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

Now & Then is basically a romance and sex version of The Walking Dead or maybe The Last of Us.

You need to like the typical Honey Select aesthetic to probably enjoy the game, but if you can accept or maybe even like the typical HS aesthetic Now & Then will be a great experience.

The game is very long, it's also one of the few games that is actually completed and has an actual ending that is neither rushed nor disappointing. At the end of the journey you will absolutely be satisfied with what you see and get.

One good thing about the game is that it takes its time to introduce the characters and the romance. Some characters have an in-built attraction to the MC, because of shared history, and they open up to the MC or make advances pretty quickly after some build-up, but you get to see the shared history in flashbacks and thus the somewhat quicker progression of the romance here is actually believable, especially given the apocalyptical setting. Other characters take much more time to warm up to the MC and sometimes it takes hours playing the game before progress is made. but it can be very rewarding.

Another positive thing is that all the female characters are unique both in character and bodytype. The characters also have flaws, weaknesses and their own opinions and none of them are magically turned into bi-curious group sex fanatics once they meet the MC. When a female LI says she's not into girls, then she's not into girls all the way through. Even if you, as a player, may hope otherwise.
The realistic bodytypes range from petite, to normal to voluptous, there will be something for everyone. And if teenagers are not your thing you can choose to focus on the older females or vice versa, or just go the harem route and be happy with all of them.
There is plenty of choice in the game, choice is absolutely no illusion here. You can easily track the scores of your LIs via the interface and shape your playthrough accordingly. It basically boils down to this, the woman with the highest love/like score will be your main LI. You can either accept or refuse everyone else. You can even end up all alone, but you need to actively sabotage your playthrough and always choose the very apparent bad option to get a bad ending. It is not difficult to get a happy end with your main LI (and all the others as well) even without a walkthrough.

Not everything is perfect though. Since it's Honey Select the male characters usually do get the short end of the stick. Maybe it's also for that reason the dev decided not to show the MCs face and to hide even more of the facial features with a ridiculous looking hairstyle. And because of that decision, never to show the MCs face, the composition of the renders is sometimes a bit weird when characters interact, with faces cut off or awkard angles, but this doesn't happen too often though.
Otherwise the composition of the renders can be quite cinematic at times. And there is a great variety of environments, a city, an apartment complex, a school, later a more rural region with a small town and a big mansion are all featured here. Each location is unique and you change locations before they wear out their welcome. Which is important in a very long game.

This VN could have also needed some editing, while the story is overall really great some of the details like patroling the premises or foraging for things could have been handled much quicker, sometimes a lot of time is spent with activities that add nothing to the actual story. They do add to the atmosphere and general worldbuilding, but I feel those scenes could have been shortened. Once you see the 10th patrol to make sure everything is ok you do get a bit weary of it, not terribly so, and you can always just speed press the space bar or left mouse button of course.

Depending on personal prefence the animated sex scenes may not be to your liking. All of them are animated, but virtually all of them are also vanilla (i.e. virtually no kinks) and feature the MC with one woman. Of course this plays into the wholesome nature of the relationships which are (almost) always built on love and mutual respect. The sex scenes are also quite long and take their time, with dialogue, foreplay, sometimes cuddling after the deed etc, further contributing to the wholesome nature of the relationships. If you like vanilla then Now & Then will deliver.
That being said the sex scenes can eventually feel a bit samey, the dialogue also can become a bit predictable when you pick one LI for the 10th time, but it's usually always very sweet. One negative thing about the sex scenes is the female voice, it sounds like something taken from a Japanese anime or porn, quite a bit over the top and squeaky at times. It's not super annoying but you hear that voice a LOT in this game since there are quite a few scenes with the various characters.

But the positives far outweigh the negatives. The characters are memorable, the story is very engaging and despite some dark(er) twists and turns focuses mostly on the wholesome relationships. The story makes it clear that in end times like shown in the game love and affection are what make this world still worth living in and bearable, the desolation, destruction and despair not only become bearable, but you may also actually find your very happiness despite all odds and find yourself even happier than before.

Now & Then, despite the Honey Select aesthetic and a certain lack of editing in places is a top tier VN, one of the best I ever played, even though I only gave it a 4 star rating, but in many aspects this is a 5 star game especially when we talk about story, setting, characters and ending. Very few VNs featured on this site manage a satisfying ending, here the ending is an entire chapter and you get plenty of time and resolution with all of your LIs.

But it is not a 5 star game for the given reasons, the story can at times meander a bit, sometimes the renders look a bit compressed or very dark, the MC looks odd (what you see of him), but at least the game acknowledges this and even pokes fun at it here and there when other characters make comments about the MC's haircut or choice of clothing.

But those are minor points. Overall Now & Then is excellent and it will give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside once you wrap up the story. It is a story of hope, love and resiliance, one that aims to show that even in times of absolute despair you can find happiness and even get a chance at a new life. At the end of the story almost all characters are better off than before the apocalypse in many ways and have grown as human beings. If that wholesome nature of the game appeals to you you should absolutely play it. It will be worth your time.

Interesting concept - zombie setting.
But honestly it's just common 'harem game' in zombie setting.
First 10 minutes I was excited but more I played this game more boring it became. So I fast skipped the game after school location (and even on fast skip it was like hour or two till the end.
Too much unnecessary dialogues and events - game is very overextended.
Choices are obvious and doesn't really matter on story (only depends whether there will be sex scene or not). Maybe at the end choices affect on something but I was disaapointed in the game at this point. Also there are replayability (some scenes unlocks for next playthrough). But game is too long and uninteresting to replay.

TLDR:

Setting - 5/5
Graphics and models - 3/5
Sex scenes - 3/5
Dialogues - 2/5
Story - 3/5

Don't let the high rating on f95 trick you. It's just another 'harem' game with graphomanian overextended dialogues and almost zero choice.

Flaws: The graphics are slightly low-res and the sex sounds are straight from JAV. One downer scene toward the end with a very minor character was unnecessary in my opinion.
Pros: Excellent storytelling - like professional writer tier. This is easily one of the best harem VNs out there!

An extremely well written, structured and developed VN. Truly outstanding in creating well defined, consistent characters with humanizing motivations. The major plot points are signaled well in advance, never leaving the reader scratching their heads on decisions made by characters.

Do yourself a favor and check out this top 10 VN on F95.

Excellent game, very well done. Long, deep story with flashbacks to provide more depth into the background and scenes with the characters. MC has relations (optionally) with multiple women. Good (Honey Select) graphics, so-so animations. Good social interactions not only between the MC and others, but also between other characters themselves to flesh out the story. I would definitely recommend this game.

Really unimpressed with the game. The graphics are very simplistic and mediocre with bad lighting throughout. You can find much better games with better artwork. But bad art can be remade with good story and I have to say, the writing here is really boring and unimpressive. The actual lewd scenes are not fantastic either. I'm really curious as to the high rating as it's simply boring for me. Ended up deleting the game after 15 minutes. Can't bear to continue.

I really wish I could give this 5 stars, but the writing ends up dragging its' feet by the end. The start of Now & Then is really good! I haven't been that invested in a story in a while! If this entire visual novel was just the Apartment Arc, I'd eat it up.

The characters are, for the most part, unique and enjoyable.
The soundtrack is actually surprisingly good.
The animations/sex scenes are not great and had me skipping through them more than once to continue the plot.
And the plot itself is gripping and anxiety inducing.

There's really only two big problems I had with my experience.
Firstly, the tension was really strong in the beginning, but it slowly fades away. After awhile, you will realize the main cast is untouchable due to plot armor. Even minor injuries/disease stop becoming an issue towards the end. This becomes more apparent with a few of, what I like to call, "why are/aren't we doing this right now" moments. Moments where tension is really high for the reader due to the characters deciding to interact for too long in an unsafe spot, but ultimately nothing bad happens because..? It's not even meant to be a high tension moment, it's just people being stupid and luckily nothing bad happens.
Secondly, the charm of the characters just isn't always there. While no character in particular was annoying, I feel there is so much more that could've been done. For example, the MC is really close to being an actual character. He constantly makes outdated references, has a preference for metal music/culture, and has a backstory that the reader isn't always aware of. These basic traits don't really get used to the full extent that they should. Outside of a few select interactions, the MC is just set in 'must protect my girl(s)' mode. A few characters sadly fall into this trap of having much more to them, but the writing not really doing them justice or exploring them enough.

TL : DR
A good game that only shows its' flaws towards the end. I recommend at least trying it out. If you don't like it by the time a new character comes into the mix, you probably won't like the rest of it.

The only downside is that I feel the 'epilogue' stuck on the end of the last chapter could have been another three or four chapters on its own. Other than that, a beautiful story with solid H-scenes, one of my favorites I've found on this site.

Honestly when i started playing this game i didn't know what to expect i looked good but the description gave me a little hesitation on trying it but i am happy i did this is another game i will say is on my top 10 completed list. there have only been maybe 2 or 3 other AVN's that i was genuinely sad to see "The End" pop up on but i was with this one i don't really understand why but i fell in love with the characters and the story.

Renders 10/10 I am not 100% sure if it was intended or just limitations of the machine used to create them that added the grainy effect to the renders but either way it fit the story and added something to them i haven't seen before. The renders all looked great the characters all looked awesome and the backgrounds did also.

Story 10/10 This game is as far as i have personally found unique in the aspect of it tells a story from before and after a major world effecting/ending event. I personally haven't seen any other games set in a form of apocalypses i am sure they are out there but i haven't seen them but i really enjoyed this one. I haven't seen a play on zombies like this game has before in any other games or tv shows/movies so that was a unique aspect i liked.
There where a lot of plot twists in this some you could see coming some that came out of left field. From what i saw throughout the game there where very few grammar mistakes, misspelled words or words that seemed out of place to me. Overall the story was really well written and really enjoyable i will say though i understand its supposed to be an AVN with quite a lot of sexual contend but for a game set in a apocalypses there where a lot of sex scenes not that i am complaining but in my opinion for something like this that seemed to be more about the story than the sex less is more.

Animations 6/10 Don't get me wrong the animations where great i really enjoyed them but what is the deal with the breasts in them they flop way to much yea some bounce is great but they move so much that the few that have bigger boobs in this game when they where really going at it the nipples wound wind of going inside the rest of the character same thing with a some of their clits in a few instances as well but that wasn't as messed up as the thing with their boobs. Other than that i didn't see any major issues with the animations they where pretty good overall no other real issues with them. I do wish there would have been a few animations throughout the story other than during the sex scenes i think in some instances it would have improved the game a bit i could be mistaken but i am pretty sure that somewhere near the beginning there was one with Carol walking across the hall that's kind of the stuff i mean small things like that to help improve stuff a little. But the animations during the sex scenes where decent they where start to finish with no looped points form what i could tell.

Sound 5/10 Overall sounds and music where pretty good reason its a 5/10 is because most of the music was looped there where a few different thing throughout but it used the same few for most of it. the moaning and whatnot during the sex scenes was pretty good could be wrong but i thing the sounds where more or less unique for each girl but i am pretty sure that sound was reused for every sex scene with that girl.

Duration 10/10 It was at least 40 hours playtime probably more all i know is i spent the better part of 6 days playing it. I haven't found many if any other AVN's that are as long as this one.

Overall great game i really enjoyed it. I followed the Harem route not sure if there is another route i guess there is since you can turn most if not all of the different girls down i cant remember for sure who you can or can't. I have only seen a few other AVN's that went into the backstory creation or the relationship building aspects to the level of this one mainly the backstory stuff because it doesn't take long for them to get to the hot and heavy stuff to be honest.

This is a post apocalyptic story about a father and his step-daughter. The story between them is so well written so it never feels like one of those lame fakecest stories. Along the way will be other ladies who can be part of your harem in a world where you are looking to survive. This is one of those visual novels where I was interested more in where the story was going rather than the actual sex scenes. The sex scenes are somewhat nice but are rather tame and vanilla and don't truly evolve throughout the game. I think there was a huge missed opportunity with pet names considering you have a step daughter. This is definitely worth checking out.

I was looking for a new completed VN and I saw the update for this a while back. I downloaded it but put off actually reading through it until last week. I was hooked and found it so hard to put down. This game does many things well but there are some small details that seemed a bit off (where do the girls get their eyeliner and nail polish lol) but I can look past them.

I think I'm in the minority for this but I like Honey Select models so the graphics are a plus for me. Sometimes the girls' bodies look a bit weird during the sex scenes but honestly I don't really mind since I'm more invested in the story. Unfortunately I played through the game without sound so I can't really comment on it. A pity because good sound effects could enhance the experience especially for a story with this setting.

The setting, worldbuilding, and story are what really got me into this title. I've seen my share of zombie survival stories and I have to say that Now & Then is a good one among them. We get a classic 3-act story starting at the apartment, moving to the school, and finally to the manor. The story is well paced though the transitions between acts seems a bit forced. There's some suspension of disbelief but considering the setting I'd give it a pass. Also I did only start on this after the final version was released so I have no idea how the pacing felt during the development period. No cliffhangers in between updates for me and the retroactively added alt./ext. scenes were immediately available in my experience. The Alt./Ext. scenes are a cool idea both to keep the mystery on the first playthrough and give additional context on the encouraged next playthroughs. The game is structured so that the player can't see all scenes in one run and I actually like that more than giving the player the option to see everything at once. I know this is a porn game so you might go in thinking that you can see every scene of the MC dicking down every girl but sometimes we can only choose one (at a time).

Another aspect that I liked is the relationship building between the MC and the girls. From a technical standpoint, the love interest(s) you end up with isn't determined by one ultimate decision of who you want to be with but rather an buildup of trust and intimacy with that character throughout the story. And just as much as you can end with everyone, you can also end with no one. I appreciate that such an ending exists, at the very least to contrast with all the many other endings we can get.

Overall this was one of the rare cases of a porn game where I'm more interested in the story than the sexy scenes. We get to read the story of a man trying his hardest to care for his loved ones in a juxtaposition of the tumultuous "Now" and the mundane "Then."

Impressed favorably by it.
Lot of pros, well done, great zombie apocalypse story but what impressed me most is that it is very realistic for what it came to sexual interaction between the different characters.
I mean: in most games there is a sort of suspension of disbelief for what it come to feelings of the characters involved in sex, above all for what it come to jealousy.
People pass from giving a pair of uneasy kisses to all out orgies in a few time.
Here instead nothing of such, interpersonal relations are deeply developed (maybe even too much, constant use of flash backs are good to delineate characters but sometimes are just redundant to the story) and no one act in a way that it is not in line with her own character or feeling.
That lead however to a certain monotony: sex scenes are usually very good and even steamy but are almost always one on one between the MC and one of the girls (only one girl/girl action), not one three way so far and I've gone quite deep in the story.
So full five about everything (and a first place for what it come to character development and realism) but at a certain point you fell it going a little too vanilla.
Erotica is also going into taboo, kink and debauchery, here it seems me that the attention to feelings and realism left out also a full array of excellent occasions to going into it without spoiling the above mentioned aspects (and a.t.c. even enhancing it).

PROS
- nice COMPLETED apocaliptic story (genre World War Z)
- not a douchebag MC, this guy can fight bare fists and with weapons
- girls with own credible personalities, love the buildup of each relationship
- different well rendered environments
- good writing with few grammatical errors
- some nice twists and turns (fights with bandits and infected ppl)
- good rendered, real female bodies (no mega boobs in here)
- nice animated lewd scenes, which are getting better in the later episodes

SMALL CONS
- some episodes are a bit "stretched"
- some repititive content and text (nothing exaggerating tho)

I really enjoyed this story, played it through at a slow pace which showed me that this game is truly a small gem.

Keep up the good work ILSProductions, I for sure will follow you

not into Incest and the models did not appeal to me!

played the game because a friend sugested it!

if my rating is not enough lets just say the story is well worth the download and this dev is well worth the investment so that he can perhaps upgrade to other models, if he can do that amazing amount of morphing with these models imagine what he might be able to do with some better ones?

all in a properly paced story where the relationship building (or lack there off...) is well adjusted in an enthralling world with action to keep the story going at all the right places including the sexy times when is adjusted and proportional and not at every 5 minutes with zombies walking around!

the characters for the most part have an adequate inner consistency and the females do not become horny sex addicted npc´s when the MC shows up (well until you seduced them... then it comes naturally)

there where many things to put me off from playing this game, but the story is well worth it!

Now & Then [Complete] - MINOR SPOILERS

My second attempt at writing this review after accidentally tabbing out of my first. Whoops.

Now & Then deserves a 3.5 rating from me, but I'm rounding up because I respect and admire the creator for completing what was clearly a massive undertaking in a relatively short amount of time, and for delivering a finished story (albeit with a rushed ending).

The author seems to be an older gentleman, but his writing style irks me and seems to follow the same patterns as modern sitcoms written by millenials. I can't stand most of the banter. Why does everyone, despite having different personalities, exchange the same, inane quips in back-and-forth sessions that drag on too long? Why, especially, during sex scenes?!

The other major problem with the writing is the omission of pronouns. Think of sentences like, "Chilly day. Gotta bundle up. Don't wanna be out long." Maybe it reads fine on its own, but there were too many jarring moments where it didn't suit person-to-person dialogue. Maybe it's fine in online conversation, but it's just unnatural in spoken conversation, and it shouldn't have been so prevalent in this game.

Speaking of unnatural, the conversations during the sex scenes were so often out of place. Again, there's the problem with overused banter, but the pillow talk and even the foreplay scenes were so unrealistic. There are tons of sex scenes from the beginning of the story and right through the epilogue, but the characters didn't behave differently whether they were new partners or longtime lovers. You could easily take a sex scene from the end of the game, slot it into the beginning, and no one would be the wiser. That IS a problem when it's supposedly the writing that's carrying a game. Combine all of these issues with the fact that many of the sex scenes were predictable and repetitive, and you too will find yourself skipping through them in due time.

I'll stick to talking about the writing since that's where my grievances lie. If you want to know more about what the creator did well, check out some other reviews.

Now, the MC... This is a Gary Stu if I've ever seen one. Why doesn't he feel more negative and sad emotion? Why can't he express it properly when he does? He doesn't have a traumatic past that would manifest into what I'm describing. Without getting into examples, it just annoys me that we (the audience) are denied the opportunity to connect - or at least sympathise - with the MC during what ought to be traumatic or difficult experiences.

In typical harem style, other male characters are either too old, too young, or removed from the story so that the MC may have his way. A certain father to one of the girls is horrendously shamed posthumously because... well, he was just bad, okay?! If it isn't clear, I'm not impressed by the motivations that characters had for bashing the poor guy. He wasn't perfect, but neither is are shining star of a main character. Hell, the MC cheats multiple times without repercussions. There are some instances that are forgivable or understandable, but then there are others where there are no good excuses for betraying your true love.

To sum it up, there are inconsistencies in the writing, and they're most damaging to the characters' personalities; particularly the MC's. Other characters showed great potential by having different personalities, but they either weren't utilized effectively in the remaining chapters, or they were shoehorned to fit certain roles and eventually fade into the background.

That's it for the complains that impacted my review score. There are many more minor ones, but nothing that ought to sway someone's decision to play or not play this title. I recommend reading this because you will get to experience an interesting story filled with intrigue. It drags on at times and could use more suspenseful moments, but to be a completed game on this website--well, that's got to count for something.

(Maybe 3 stars would have been more fitting?)

The stories that scare us most are usually the ones that connect to our real anxieties. Those can be expressed through sub-genres -- in the case of this particular VN, the zombie apocalypse sub-genre. "Now and Then", by using a rapidly-spreading pandemic and using "the infected" as a means to identify its antagonists, further associates with this particular cultural moment we're living, and by doing this, amplifies its power as a horror tale.

However, in these days it’s very hard to tell a "zombie" story with any kind of novelty. "Now and Then" does not push any boundaries, but while the usual tropes are there, the quality of its writing still manages to lift it above most similar games out there. Dialogues are well-written and characters are given distinct personalities. The MC is particularly well composed, but many of the other characters, even secondary ones, have been given different degrees of complexity, something that greatly enrich the tale. It also helps that the girls are mostly very sexy.

I have very few complaints, which actually are more of a nitpicking to be honest. One slight criticism is that my favourite character - Julie - is not as well-developed as some of the other characters. Her personal jorney is as strong or stronger than most of the other female characters in the game, and not developing her character was too much of a lost opportunity.

Another small quibble would be that other (non-infected) male characters in this game are either bandits, children, or senior citizens. For most of the game, male characters are not even present. Don't get me wrong - I'm really not into NTR or similar situations. But maybe the developers felt that some male players would feel more threatened by potential male competition than by the "infected" themselves. Or maybe most males will actually turn into raiders and marauders as soon as society crumbles, who knows. But I felt that maybe a couple of friendly male characters could add to the game.

Other than that, one clearly sees that the developers made a conscious attempt to write most characters with a strong backstory, complex personalities and clear motivations. This effort is important in this kind of story, where many of the situations and the general setting can be very unrealistic, even if you keep in mind that this particular genre is very strong on allegory. The success in telling a story like this depends a great deal on whether we care about the fate of the characters. "Now and Then" has made me care for them, and that is for me the measure of accomplished storytelling.

damn what a game, first nice job by the dev making a game this big (+24h) in 2 years, the story is amazing and well written.
now for the "negative" part, some details bothered me, like the threesomes only on the ending of the game, naomi and carol was a easy one to be made since both of them are close, naomi and sidney as well,like carol accepted she was gonna share MC so why not see it? at last with naomi, same with naomi with her being bi, other thing was the intimacy between MC and the girls, they only kiss when they are about to have sex, i don't think it would be a problem for any of them seeing MC kiss others or sleep in the same bed.
the "last man" cliche could made a better harem ending

overall: one of the bests games here, worth playing. Dont think i gonna replay it any time soon since the sex scenes are ok~good, the best part is the story and the characters, also the game being kinda long

I mostly lurk on f95, but this game deserves praise. Even though it uses HS models, its a great work of art. The flashbacks, the character development, the taboo but natural way of developing the two main protagonists.. it all fits really well together. it also has quite a lot of content.
Currently it's in my top5 most liked games of f95. I hope the next few games of the creator will be as good as this one.

I love this! The writing is so good, I forgot I turned on a game to jerk off and got into the story instead. Made the sex scenes way hotter tbh. Only just started, but already extremely stoked. Great work.

I left a post already and found out the review seems to be separate thing so I'll just copypaste this thing because it absolutely deserves a 5 star. The review contains spoilers.

There's a ton to unpack with this game but all in all, it was a great journey. I'm both sad and relieved it's over. Relieved that they're fine. It's finally over. Sad that it's over, I very much liked it. Not just the writing, directing(?) too. How you can use such a simplistic engine to make the houses feel big, and alive. Characters to feel as real as in any novel or story. The journey felt like it streched across places and not in a honey select engine.

I loved that the epilogue wasn't just the usual three screens per character "oh yes they live happily ever after" but there was an actual epilogue. I do think the story could've had a few more chapters in it; it felt like the bandit attack was coming. It was building up and the atmosphere was anxious. But then we had Sydney and Julie come over, ambush, follow up and pretty much epilogue at the new town. I feel like there could've been a small grace period. The end came fast; before downloading the last three or four chapters I believed there was still lot to come. I still got alternate routes and endings to find out but this was mentally a taxing journey, in a good way, and I don't think I will ever re-visit this. It feels like it would undermine the journey I went trough and felt with this, but I cannot overstate how much I love that there were options to make it my journey. Someone else had it different and I love the game for it, even if I will never experience 'all' of it so to say.

All in all, it was an experience. Came for horny but damn. Sort of stopped caring about it. Obviously it plays part in the story, in an interesting way and is an extra layer there but you know what I mean here.

I wish I was better with words. I have so many good things to say and I should've written them up as they kept coming up over the journey and updates but really I just wanted to say good work and thank you.