I don't believe there's anything I could tell you about this game that you couldn't hear elsewhere, so I'll just get the obvious out of the way.
It's a masterpiece.
TLDR; Play it. It's for a very specific kind of person but if you are that person it'll hit you like crack. The best melodramatic denpa soap opera this site has to offer. Also my favorite game.
I'm far from claiming I've roamed this desperate wasteland of a site enough to know whether it's the best game on here but if it was true I would be completely unsurprised.
In order to show you how much I love this game I will now go on to list the many many many things I hate about it, with the fact that it might be my favorite game of all time porn or not sitting in the back of your mind.
The Sandbox
It's shit. It's fine for the first chapter of the game (sort of) but it's become glaringly obvious that Selebus (the creator) had absolutely no intent of making it work past this stage. Past chapter 1 the options you have in the game closes down to basically 1 or 2 at a time with 0 indication of who or where you should talk to next. It necessitates a guide essentially. Thankfully the resources are good, but even still it's just terrible design that ages poorer the further the game heads into the future. It's fine if you're playing update by update and know who's getting new events, but if you're catching up you're completely shit out of luck. Speaking of things that necessitate a guide....
The Puzzles
If you aren't aware, Selebus is a smidgeon of an asshole. Not to a disgusting degree or anything, frankly I find his hatred towards people who use this site pretty justified all things considered. The issue comes when he takes these feelings into the game. The game will occasionally hit you with a puzzle that functions as half absurd memory quiz and half trial and error. Visually and aesthetically they're interesting additions, and early on I'd say they're very doable. Even if referring to random as lines no one would remember is dumb, there is an interesting question being asked of how out of your way you intend to go just to play a game that actively does not want you to play it. I am so down with this it's absurd. Even if it's a little pretentious, it actually does serve a function in the story, so it isn't just the author staring at you saying 'pay the puzzle toll asshole'. Nah the REAL issue is that the recent one was complete fucking bullshit and I'm terrified about the direction they're heading in. I think over 60-70% of the questions asked in that one are random 10 digit number combinations that pop up ocassionally and subtly in the games freaky scenes. As you would guess there is no way to simply intuit the answer. You were either paying attention to random numbers on the screen or should die, there is no in between. Just like there is no way to find out where specifically these numbers are, because there ARE NO HINTS in ANY of these puzzles. Most of them are very doable, but combining this with Selebus' very obvious hatred of anyone who cheats at these completely unreasonable puzzles makes it such a downer. He can do them right, but he certainly doesn't always.
The Fucking Length
As far as I'm aware this is one of if not the longest visual novels of all time. It is likely about 50 to 60% done. My god. Little spoilers here but the main character is a piece of shit (lovable in a way, but very very easy to despise). You can imagine how glacial this motherfucker's character development must be considering where we currently are in the game. I get that it isn't supposed to be quick or easy, but at some point the MANY MANY major events that happen during the game would HAVE to incite some genuine change in the main character that isn't "I'll stay prey on the kids but I also love them now!" It wasn't even an issue for me 100 hours in. Not even 130. But the further we go along the more I think about how bad he truly still is despite how much time and development he's gone through. It gets to a point where I honestly struggle to see him as a person anymore, something that was never an issue previously. And considering the content of the game, it leaves the other characters in a really weird spot to all have to grow simultaneously and change while he essentially never does. It's causing some weird problems now, though I might change my opinion on this by the end (in 5 years btw).
The Content
No one will probably agree with me on this, but I'll put it here cause it bugs me more than any of the above combined. Lessons in Love is very explicitly a game about the dangers of child predators, grooming, and exploitative relationships. It critizes both harems and the classic teacher student relationship dynamic we see often in media porn-centric or otherwise. It's about so much more than that as well, but you'd be hard pressed to not call it a main focus. Hell Selebus even started raising funds for charity's about the damn subject, it ain't subtle that it's something he cares about. Which is why it gives me such an insane headache that the game is still exploitative of the girls in the game without any perceivable reason. I'm not a prude saying that they should never be seen naked or anything, that would be stupid. There's just this air about the game that Selebus doesn't really care about sexualizing the characters or even the children in the game if he needs to appeal to his fanbase. And that shit sucks. For some context, he does these requests if you give him enough money where you he makes a frame of your request. It is extremely common for people to give him money so they can see the child characters sexing any of the 30 or so characters in this game. That shit just happens. People make lists as they slowly whittle down the list of characters that haven't been 'dommed' by the little 10 year old. People talk about how if they were in the MC's position they'd do better by only having sex with one of the underage teens. I think you can shrug off any one of these just fine but combined you have to face the facts that the game promotes this type of behavior actively via it's portrayal of these relationships. It's like of that Cuties movie about how gross pageants are had benefits where you got to watch the kids dance personally for you as a sweet bonus. Obviously the difference is that none of the characters in Lessons in Love are real right, but in some ways it just makes the messaging which is such a core aspect of both the main character and the game as a whole feel hollow. I wish I didn't feel this way, but it's impossible to ignore the gnawing sensation of hypocrisy which floods you while playing the game.
I think the actual best comparison I could make is to 'The Coffin of Andey and Leyley'. It's obviously about how fucked the realtionship between the two main characters is and their codependence, but with how the dev is and how the dialogue is you can just feel that the dev is kinda into it. Perhaps it's just an inevitability when delving into topics of the taboo like this so intimately. You can't come out the other side without an understanding of what makes those taboos enticing to begin with. I guess I just wish it wasn't blatantly trying to entice you sometimes, y'know.
The End
This is my favorite game of all time, and I'm not sure it's very close. In spite of the literal moral crisis I find myself in when I play that I outlined very heavily above, it really is just that good. Despite everything existing in this state of unreality where everything feels artificial, like you're in a manufactured situation, the charactersfeel are so real. The writing is immaculate, the prose is beautiful, and each and every character is WILDLY different while also sharing similar thematic tissue. Every single point I complained about above I can also make counterpoints to. The sandbox makes the happy scenes such awesome, innovative experiences, and helps further satirize other harem games. Not to mention that he rewrites almost ALL the events in the MASSIVE sandbox every chapter for EVERY character. And these aren't limpdick one sentence descriptions no no no no no no. These are full on prose and foreshadowing and interesting reflections on the current situation. And the length? That's only an issue because of how character development is paced. If I could have it my way this game would go on forever like the Simpsons or some shit. I would do some vile shit to be able to play the entirety of this game right now, it has me in a chokehold. It's banter is just incredible, and the swings it takes with characters are so interesting and unexpected all the time. No one is better at melodrama on this earth I am 100% serious. And the pace this game is made at?! INSANE. Truly it boggles the mind how the fuck this solo dev pumps this much content while also doing requests like what the fuck are we even talking about her man. The amount of Patreon milking intentional or otherwise is absurd on this site as anyone knows, and this game stands as a bastion of a guy killing himself every month just to get this update out because making this game is exactly what he wants to do. It's beautiful. Like literally even visually it's the best looking Koikatsu game in expressiveness, innovativeness, and just general shot composition. This game made me fall in love with a soundtrack composed almost entirely of royalty free songs. I get nostalgic when I play other porn games because I hear Lessons in Love songs in them.
Everything I'm saying sounds insane but it's a game that you just have to play to understand. You'll either bounce off of it immediately or love it, so just do it already god damn it.
Fuck I love this game.
It's a masterpiece.
TLDR; Play it. It's for a very specific kind of person but if you are that person it'll hit you like crack. The best melodramatic denpa soap opera this site has to offer. Also my favorite game.
I'm far from claiming I've roamed this desperate wasteland of a site enough to know whether it's the best game on here but if it was true I would be completely unsurprised.
In order to show you how much I love this game I will now go on to list the many many many things I hate about it, with the fact that it might be my favorite game of all time porn or not sitting in the back of your mind.
The Sandbox
It's shit. It's fine for the first chapter of the game (sort of) but it's become glaringly obvious that Selebus (the creator) had absolutely no intent of making it work past this stage. Past chapter 1 the options you have in the game closes down to basically 1 or 2 at a time with 0 indication of who or where you should talk to next. It necessitates a guide essentially. Thankfully the resources are good, but even still it's just terrible design that ages poorer the further the game heads into the future. It's fine if you're playing update by update and know who's getting new events, but if you're catching up you're completely shit out of luck. Speaking of things that necessitate a guide....
The Puzzles
If you aren't aware, Selebus is a smidgeon of an asshole. Not to a disgusting degree or anything, frankly I find his hatred towards people who use this site pretty justified all things considered. The issue comes when he takes these feelings into the game. The game will occasionally hit you with a puzzle that functions as half absurd memory quiz and half trial and error. Visually and aesthetically they're interesting additions, and early on I'd say they're very doable. Even if referring to random as lines no one would remember is dumb, there is an interesting question being asked of how out of your way you intend to go just to play a game that actively does not want you to play it. I am so down with this it's absurd. Even if it's a little pretentious, it actually does serve a function in the story, so it isn't just the author staring at you saying 'pay the puzzle toll asshole'. Nah the REAL issue is that the recent one was complete fucking bullshit and I'm terrified about the direction they're heading in. I think over 60-70% of the questions asked in that one are random 10 digit number combinations that pop up ocassionally and subtly in the games freaky scenes. As you would guess there is no way to simply intuit the answer. You were either paying attention to random numbers on the screen or should die, there is no in between. Just like there is no way to find out where specifically these numbers are, because there ARE NO HINTS in ANY of these puzzles. Most of them are very doable, but combining this with Selebus' very obvious hatred of anyone who cheats at these completely unreasonable puzzles makes it such a downer. He can do them right, but he certainly doesn't always.
The Fucking Length
As far as I'm aware this is one of if not the longest visual novels of all time. It is likely about 50 to 60% done. My god. Little spoilers here but the main character is a piece of shit (lovable in a way, but very very easy to despise). You can imagine how glacial this motherfucker's character development must be considering where we currently are in the game. I get that it isn't supposed to be quick or easy, but at some point the MANY MANY major events that happen during the game would HAVE to incite some genuine change in the main character that isn't "I'll stay prey on the kids but I also love them now!" It wasn't even an issue for me 100 hours in. Not even 130. But the further we go along the more I think about how bad he truly still is despite how much time and development he's gone through. It gets to a point where I honestly struggle to see him as a person anymore, something that was never an issue previously. And considering the content of the game, it leaves the other characters in a really weird spot to all have to grow simultaneously and change while he essentially never does. It's causing some weird problems now, though I might change my opinion on this by the end (in 5 years btw).
The Content
No one will probably agree with me on this, but I'll put it here cause it bugs me more than any of the above combined. Lessons in Love is very explicitly a game about the dangers of child predators, grooming, and exploitative relationships. It critizes both harems and the classic teacher student relationship dynamic we see often in media porn-centric or otherwise. It's about so much more than that as well, but you'd be hard pressed to not call it a main focus. Hell Selebus even started raising funds for charity's about the damn subject, it ain't subtle that it's something he cares about. Which is why it gives me such an insane headache that the game is still exploitative of the girls in the game without any perceivable reason. I'm not a prude saying that they should never be seen naked or anything, that would be stupid. There's just this air about the game that Selebus doesn't really care about sexualizing the characters or even the children in the game if he needs to appeal to his fanbase. And that shit sucks. For some context, he does these requests if you give him enough money where you he makes a frame of your request. It is extremely common for people to give him money so they can see the child characters sexing any of the 30 or so characters in this game. That shit just happens. People make lists as they slowly whittle down the list of characters that haven't been 'dommed' by the little 10 year old. People talk about how if they were in the MC's position they'd do better by only having sex with one of the underage teens. I think you can shrug off any one of these just fine but combined you have to face the facts that the game promotes this type of behavior actively via it's portrayal of these relationships. It's like of that Cuties movie about how gross pageants are had benefits where you got to watch the kids dance personally for you as a sweet bonus. Obviously the difference is that none of the characters in Lessons in Love are real right, but in some ways it just makes the messaging which is such a core aspect of both the main character and the game as a whole feel hollow. I wish I didn't feel this way, but it's impossible to ignore the gnawing sensation of hypocrisy which floods you while playing the game.
I think the actual best comparison I could make is to 'The Coffin of Andey and Leyley'. It's obviously about how fucked the realtionship between the two main characters is and their codependence, but with how the dev is and how the dialogue is you can just feel that the dev is kinda into it. Perhaps it's just an inevitability when delving into topics of the taboo like this so intimately. You can't come out the other side without an understanding of what makes those taboos enticing to begin with. I guess I just wish it wasn't blatantly trying to entice you sometimes, y'know.
The End
This is my favorite game of all time, and I'm not sure it's very close. In spite of the literal moral crisis I find myself in when I play that I outlined very heavily above, it really is just that good. Despite everything existing in this state of unreality where everything feels artificial, like you're in a manufactured situation, the characters
Everything I'm saying sounds insane but it's a game that you just have to play to understand. You'll either bounce off of it immediately or love it, so just do it already god damn it.
Fuck I love this game.