effects, music suits the scene, etc.

CONS
- I feel like I don't really care about the characters here whereas the previous game you feel there is a much better connection and you sympathize with their struggles. Probably because this game has a much greater number of LIs which means the dev has to dedicate much less time to each LI.
- Some of the choices you pick don't matter. For example, I've tried to go for Anya and ignored Kaitlin (I just found her so boring and plain), but the game's dialogue keeps suggesting that I'm in a relationship with both of them. Only difference is I didn't get Kaitlin's sex scenes.
- Game's weakest point. Dev is trying to make the plot as deep and profound as possible. But this hasn't worked out and has just resulted in it being super convoluted as its difficult for readers to pickup whats going on in this complicated and overextended story. With the interim and the energy and the Qi and the souls and the remnants. Then we have the dead girlfriend, but oh nvm, girlfriend is alive now cause we need another Li. Then we have the archons that can't kill each other, but oh nvm, archons can kill each other now cause we need an excuse for a villain. Its just all over the place.

What I loved about Now & Then is that the story was not too out of this world but it also wasn't too plain and dull. The writer found a really good balance. Here, the writer seems to think the more the merrier. More characters, more lore, more supernatural shit, more everything! But a good writer knows when to be concise, and how to balance the story so its easy for readers to understand.

Nineteen updates in, and this is frankly an excellent game - engaging story, hot girls, interesting impactful decisions. The only thing that could make this game better is a dedicated proofreader to pick up the very few typos and mistakes, but hey, that's a fry so small that it doesn't dent the five star rating for me. Check it out. If you feel the same, or similar, throw the dev some money.

(Reviewed through v.0.17)

The dev's previous game was a masterpiece in story-driven VN with plenty of erotic content despite a limited graphics engine. This game is a worthy follow-up that does a lot right but ultimately has too many distracting characters and elements that muddy the water from it rising to the same level of excellence.

The Good ()

• Great diversity of girls with different personalities, body types and overall looks
• A ton of H-scenes -- hard to go more than ~5 minutes without a scene of some sort
• Lots of story content with a unique premise and amazing world-building
• Real drama and suspense with a great villain
• The game gets better over the course of the story -- I was disappointed in early versions but stuck with it and believe it is really hitting its stride in recent updates
• Great consistency in releasing regular updates

The Not-So-Good ()

• Uninteresting MC despite potentially interesting background / set-up
• The cast of characters is actually probably too big, making it hard to focus of key plot points -- some characters stories have no real connection to the main plot
• The dev's freedom for players to choose the order of events amongst characters takes away from the narrative momentum and drama

This game is long and a little discombobulated, but the dev gets an A+ for trying to do something unique in the space and should absolutely be applauded for consistency in updates and releases.

I enjoyed Now & Then for what it was. It wasn't the best VN ever, but it was pretty decent. So I figured this one would be the same.

It isn't. The Interim Domain tries to strike out a little farther from the beaten path and do something original, which is admirable to a point. However, it just ends up being vague and abstract and confusing and dull. Nothing feels like it matters because nothing is at all grounded. It's hard to say what exactly makes a good story grab your attention, but this ain't it.

Review of v0.16.0

I tried. I really tried. But The Interim Domain broke me.

Let me explain.

The Interim Domain will be familiar to fans of Kinderfeld's previous game. Low quality graphics, smoothed over with filter and model choices to give a pleasant enough visual experience. A tall mc with face obscured by a truly awful hairstyle. Cute girls with well developed stories and personalities. But Kinderfeld has made a few changes.

First, the game's plot is, as far as I know, truly original. The game takes place in something roughly resembling limbo or purgatory, where the mc's goal is to help spirits move on. The lore attempts to be deep, but once you learn the meaning of the many made up words, it's pretty straightforward. In any case, it's intriguing enough to serve as a setting for an interesting story. Secondly, the number of girls has been cranked up. In the previous game we had 2 primary + 2 secondary + 2 with very few scenes. Now we've got 11, all of which are posed to be roughly equal in importance. Thirdly, partly as a result of the increased number of girls, the game is so, so, so long. I wish I had kept track of how many hours I've sunk into it; as a proxy, I kept a notes document on what happened each "day", which is now 7,000 words long, and I'm only somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters through.

Now, normally I can cope with a long game, especially with a good plot. But The Interim Domain wore me down to the bone. Kinderfeld's dialogue writing is mediocre at best and painful at worst. The girls are mostly fine, but the mc's jokes are never funny, and during the sex scenes he seems determined to kill your boner. When he's not cracking jokes, he sounds like he's trying too hard and never living in the moment; while you could point to the lore to justify this, the effect on the player is still painful. I often had to stop playing because it took me right out of the narrative. The low quality graphics really stick out in the sex scenes; in his previous game, my emotional connection to the love interests overcame this, but this time round all I can do is grit my teeth. Oh and the sex sounds are still as silly as ever.

Most of all, there just isn't enough happening to justify the runtime. The story progresses very slowly, as does your relationship with each girl. There are so many nothing-burger scenes. And the game can't even lean on its emotional connections; despite romancing and fucking the girls, the mc remains very aloof, seeming to care very little about them. When they're clearly love with you, the mc is still thinking "maybe I like them". The mc's attitude naturally shapes your own, as in any work of fiction, so this design decision was highly counterproductive. This is part and parcel of the game feeling profoundly lonely; even as you get to know the girls and they start to love you, the lore dictates that they can never truly connect with the mc. He is alone and none of his relationships can ever be really real.

Let's be real: AVNs often have cringe moments you have to push through to get to the good bits. But The Interim Domain is such a slog, and the good bits are so few, that only the most dedicated of fans will ever finish it. Peace out motherfuckers

TL;DR: Too long, not enough good stuff.

Very long AVN with very interesting story, that is ominous, enigmatic and dark.

The world and character building is phenomenal.
The music is so well-fitting in to the atmosphere.
The LIs are very likeable, authentic and have their own life and stories to experience.

The premise is interesting, at first I did not know what to expect, but I like it a lot. But to compare Now & Then (which was 5/5), this, but just in comparison, would be 4,5/5 for me.

And it is super lengthy (which is compliment and great), as of 0.17.0, so that is a plus in this kind of remarkable story. I like it and thanks ILSProductions for another gripping story and idea.

I like most games based on "honey select" or similar. This one particularly caught my attention and I saw the synopsis and gave it a try...

THE GOOD
The plot seems unique and original to me, really that is something to be applauded for since if you look at most games they are all "an MC going to school and having relationships with everyone", this gives it many points in its favor. I like that each character has a past and a context of why they are like that, I love this because I like to read books and visual novels are one of my favorites and this story really catches my attention, the person who created it really took his time. time to build a world where you get the +18 scenes with a correct context and not simply because yes, because you have to keep in mind that despite being a visual novel, it is a game for adults so everything should revolve around it from this. The Waifus are well made in terms of their design, each one different and as I mentioned before with a good context.

THE BAD... or not?
Even though I mentioned that I like to read, especially this type of fantasy story, mysticism, etc. The game gets boring in certain parts... You have to keep in mind that this is a game for adults and you have to have a balance between the erotic and the plot, but I feel that the balance in this game is more inclined towards the argumentative (Which is not bad, but I mainly look for both +18 scenes and a plot for them). It feels a bit slow and in parts it sometimes got to a point where I was stressed because there were no scenes for adults, that is, there is a lot of content, context of the world and its stories, but I feel that those scenes are few for each of the waifus that there are available. It is certainly a great story but let's be frank... those of us who are here are here to see a good story with good adult scenes.

The story is very good and interesting, basically how you as the protagonist find stories and try to empathize with each of them, the scenes mostly have a context of why they happen and that is something I appreciate, since I don't just want to see sex And now, for that I better look for more specific pages for that.

I want to make it clear that this is just my opinion of the game, up to this point of the update (v0.17.0). "It is advisable?" You could say yes, but if you are one of those who look for quick scenes without context, you better not even try it. If you are interested in a good story and spicy content, I invite you to play it.

Summary (SCORE: 8)
o Character Design/Visual: 9/10
o Background music/sound: 8/10
o Plot: 9/10
o Animation: 10/10
o +18 Scenes: 6/10
o Gameplay: 6/10
o Interface: 8/10

Great, unique, awesome premise ruined by like 75% of the text in the game being a constant flow of every single inane thought the MC has that adds nothing to the plot, relationship/character development, lore, atmosphere, anything. Just a slog to read. Given so little of the remaining text is actual dialogue or plot it's like if the "help me budget this, my family is dying" meme was made into a VN.

Graphics are also desperately outdated. Could have really used the switch to HS2 and/or the mods that a lot of other HS creators use.

If Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne was a visual novel. A masterclass in storytelling and world building featuring an artfully crafted atmosphere with distinct and realistic characters, The Interim Domain is easily the most intriguing project on this website.

The writing is honestly really well done and the characters, while a few have some boring little story scenes, are fleshed out wonderfully by the time you get even half way through. The sex scenes are a bit of a hit or miss, such is the way with Honey Select, but ILS refuses to miss. Was a long time fan of Now and Then so this one is also a real treat. Can't wait to see this one finished.

I hate to leave a poor review because I loved Now & Then but it is what it is.
The game is beyond a slow burn. The story moves at a snails pace. It's really disappointing because the world is interesting. The premise is unique but nothing happens. It's just a boring slog of mostly uninteresting dialogue. Everything is "mysterious" or "your mind can't handle it" It's a lazy excuse for not wanting to fully flesh things out or for stalling the plot.

Incredible Worldbuilding offset by a lonely MC with a lonely mission
This game’s setting is awesome. Our MC is working in some sort of purgatory where he needs to help people get over their last regrets and/or final struggles, and over the course of helping these people get over their last regrets, we get to see how he might been made for this of job.

You see, the people he’s helping are in this sort of a purgatory, a place where the only people its residents are able to interact with Shades, ghosts of the imagination, or Remnants, vestiges of the people who failed to overcome the grievances of their past life, and as consequence, became featureless husks of a human being not unlike how you might imagine an autonomous mannequin might look. Cool.

I really enjoyed this initial premise. Seeing the MC interact with the female leads while learning about the rules of this weird, in-between purgatory world was cool and exciting. I really liked how the interactions between and the girls and the MC just “made sense” to me.

For example, often when the MC approaches one of the girls, they might give him shit for a bit before almost immediately opening up to him. In most games, this would come off as tacky and poorly written. In a game about a purgatory world where lost souls are held victim by their grievances and/or regrets, a game where these girls are constantly starved for any sort of actual human contact? Then yes, I would believe the last man on Earth might be desirable at this moment. These girls don’t need a handsome man, they need a friend, and this MC can deliver.

Unfortunately, my praises for this game stop with the worldbuilding and logic behind these interactions. As the game continued, I found myself more and more unsatisfied with each girl’s story and less and less enraptured with this fascinating new setting. Why you might might because? Because I found it such a terribly lonely journey.

All these characters are disconnected and unrelated in such terribly superficial ways that the whole story starts to feel empty at some point. Each girl has her own life and own separate problems all taking place in her own separate delusion. These delusions can’t and don’t really interact with each other in such a way that the MC practically has to be invited into this delusion — consciously or otherwise — to even enter them. No one knows what life this girl is leading within her delusions apart from the girl herself, and even when they do talk with the MC about what’s going on in their delusions, does she really give him any way in which he can participate in them with her? Nope, not really, only in ways where he can pretend to be.

And all that just sucks. It’s incredibly lonely.

So again, from a world-building perspective, it’s very cool to see how these girls come up with these entire worlds to support their fragile psyches relating to their past and how they wrestle with their grievances in real-time. There were some genuinely interesting scenarios going on with these girls.

On the other hand of things, the character side of the whole affair positively sucks. I’m constantly yearning for some meaningful connection and/or developments between the MC and the girls, but that’s almost impossible in a story chronically focused on only being between two people. Girl is having trouble with her peers? Her coworkers? Work? Parents? Doesn’t matter that you know, you can’t even interact or relate to her about these people because they don’t even exist! Awesome, you’re effectively being asked to sympathize with a psych ward patient who’s created their entire own alternate reality, and then you’re asked to pretend like hearing about it is all really cool and exciting to you. Wonderful from a world-building perspective, terrible from a “WHO WOULD WANT TO SUBJECT THEMSELVES TO SOMETHING LIKE THIS?????” Angle.

But yeah, how can you have a world that doesn’t have actual people in it? That just doesn’t make sense to me. It just doesn’t work.

What I think would’ve actually saved this story for me would’ve been to strike some sort of balance between this theme of a ghost-filled purgatory world and what we would expect from a non-make-believe, populated one. Give the MC the power to actually see what these girls are seeing, make their delusions a reality, at least for the player, and then suddenly, we’re not just playing as a character tending to his latest batch of psych ward patients — psych ward patients he secretly hopes to fuck — and instead get to follow the tale of a magical doctor that can enter a patient’s world holistically, giving them the closure and self-satisfaction they deserve with the focus on how their lives had been and not how they are now(purgatory).

I’d much rather see glimpses of what worlds these girls had actually been seeing in this ghost-filled purgatory world rather than suffering entirely through the depression that is these make-believe ones. Could we not at least give the MC the power to actually see what they’re seeing? Actually interact with the people from the girl’s past that might have initially caused these grievances? Because without actually being able to do these sort of things, I, the reader, struggle heavily to relate to these characters trapped entirely in the make-believe. I want to be a part of their world, I want to see exactly what kind of people they’re interacting with within these interactions.

I’m harping on this a lot, but I truly believe getting to interact with the actual people from these girls’ pasts is the difference between sympathizing with these characters and getting tired of them. Like I am now.

Regardless, even this game’s one last hope for a saving grace falls to mediocrity as it’s pioneered by the most annoying, unsympathetic, most unhelpful, aggravating, most flippantly dismissive, inhuman, piece of unadulterated alien waste product that is Mira.

I hate Mira, all my homies hate Mira.

Mira is supposed to be your partner, your helper, the person that helps guide you in this absolutely fucked up world of purgatory. She’s supposed to explains things. She’s supposed to keep to you from getting too lonely and upset with yourself.
But what does she do? SHE DRUGS YOU WITH MAGIC! YOU TRY TO QUESTION HER ABOUT IT? SHE BLOWS YOU OFF! THEN SHE DISAPPEARS! HOW AGGRAVATING AND AWFUL A CHARACTER CAN SHE BE?? SHE’S THIS WAY INTENTIONALLY, BUT GOD! AH! MAN DO I HATE MIRA!

Continuing on with the psych ward patient analogy, our MC is the nice doctor: he gets to know his patients and truly cares. Mira though? She blows her patients off, drugs them to oblivion, ignores their concerns, and tells them to do better. God, she is the worst alien lifeform I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading about.

There is so much miss potential with Mira. She could have solved all my concerns about loneliness and being forced to deal with psych patients by being the MC’s one true friend and coworker. Don’t you think the story would’ve been 10x better if it was about you and a girl born long-long before you working to help lost souls pass on together? And eventually finding peace within yourselves as well? I think that would’ve of been greaat!

But no, Mira is not a human. She’s an Entende(?), a non-human entity that exists in the purgatory to do… things. I’m not sure what exactly she does because part of her schtick is being as entirely unhelpful and unforthcoming as possible with the MC about what she actually does. Super fun character, am I right? She’s an alien, alright! One written entirely too well. I hate her; she’s not relatable at all.

Anyways, there are other characters and entities like Mira, but they aren’t so friendly, so don’t expect any allies in this game. It’s just you and your mental health patients of purgatory! For eternity! Fun, fun.

God, and it makes this game so lonely. 4/5.

TLDR. World and concept is amazing, characters and execution fell flat for me. It’s so close to good though that I’d still recommend it anyways and still found it enjoyable. Your mileage may vary.

God, do I love this game. In the sea of college-harem-incest-porn drivel, there's VN's that actually remind me why I came here in the first place.

This is not a porn game. Yes, there is some, but (and this is vital) the story isn't a vehicle to string escalating sex scenes on some dubious thread of a story, but rather it is an original (ambitious) story that does have adult moments when they make sense.

It is also wildly original. The world building is great and immersive, I love it. The characterization is as good as you would expect from the maker of 'Now and Then'. There is very little that is not to like about this if you actually like to follow a story. The build-up is on the slow side, but steady. Over time, the mystery escalates by just the right amount to keep you reading and wondering.

TLDR: If you like story over porn, don't miss this!

P.S. Dark Souls Desert Sorceress Hood? Really?

Man... I know it's been said before, but what a disappointing follow up to one of my favorite AVNs.

It feels like the dev was actively trying to drive away previous fans by switching to a dumb sandbox while also taking away the great relationship building that made us actually care about the LIs, now it's like what's the point if we just never see them again? The game just gives me no reason to care enough to bother with a bunch of useless clicks to pursue a bunch of dead end relationships.

I guess I'll come back if/when the dev makes a new game and hopefully learns from all the mistakes this game makes and hopefully goes back to the formula that Now and Then has. Bring back a reason to give a shit about the world and the characters and for fucks sake drop the pointless sandbox.