VN - Ren'Py - Completed - The Interim Domain [v0.31.0] [ILSProductions]

My review of The Interim Domain [v0.05.0]

Story
The story basically is the following:
Everyone in the world dies and their souls move to a realm inbetween worlds - ready to move on to the next life in a new world.
However, many of them feel unable to let go of their old lives, so now they are stuck inbetween, living in illusions of the old world (created just for them personally).
You are one of these people, but of course you are picked as a chosen one, that has to help everyone stuck to move on, so they can have sex with other men in the next world.
Sounds like a fun concept? Not to me.

Gameplay
The game has a main story and 7 or 8 substories where you help cute girls move on and have fun in the next world without you! Very nice!
These substories are all about as long as the main story, so the main story of course moves along at a snail's pace...
Every day you choose which girl's substory you want to progress and get a bit a main story before or after the event.
You better choose wisely though, because you can't continue playing the girls' substories after the current main story content has been completed!

Graphics
Absolute bog-standard unmodded Honey Select graphics again.
Default models, default shaders, 1 directional light, the backside of characters/objects is 100% black.
But now you get some extra atrocious-looking bloom effect in some scenes and an attempt of sunlight reflections that look like someone put LEDs in MC's mouth.
Animations (only 1 sex scene so far, if I remember correctly) appear to just be default Honey Select.

Audio
The game has a decent, but short, soundtrack that fits the game's setting.
The problem is that volume between tracks is very inconsistent again, the annoying door/bed squeaking sound from the first game is back, and default Honey Select fake moans are back as well.
Can you mute them? Of course not.

Writing
The writing is fantastic again and the only reason to even touch this game.
However it is much more difficult to get immersed in the story when you are basically drip-fed ~8 different mini stories and constantly jump from one unrelated character to another.
As of now barely anything has happened in the main story as well.

Conclusion
A very disappointing game from the creator of a masterpiece like Now & Then.
I have no desire to play the next update and will wait until the game is completed to MAYBE give it another chance, but I don't think the author's writing can save the game this time.

Totally different from the author's other game, I feel bored, it's like a dream, and I don't buy the philosophical nonsense that he tries to teach us, the truth was, I wanted to see what I could expect from the creator of the tremendous game of Now & Then, but in the end with this new game I feel nothing or desire to continue playing.

ILS doesn't dissapoint, a new game with a new story that's as good as the last one. the music is great, the plot is crazy and the writing is phenomenal. not much to say except that it's another ISL banger.

I do not really need to elaborate on a lot;
The concept is fairly amazing and interesting. VERY intriguing. Makes me want to play more and explore the stories of each character. A lot of question marks for what else will happen.
Characters are believably unique with their own quirks.

Sounddesign is very nice - fine tunes. Visuals are simple but clean. Saw no clipping or broken necks. I liked the seemless flashbacks, very nice input.

I am excited to see how this proceeds.

I don't know how to review games so I'll follow the reviewing suggestions from the rules.
Game version: v0.04.0
Story, Originality : so far 10/10, its very unique
Renders : I like it, there is some brightness issues but its not a big deal
Amout of content: When I was playing I kept thinking when is it going to end because I was not expecting this much playtime, so its very good.

Looks to be another intriguing game by ILSProductions the guy who brought us the amazing Now & Then VN. The characters are great, the plot is engaging and certainly not something you have seen before. Its definitely going to have a healthy amount of lewd content between well a written story. The best kind of experience in my opinion.

Now the game is very new, literally released not too long ago so the gallery is still missing but its there and will added soon. Sounds are present and work well to give a nice ambiance to the scenes. There are several unique girls so far and more to come.

Very promising game from a great dev.

0.5: This just feels like a real snooze-fest. Characters aren't really interesting and the philosophical stuff feels really amateurish. All the girls also are kinda ugly looking, making the lack of sex scenes feel even more slow and boring. Will probably check back in a year or so because the animations are at least pretty good.

Lovely start to a new adventure. Usually I would wait till the game is a little more along before giving it a spin, but with how much I loved Now & Then I just had to get a taste of what was coming next. This seems promising, will return to update my review as the updates roll in. Cheers!