Now & Then

Now & Then Now & Then is an adult visual novel where you guide Jack and his adopted daughter Carol. Make choices that shape relationships across two timelines—past adoption and present survival.

Now & Then

Now & Then is an adult visual novel. It follows Jack Brooks, who lives with his adopted teenage daughter, Carol, in the aftermath of the global COVID-19 pandemic. As you move through the story, you’ll see how Jack’s decision to adopt Carol slowly shapes them into a real family—right up until the fragile order of society begins to fall apart.

Every time you interact with the app, the choices you make can steer the plot, influence relationships, and lead you toward a distinct, personal journey.

Highlights

Dynamic Choices

• The game uses a choice-driven system that lets you determine where events go.



• Your decisions affect relationships and shape the overall narrative.

Deep Character Development

• You’ll meet supporting characters who add extra layers to the story.
• These minor figures help broaden the emotional and situational complexity.

Multiple Scenarios

• Different scenario options let you tailor your playthrough.
• That means each run can feel more personal and unique.

Key Features

Dual-Timeline Exploration

• Players switch between two separate timelines.
• Present timeline: survival comes first. You’ll manage food, shelter, and safety while facing threats in a dystopian world.
• Past timeline: you’ll learn about Jack before society collapsed—especially how he adopted Carol and built their bond during the chaos of the pandemic.

Resource Management & Survival

• Survival mechanics are central to the present timeline.
• You’ll need to collect resources, decide who to trust, and deal with dangers from both people and the environment.
• The outcomes of these choices show up later through the way they affect Jack and Carol’s relationship and how you connect with other survivors.

Character Growth & Dialogue Decisions

• As Jack and Carol’s relationship changes, your role becomes shaping their emotional growth.
• Dialogue choices and actions influence whether Jack becomes a steady, caring father figure or struggles to bridge the gap between grief and fatherhood.
• These interactions form the game’s emotional core.

Emotion-Focused Storytelling

• The narrative is built around emotional impact, not just survival pressure.



• You’ll feel the weight of Jack’s loss and the difficulty of raising Carol in a dangerous world.
• The game blends personal growth with survival elements to deepen your connection to the characters.

Immersive Worldbuilding

• The setting is detailed, ranging from the decayed remains of civilization to quiet, intimate moments between Jack and Carol.
• Explore abandoned cities, forests, and shelters while you scavenge for supplies.
• You’ll also uncover clues about the pandemic and what came after.
• Every area you visit contributes to the story of a world hovering on the edge of collapse.

Branching Story Paths

• Your decisions in both timelines affect how the story resolves.
• For example, whether Jack is more protective or more distant changes how Carol develops and how you interact with other survivors.
• The game includes multiple endings, encouraging replayability and different perspectives.

Changelog

• Fixed code in endings that allowed viewing a Sydney pregnant sex scene.
• Corrected typos where “Marshand” was misspelled as “Marshland.”
• Fixed a code issue in CH15 where Sydney was in a bad state but the scene still allowed sex.
• Fixed additional typos throughout the script.

Developer Update

If you’re following Now & Then here on Itch.io, here’s an update on the FINAL release. It’s being worked on during the downtime between The Interim Domain releases.

This build includes a full code clean-up plus bonus content, such as:

• Chapter Select



• Unlock All option for the Gallery
• Outtakes

As of now, up to Chapter 7 is ready. The FINAL build already has 250+ revised or new shots, including a few new scenes (like the one shown).

The FINAL build will also include some point adjustments, with the possibility of additional fixes if certain routes (example mentioned: NAOMI getting too many points when combined with all alternate content) end up scoring incorrectly.

If anything in the 0.26.0 build seems like it needs tweaking, let the developers know—there are 82k lines of script, so extra eyes are always helpful.