Now Then Review

We put 10 hours into Now Then before writing anything down. What follows is the version of this review we would have wanted before starting — premise first, mechanics second, content list third, verdict last.

What is Now Then?

Now Then is an adult dating simulator built in Ren'Py. You play through a branching story where the choices that matter are the ones about people — who you trust, who you pursue, and who you quietly stop replying to. The adult content is gated behind those choices rather than sprinkled evenly across the runtime, which is the single biggest thing separating this from the fill-the-gallery school of design.

The build reviewed here is v1.00.0. Now Then is developed episodically, so the chapter count moves; the systems described below have been stable across the last several releases.

Story and setting

Now Then opens on a change of circumstances — a move, a job, an inheritance, the usual doorway — and then does something less usual with it, which is to give the world a clock. Events happen on their own schedule. Miss one and it is genuinely gone, along with whatever it would have unlocked.

Worldbuilding is handled lightly and mostly through implication — you learn what this place is by watching how people behave in it rather than by reading a codex. It is an efficient approach on a small budget, and it means the setting stays coherent even where the art assets have to be reused.

Gameplay and progression

The moment-to-moment loop is simple to describe and harder to master. Between story beats you get a free-roam layer where you pick a location and a character to spend time with. It is not deep, but it is where most of the relationship progression happens, and skipping it in favour of pushing the main story is the fastest way to end up locked out of the routes you wanted.

• Engine: Ren'Py
• Format: adult dating simulator
• Typical route length: around 10 hours
• Saves: cloud-synced across devices

Visuals, art style and sound

The art direction favours mood over resolution. Interiors are lit warm and low, exteriors are washed out, and the effect is a game that looks composed rather than merely rendered. Where it stumbles is in crowd scenes, where the asset reuse becomes visible, but those are rare.

There is no voice acting, which is standard for the format and probably for the best given how badly it usually goes in this genre.

What content does Now Then include?

If you have hard lines, read this section before downloading.

Also worth a look: Luna's Fall from Grace

Now Then covers Anal, Anime, Creampie, Dating Sim, Group Sex, Handjob, Harem, Hentai, Impregnation, Taboo Family, Lesbian, LGBTQ+, Masturbation, Oral, Romance, Sex Simulator, Titfuck, Vaginal, Virgin.

The breadth here is unusual for the category, and it means the game is worth checking against your own list before starting rather than after.

Platforms — how to play Now Then

How you play Now Then depends on what you are playing on.

• Interactive Porn Games — Branching routes, real fail states, endings you can miss.
• Ren'Py Porn Games — The engine behind most of the genre's best writing.
• Adult Visual Novels — Branching stories where the writing carries the game.
• Cloud Save Games — Start on desktop, finish on your phone.
• 3D Porn Games — Rendered scenes, posed lighting, real depth.
• HTML Porn Games — Pure HTML and JavaScript — nothing to install.

Who should play Now Then?

The right audience here is the patient one. Now Then rewards a slow read and punishes a fast one — the choices that matter are buried in ordinary conversations, and clicking through them will lock routes you did not know were open. If you play with the skip key held down, this is not your game.

Before you start

A few things worth knowing before you start.

• Saving: progress syncs to the cloud, so a device swap mid-route is safe.
• Route planning: keep a save before each major choice. Now Then branches early and converges late, which is the arrangement that punishes a single overwrite slot the most.
• Version: start on v1.00.0 or later — earlier builds are missing route content the review above describes.
• Best platform: the Browser build is the one to use; the others trail it by a release or two.
• Content check: read the tag list above before starting. Several of these are route-locked and not signalled in-game before you are already in.

Our verdict on Now Then

The short version: Now Then is worth your time if you read this kind of game for the writing, and worth skipping if you want mechanical depth. It is not trying to be the second thing, and holding that against it misses the point.

Scores below are editorial and comparative — they rank this title against the rest of the Cloud Save Games catalogue on four axes, not against games in general.

• Story and writing: 9.6 / 10
• Visuals and art: 7.3 / 10
• Gameplay and progression: 7.8 / 10
• Content breadth: 8.7 / 10

Now Then FAQ

How long is Now Then?

A single route runs roughly 9 to 19 hours depending on reading speed and how much of the free-roam layer you engage with. Seeing every route takes closer to three times that.

Is Now Then free to play?

Yes. Now Then is distributed free by its developer, with optional support tiers that typically unlock early builds rather than extra content. Everything in the review above was reached on the free build.

Is Now Then safe to download?

Stick to the developer's own distribution page or a reputable mirror. The Ren'Py builds are unsigned by nature, so a browser or antivirus warning is expected and not in itself a red flag — but a reupload from an unknown host is.

Is Now Then still being updated?

The build covered here is v1.00.0. Development is episodic — new chapters land in batches rather than on a schedule, so the version you install today may be several chapters behind the latest supporter build.