Ren'Py - Lessons in Love [v0.40.0] [Selebus]

  1. 5.00 star(s)

    TyrantofFlowers

    Lessons in Love is a game that makes you feel things. Not always good things, but the experience is richer for the variety.

    The pillar of this game is its writing. The writing is sharp and clever and ruthless towards both its characters and its audience in the best way possible.

    This is not a game that coddles its players with banal fantasies. It is a game that picks away at the edges of such fantasies and digs into them to find the existential horror underneath. If you have ever been playing or reading an adult game and felt a vague unease because you realized that you liked a character too much to want to jerk off to them (probably right after having jerked off to them), this game will rip off that scab and dig its fingers into the wound. It will hold up a mirror and show you things about yourself you are deeply uncomfortable with and make you think about things you would rather forget.

    There are characters and story arcs and even just individual lines that will take up space in your head rent free.

    Lessons in Love is a story about fucking high school girls what it means to be happy.

    I get it, you may have reservations. You may not like the art style. You might find the gameplay a little repetitive. This game isn't perfect. But it is brilliant and engrossing and there is nothing else like it.
  2. 5.00 star(s)

    AnotherAnonymousUser12

    (Review as of v0.13.0 Part2)

    I actually dropped this game a long time ago because I was still new to the adult VN scene and didn't find a quick fap here. However, as time passed, I wanted something with more depth, so I decided to give it another shot.

    I could sit here and type out an extensively detailed review about how spectacular this VN is, but I truly believe that would spoil the journey you go through that really makes this game stand out.

    So I'll say if you are looking for:
    • Naturally built character development for an extensive amount of characters, including the MC
    • Well written dialogue that, coupled with the first point, allow each character to feel like they have their own unique personality
    • A story that builds slowly but surely, where it's not all sunshine and smiles
    then give this one a chance.

    UPDATE (December 5, 2021): After reading some of the less positive reviews, I will admit there were some cons that I bypassed early on:
    - Yes, it was difficult to tell how/when certain events are triggered. I actually don't know if this has been addressed in the vanilla game, but I use the mod that tells you when and how a certain event is ready to be triggered.
    - Yes, there was a grind with affection and days. I used a save editor to update those to values that aren't blockers for me for story progression.
  3. 5.00 star(s)

    crustlord12

    An absolutely amazing game. Great renders and plenty of scenes, huge variety of girls and they all feel incredibly unique. Story is actually very interesting as well, don't always expect to be playing this with dick in hand (though there are also plenty of opportunities for that as well).

    Tack on the fact that Selebus posts on a schedule, with plenty of content each update - this is the first game here where I 100% had no problems supporting on Patreon after I found this game here.

    It is absolutely a must play and if you can afford it, a must support as well.

    Edit after v0.21.0 Part 1 - 5 stars remains at 5 stars - I still think this is an excellently written game, but I really, really do worry about it getting too drawn out. There are a shit ton of characters, and while it's nice to see that Selebus wants the story to go on for years and years... I don't think I can really play this game for that long, just with life and everything. So it kinda sucks that I may never really see a resolution to this story. Can't help but worry about it just becoming too big for itself, in a way. Bigger doesn't always necessarily mean better (no pun intended.)
  4. 5.00 star(s)

    maxv3s

    This game is horrible. And by that, I mean it is absolutely brilliant – so much so, that I am afraid I will never come across something that good ever again.

    There is, in my opinion, one problem with this game – it is not what many people expect it to be. It is not a simple eroge with lewd graphics lightly sprinkled with some background story. Approaching it with this assumption is akin to going to the movies only for the purpose of eating popcorn.

    In actuality this game is a top-quality work of fiction with erotic material being an integral part of its structure. The narrative is its main asset – both the main story and the character plots. Despite being a work in progress the plot is very well developed and emotionally engaging – it will make you laugh, make you cry, make you angry, make you sad, it will make you question your actions, your perception, your reality.

    In the beginning of the game several girls were my favorites while others I viewed as a nice background. Now I refuse to chose which of the m I like more – there is no second place I my heart for any of them. This, in my opinion, shows how well the characters are developed and how emotionally involving the story gets. I very nearly had a heart attack during the “colored-bird” event – it is now in the list of top-5 things that are guaranteed to make me cry when I think about them.

    Some people have mentioned it their reviews the poorer quality of graphics during the “horror” scenes compared to the otherwise high standard of games graphics. Personally, I view this discrepancy as a necessity – they will be less disturbing if they were the same as those during normal scenes. Think of these scenes as the underside of the fabric of the reality, and just as in ordinary fabrics, the underside’s colors are all bleak and the patterns are all blurred, and if you have to happen to look at the underside of the embroidery - it looks like something that crawled out of the abyss.

    There is a slight matter of “grind” that is necessary for the progression of the events, but I found it easier to deal with if I look at it as not only the girls gaining affection points from my actions, but also as myself developing more affection for them – just as it would be the case in real life relationships – the more you do things together the closer you get.

    Overall I must say that it is a shame that due to the hypocrisy and subjective morality of our society the work of such caliber is destined not to be widely known – it deserves to be a lot more than just some niche-audience product. I am very glad to have found it and will await further updates with great anticipation.

    P.S.: I know it appears to be highly unlikely, but I just have to say this (and hope) – I really want to build the castle for all of them.
  5. 4.00 star(s)

    pwnography

    You ever heard a great song and then looked up the band and they had 20 similar songs and listened to them all and eventually got sick of the same sound? That's basically this game.

    It's very well written but extremely repetitive. Every character has some flavor of depression, the MC will go into a monologue about how awful he is without changing anything, a horror segment will weird you out until you start skipping it since you've seen 5 of them already.

    That extends to the gameplay too. A simple system where you choose who to hang out with. However, it's just overwhelmed eventually. There are about 20 characters who have multiple hang out spots, love/lust to grind and no idea how to progress events. Do you need points? Visit them somewhere else? Do a main event first? How do you start that? Don't know, just do random things until it clicks.

    In the end, the game itself is pretty good but also a fantastic lesson that moderation is sorely needed.
  6. 2.00 star(s)

    Serupiko

    Review of the version v0.13.0 Part2

    Lessons of Love is a harem game where you get isekai'd and become the sensei of an all female class. The world seems to be in a war and nearly all men have been drafted. Seems like a blatant excuse but I'd rather have no men than the horrible big kids that the koikatsu engine makes men look like.

    The story is mostly about focusing on the different girls, but there are different parts wanting to be horrorlike or disturbing in between. These ones tend to be more annoying than anything and can be quite annoying when you get random flashing images while u play.

    Each girl has their own stereotypes and story to follow. Some are better than others, but there are no girls that feel like an afterthought. Some girls progress faster than others in the lewd department, which feels it ruins the pace. Worst offender for me was the beach vacation, first major event yet it feels bland for how far you are in the story Being jerked off a few times and having a 3some with ayane and the twin girl and most stuff you get are walls of text.

    Which takes me to how lenghty is this game for the amount of actual lewd stuff and interesting events in comparison to the grindfest and the great amounts of reading. Like I get it, many girls, need many time to develop, but it feels that i can spend entire weeks on fast forward clicking menus to grind the points needed for the next event. Which btw i ended up needing to use the wiki to find out what to do a few times.

    Finally, the graphics and lewd shit... Well, its koikatsu, so it can be polarising. Some characters look way better than other, and the MC looks like an obese 10 year old while clothed. Kudos for at least not making the repeatable sex scens a carbon copy of the first time you do it.

    Finally, its a eh game imo. Started great, but declined. I can look over some stuff but the bad outweights the good more and more as the story progresses.

    Also I hoped for more girl on girl stuff lol
  7. 5.00 star(s)

    zxcvzxcv

    Lessons in Love is my favorite game on this site, by far. It's not hugely interactive, more of a visual novel, but what makes it stand out is the writing. The writing is leagues better than any other adult game I've ever seen, and is honestly better than a lot of non-adult games. All of the characters are really well thought-out and extremely engaging, I never want this game to end and will fund it on Patreon for as long as it's updated.

    The only downside is that it can be tedious to find the remaining unviewed content sometimes, but it's a small price to pay for everything good about the game.
  8. 5.00 star(s)

    crazedmanner

    One of if not THE best game ive ever played. Just trust me when i say the game just gets better and better with phenomenal character development and crazy hot dialogue its a must play for any harem game lover. I got a few lessons in love myself playing and cannot wait for future updates. Donate to the patreon if you get a chance as well.
  9. 5.00 star(s)

    ChineseCookingUtensil

    Lessons in Love is a psychological horror visual novel by Selebus. So pay some attention attention to the words that coomers may find offensive. I'll provide a proper "review" after these forewords. Though I don't promise it'll be well articulated or thought through.

    Stop fapping and start reading. I'm serious, this guy's writing is phenomenal. Instead of focusing on getting to the next h-scene to get your rocks off, maybe pay attention and enjoy every little piece. I'm not above any of you when we consider that I found this game because of a desire to fap, but Jesus fucking Christ there is something much more here than that. The characters are great, the story is good when you really look into it, the writing is fantastic, Niki Nakayama is probably my favorite newest addition for reasons I'm not going to even begin to get into. So get your hand away from your genitals, sit up straight or recline and just experience this, please, it is good.

    Plot
    You have arguably been isekai'd into the adult body of a teacher who will be referred to from this point forward as Sensei. Why is he Sensei? I don't know bro. This world was made for you, so have sex with these girls because they were made for you and you alone, Sensei.

    You, the player, will point Sensei in directions and watch as he does things. What are these things you ask? Oh, you're not asking? Too fucking bad, I'm in a great mood. Sensei will meet all sorts of girls ranging from
    • His tsundere student
    • His niece
    • His niece's friend who loves him
    • His niece's best friend who happens to be a shrine maiden
    • His moe magnet of a student
    • His homie
    • Futaba
    • And more!
    He will speak to cute teenage girls, he will groom develop healthy student & teacher relationships with said teenage girls while serving as their guidance counselor and homeroom teacher, helping them learn how to sex become better people as they grow! Truly a happy and inspiring setting where absolutely nothing can go wrong, don't you agree?

    Characters
    I can not stress enough how much I currently adore these characters and also how much I'll grow to hate them because of who they seemingly are. But seriously, he's written them very well and the way he's done dorm room compositions is brilliant. I'm not going to explain what I mean, because he knows and you'll find out.

    Sound
    This is important. Some of you like to play without sound, I strongly suggest you do NOT do that, you'll miss some important bits. If it really bothers you that much you can lower the volume because it is insanely loud at its highest, but if you drop it to a good level you're in for a treat from bops such as Sweet Vermouth, Yumiska.mp3 and more. Seriously though, play with sound on.

    Art
    The game is rendered in Koikatsu's charastudio. I personally think it looks nice because I do like the style of Koi, but some people may not like it and you may very well be one of them. Admittedly his shot compositions aren't absolutely amazing at the start, and I'm not much of a photographer so I honestly wouldn't know what said absolutely amazing would look like, but I think it gets better as it goes and is not god-awful at the beginning.

    Conclusion
    Yeah I like it. The writing is good and I have been traumatized blessed with nothing but happy things. Go in with the mindset of "This is a visual novel with adult elements that do not take away from the strong emphasis on writing" and you'll be happy. Praise be.
  10. 5.00 star(s)

    CodeShroom

    Best game I played to this day and I'm a $100 patron without any regrets.
    Started out with me playing this thinking it was a simple fap game...wow I was wrong, so much good content than I could ever imagine. This game is story rich, well executed, good rendering, no half ass job as other games. If you are in for the lewds you will stay for the story ;)
  11. 5.00 star(s)

    User690690

    Review based on v13.0 Part2

    Honestly one of my favorite Koikatsu based games on the site. Characters are well-developed and are unique in their own ways. Story seems to flowing along very well. Game itself is pretty clean with hardly any bug.

    I will agree with other reviewers that the horror aspects and the "happy" scenes are a bit lower quality but it adds to the cheesiness of the game.

    Not really much left to say, great game that I look forward to playing when new versions release publicly.
  12. 2.00 star(s)

    user_69

    The CG and most of the characters are pretty good, but where it falls down for me is the "horror" aspects. Both poorly drawn and way too existential, cynical, and depressing for a porn game IMO. I'm not here to be depressed. Also, and this is one of my main qualms with the game, the MC is a complete jackass. Absolute piece of trash of a person, and it makes the game significantly less fun to play. He's always going on about how he doesn't love anything or care about anything, and it's like, fucking grow up and go to a therapist you absolute trash fire.
  13. 5.00 star(s)

    Razorhead

    I don't think I masturbated a single time when playing this game, and I mean this in the best way possible.

    I initially downloaded this game when looking for something quick and dirty, and suddenly found myself four hours later cancelling my other plans for the day as I was so engrossed in the story. This game's writing really is its major draw, and this shines through both in the overarching plot as well as in the various backstories of the characters and the, most often hilarious but sometimes quite poignant dialogue. A particularly great example is the opening of the game. What is usually nothing more than a copy-paste intro to frame the setting that most players here probably fast-forward through is deliberately made to grab your attention to indicate to players that no, this isn't a standard porn game, this is an actual visual novel and you'd better pay attention to the writing as that's where the real meat of the game is to be found, not the meat you beat.

    In terms of visuals this game is definitely a cut above the rest in comparison to most of the games on this website, which means its about average when it comes to actual proper visual novels. An advantage of the 3D model style is that it allows for lots of different shots of the same scene to get a sense of movement and dynamism across, something this game takes advantage of a lot more than many other games in its genre. On the other hand animated scenes are unfortunately lacking. Not that they don't exist, but that there are only a limited number of them. This is a deliberate choice by the developer to cut down on production time, and thus understandable, but somewhat disappointing nonetheless considering how even a few tiny animated scenes here and there could spruce things up.

    Until recently the UI design was passable but not great, but I'm glad to say that a recent update has overhauled the in-game menu to be both pleasant to look at and functionally good to use. The various option and choice screens could still use some work, especially now that the menu has surpassed it in visual design, but this is no major issue.

    The character design is something that I believe is quite deserving of praise. Rather than just focussing on the aspects most players will focus on (the face and other, well, assets) detail was also spent on the characters' clothing, overall body language, and the way their overall design fits in with their personality and backstory, rather than just haphazardly throwing various personalities, clothes, and body designs together based on what the developer thinks players might like in some sort of potpourri of pandering.

    Coming to the story I have nothing but praise. Do beware that this is not a regular dating sim or slice-of-life story, but rather a horror game. Not in the jump-scare or slasher kind of way, but rather akin to a more subtle, mysterious thriller. That's not to say disturbing scenes and content will never appear, but the horror here is mostly contained within the writing rather than in visual form. This story is so far mostly a slow burn, with the main horror plot only surfacing here and there before lurking below the surface again for a period of time. While this does lend itself well to create an unsettling atmosphere where you don't know when—not if, when—things will go wrong as the story lulls you back into a false sense of security before pulling the rug to the pool filled with horrors out from under you, resulting in a sudden icy splash, this does mean the beginning of the game can be seen as having too slow a pace at times. Luckily the inclusion of real plot increases in occurrence as you progress through the story, as would be expected, and you could argue that the slow beginning is deliberate to establish a baseline of normality before the main plot begins to violently tear it all apart, but I feel it still could have been somewhat faster.

    The characters so far range from good to great. Many of the characters have already revealed part of their circumstances, and some have even reached a turning point in the character development, but unfortunately some are only still in their introductory phase in the current version. And with the developer adding more characters in the foreseeable future this has me somewhat wary that these characters will have to wait a bit more still until they get the attention they deserve, but this is both the unfortunately reality of a serialised work as well as mere speculation about the future. Do keep in mind though that as of now not every character is as fleshed out as others, and you might need to wait a bit still.

    One particular point I would like to draw attention to that I quite like, yet unfortunately rarely see people mention is the audio design. Great care has been taken to find a proper, fitting soundtrack for this game: no standard Kevin MacLeod here. Not only are the pieces fitting for the scenes they are used, the developer has also edited various audio tracks for the more... interesting scenes, creating a nice sense of immersion.

    Now sadly comes the other side of the coin, as even a game as great as this one is not without its flaws. Besides the minor things I have already mentioned, I only have one major issue with this game, namely that sometimes the triggers to continue the story can be quite hard to find, being somewhat obtuse. Many times people comment in the thread here or on discord asking for help when they get stuck, and frequently they get stuck on the same events, indicating I am not alone in finding the game sometimes difficult to progress. To mitigate this the developer has added a link to the wiki in the game menu, to assist players in these circumstances, but in my opinion this is a mere band-aid which hides a greater wound underneath. No game should require the player to check a wiki or ask others for help in order to proceed. Don't get me wrong; this is not an argument to dumb the game down so that everyone can progress without issue, as every game will no doubt have players that get stuck sometimes, but when it happens to this large a portion of the playerbase, and in the exact same spots, this is an sign that perhaps there should be more in-game indication of what to do in order to continue the story.

    That being said with this being my only real point of complaint the quality of the rest of the game more than makes up for this, and so it is well deserving of the high score I have given it. I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing where this game continues to go in the future, as it is by far the game whose updates I'm most looking forward to on this entire website. Definitely recommended for anyone interested in something with more substance.
  14. 5.00 star(s)

    PeterXHunter

    Played this game since version 0.2.0, i feel happy to found this game. At first, i think this is just an ordinary fap game. But after played it, the story and character are very well written. The character feeling like a real person, when the story are very interesting, with underlying things going on underneath our feet. The room with clock caught me off guard to be honest, but i don't read this game tag when i first played, so it's okay. One more thing that i like is bgm on this game, some of them are relaxing.
  15. 1.00 star(s)

    feeling_quarantired

    Used to love this game. Then, I slowly put the clues together and realized this game has you trying to fuck children. The loli tag wasn't always there and it was easy to assume they were 18+ like the game suggests. Then, they start talking about algebra 1 and you notice they don't have cars and most don't have jobs and a lot of the fans are sexualizing a character who is like 10 or 11 years old. It's fucked and gross and I regret wasting my time on this.
  16. 5.00 star(s)

    Solution_CC

    This is my very first VN and my first porn game. I originally came here for a good fap but I found so much more. I was completely not expecting something like this.. something this good. Saying the writing is amazing would be an understatement. I find myself caring for each and every one of these characters, so much so that I think about them and their actions/future actions when I am not playing the game. There are many other parts that get me thinking while not playing as well.. certain phrases, certain scenes that are very impactful in more than just a 'game' level. I look forward to playing this like I look forward to reading my favorite book series, it really means a lot to me. Thank you Selebus for creating something that has the power to affect me even when I am away from it.
  17. 5.00 star(s)

    Natsodihu

    didn't had to go this hard on the writingㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
  18. 5.00 star(s)

    asdasdasdddsssass

    As far as VN's go this is by far the one i enjoy the most.

    The story is very interesting, some moments make you (the player, irl) perform some cyber detective work to understand more and it's always entertaining when that happens. The dev knows how to throw jokes and punches at you in a good way.

    The characters somehow always find a way of making you interested in learning more about them and even characters i didn't like at first managed change my opinion the more i interacted with them.

    There's a lot of attention to details and love put into this game. You should definitely give this game a try.
  19. 5.00 star(s)

    buff

    Quite simply, this is the best H-game I've yet come across.

    The writing is top notch. I don't mean "top notch by porno standards", I mean it is legitimately really good writing. The game has aspects of an erotic hentai manga, a psychological horror thriller, and a comedy, and it manages to be above par in all the aspects. It masquerades as a fairly typical VN about fucking hot schoolgirls before you get deep enough into the story to realize it is far more than that, but even at its most superficial it still excels-- in other words, if you cut out all the great comedic dialogue and the deeper story, it'd still be a good game based purely on that outermost layer. Likewise if you dropped the sex out it'd still be a solid comedy and deeply interesting horror story.

    In addition, the game has a lot of nice quality of life perks-- releases like clockwork, strong discord and wiki communities, better-than-average user interface, in-game help done in an innovative way that helps you avoid getting stuck without dropping spoilery hints, etc.

    Can't recommend it enough. The game has little or no content in my top two fetishes and it's still my favorite.
  20. 5.00 star(s)

    Cortex

    This game has some of the best writing imo of any game on this site. The story is so good you'll forget you even downloaded it for the plethora of anime girls available.

    Story: 10/10. Seriously, this game is an emotional roller coaster that'll take you from horny, to sad, to scared, then it'll fill you with joy and HOPE. All the characters are incredibly well written, each have their own flaws that keep them grounded and make you want to protect them for the rest of their lives.

    Graphics: 10/10. All the graphics in this game are generated using Koikatsu, so you know that all the girls are going to look great, as well as the scenery.

    Ecchi: 10/10. Not all the girls have sex scenes yet, but what we do see is some top notch scenes only made better by how fleshed out the characters are.

    All in all, Lessons in Love is not just my favorite hentai game, but my favorite VN as well. Support this game on Selebus' Patreon, it's well worth it.