Ren'Py - Lessons in Love [v0.43.0] [Selebus]

Disclaimer 1: This review will have some light spoilers about the true nature of this game (no major spoilers and little minor spoilers)

Disclaimer 2: This review is going to sound fanyboyish as fuck but that’s because it is easy to fanboy over this game. I’m going to have some bold claims in this review but don’t think I got secretly paid to say the stuff that I’m going to praise about this game

Last Disclaimer: I’m not sure what the dev’s aim was when making this game. By this, I mean that I’m not sure what genre the dev (Selebus) wanted to make this game. Is this a “H-game” with an extremely good story with a heavier emphasis on writing and characters rather than lewd stuff, or is this a regular VN that just so happens to have sex scenes? I’m assuming it is the former for the sake of this review otherwise why would there be such a heavy emphasis on sex and lust if this was not a “porn game.” So, just putting this out there that I am writing this review based off the idea that it supposed to be an H-game.



Overview:

What can I say about this game. It is simply a masterpiece and is 100% worth your time. Selebus expertly crafts an unsettling isekai story that completely immerses the reader in its narrative. Selebus says himself in the game that most isekais are hot garbage and I agree. I have never enjoyed an isekai story due to how generic and boring they all are. Even praised isekais that are considered “different” and “unique” like Re:Zero never peaked my interest because of how wack the world building is and how unattachable the characters are. But Lessons in Love ISN’T like other generic, garbage, harem, isekais. It just fucking works. The best way I can describe this game is that it feels like a combination of Higurashi, School days (in the sense that having a harem can go very wrong), and Evangelion (existential stuff and depression). Before you download this game you have to understand what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for a quick fap then this is not the game for you. If you want a game with an interesting story, fleshed out characters with a slow burn development, and THEN a quick fap, this is the game for you.



Writing/Story/ Characters:

• This game’s writing is easily the best part about it. First lets talk about the story. The basic plot concept is that the MC is transported to another world and takes the body of a teacher in an all-girls academy. He then has to advise and take care of his students, including his “niece” all while dealing with some fucked up existential shit. In case you did not see the tags like I did when downloaded this game, this is a horror game. I did not see that tag before playing so when some fucked up shit appeared out of nowhere for the first time it scared the shit out of me.
• What I like about the horror aspects of this game is that Selebus does not rely too much on cheap jump scares to scare the reader with the horror elements of this game. Instead, Lessons in Love’s creepy and isolated atmosphere is the creepiest part of this game. Selebus’s world-building is unmatched in the VN market and the fictional town of Kumon-mi is definitely one of my favorite slice-of-life fictional settings. The town feels lonely and isolated from the rest of the world due to the space war (that I would really like to know more about even though it’s probably just a plot device to get rid of every other man in the game) that sent out every male to war except for essential workers and does not allow its citizens to leave the town. It’s the subtle things that make this loneliness and isolation feel so unnerving. Like when the text of the game tells you that other people are walking around and giving you glances but it is only the text that is telling you that… no actual other humans physically appear in the game other than the main girls and some occasional random employees. Despite being a teacher you see no other teachers or students other than your own up until a certain point. Kumon-mi just feels like a town where everything is on edge and anything could go wrong at any given moment. Another way that Selebus creates “horror” is through sound design. The way music cuts off during certain segments of text can be chilling. There are also the “happy scenes” which in terms of visual horror, it isn’t all that scary, but the dialogue and situations that the characters are put in are wild and fucked. This might be a flaw in trying to combine the horror genre and porn, but sometimes scenes in this game will keep you soft and you won’t even want to jerk off because of the stuff you saw and read 5 minutes before. And sometimes that isn’t even because what you saw or read was scary, but because it was thought provoking and doesn’t really get you in the mood. In terms of actual story, at this point in the game, Lessons in Love is more of a character study and character driven game than a game with a firm, overarching plot. The world is pretty shrouded in mystery right now and could go anywhere with the story.
• Next up: Characters. The meat and potatoes of this game. Lessons in Love’s characters are PHENOMENAL. Especially the MC; he is a realllly good character with a fuck ton of depth. I could write a whole ass essay about why is character is so good and I hope Selebus continues to give him the depth and development he deserves. One of the biggest problems with isekai stories is that the MC doesn’t feel any of the repercussions and consequences of being taken into a new world. In this game, the MC is haunted with fucked up visions and impulses that tear apart his mental state. MC is also morally grey and questions his own decisions. Because he is a whole new world does that give him the right to take advantage of high school girls and his own niece? If it’s a new world can he do whatever he wants without worrying about the repercussions? Should he try to live the same lifestyle that the old Sensei used to live or do whatever he wants? Lessons in Love explores all of these ideas. The girls in this game are also great. They all feel genuine and suffer with real problems. Most importantly, they are interesting and have depth. They each feel different with their own defining traits and attitude towards MC. MC takes a Kentaro Oe approach to these girls and helps them out with their personal problems and guides their development. In fact, the writing is so good with these girls that I lowkey felt guilty about my relationship with them. This game will not hesitate to make you feel like a shitty person, reminding you that you’re fucking school girls, your own niece, and a married woman. It’s both a testament to how “real” this game’s writing is, and an insult to your character. Selebus takes the basic harem smut genre and self awarely turns it into a great character study with amazing development and depth.
• Lastly, overall writing: The underlying themes of this VN, whether if their subtle or in your face, are amazing for an H-game. The game covers a variety of topics such as existentialism, nihilism, religion, depression, infidelity, pedophilia, the cyclicality and repetitiveness of life, unrequited love, social anxiety, and most commonly: daddy issues. It covers these topics in a mostly mature way and genuinely does have me thinking deep at times. This game can be just as deeply analyzed as any other type of art out there. Now, let me preface something. There are gonna be a ton of people who call this game’s writing pretentious and overly edgy. If something like Evangelion can be called pretentious, then a fuckin porn game can be called pretentious. But here’s the thing. I don’t think it matters if something is inherently pretentious if the message still gets across to the viewer/reader. If the reader still gains something out of the source material whether it be entertainment value, deep thoughts, or a new insight on something, then it doesn’t matter if the writing was pretentious because the reader still gained something from it. It all depends on how you interpret Selebus’s writing. If you’re like me and think Selebus is a lowkey genius story-teller, then you won’t mind this game’s “pretentiousness” or “edginess.”

Lewd Stuff:

• Probably the part you were waiting for. The H-scenes in this game are pretty damn good. Good animations and good dirty talk/descriptions. There’s a good amount of them as well. The scenes are pretty vanilla I would say but I like vanilla stuff so I don’t mind. I mentioned this earlier in the review but sometimes it will be hard to be turned on during this game due to the horror aspects and fucked up writing. This game has mood swings like a bitch. Sound during sex scenes would be a huge plus.
• The girls look good for what they are. I’m not really into loli/school girl type figures and this game as a lot of them so if you’re into that, this game is for you. I prefer the older women/ curvier women in this game so my obvious first choices are Futaba, Sara and Haruka. I kind of wish there was more variety in body type with the school girls in this game, they all of extremely similar body types. Their faces and hair are different enough so that’s a positive.

Conclusion: All in all, if you’re tired of the generic porn games on this site and are looking for something with more substance, give this game a shot. There’s not really any grind other than visiting the girls at your own pace and there are not TOO many branching choices to be made in this game. This game is lax in terms of gameplay and does not feel like a waste of time. For the love of god play this fuckin game. It is simply a masterpiece.

EDIT: After considering many things (the initial updates the game received, the direction the story was/is taking, the lack of content for certain parts and so on), I've decided to lower my rating of the game. Initially, I was really happy with the game's state and was extremely eager to see more of it. That has recently changed however.

The game just feels like it's catering to a specific sort of audience instead of the community in general. An example of that was the latest addition to the game when it comes to characters. The character felt a lot more like a "Hey, we're not racist. Here's a black character to celebrate Black History Month" more than simply wanting to add a black character because it'd be good to have more diversity when it came to the women.

The guy has an "episode" where he blacks out and doesn't remember anything just about every other event. It doesn't feel like the guy was "isekai'd" into that body but instead, it's more of a "this guy needs to get himself checked out at the hospital" type of game. The characters are cute, the lexicon used in the game is also superb and there's very rarely any sort of grammatical error, so that's a plus.

All in all, the game just isn't nearly as satisfying to play as it used to. I used to be really hyped to play the new update with my girlfriend, now, I haven't touched the game in the last 2 updates and don't feel compelled to.
It'll remain as a 3/5 for now.

EDIT2: Never mind, dropping it to 1/5 as soon as I saw Chinami (the 9 year old girl) topless in the bath tub. Just to appease a certain bunch of disgusting creatures on his Discord, I'd wager.

This game.... i don't like it.
But maybe that was the point. I don't feel hornu while playing it. Even with sex scenes. I feel disturbed.
All i can say that it's a good game. However untill the end i can't be sure.

Anyway. For new players - Good luck.

My favourite game on the site.

The art is Koikatsu based and you would think it would mean it won't be that special art wise. However, Selebus has done a great job of giving the girls different personalities. When laughing, angry, etc, they all have their own way of showing this, making it so much easier to relate to them as characters. The music ties in with this well, with character theme songs and environments in which certain characters can be found. The game largely feels like a westernised professional Japanese VN.

At the start the game can feel a bit grindy, but you soon understand what the game expects you to do (and what not)..

The story is great! I love the combination of light-hearted fun and not-so-fun. I won't spoil much in the review, but the story+characters are the main draw of this game.

H-Scene wise the game is still developing. There's a good amount of scenes for some of the girls, but they're still relatively vanilla. Personally I don't mind, as scenes are repeatable, and they have very good build up, which adds to the impact/excitement.

Technically the game is good and progressing quickly. Almost every month existing systems are being added (with the most recent one being replayable events).

If you want to play one game on this site and have patience for a good story with some decent sex, play this.

My buddy recommended me this game. This is the most hilarious, mind-boggling, insane game I've touched yet. It went from 0-9,000 in a matter of minutes. I love all the little quirks and hilarious jaunts it has in it. I just hit that one part you know... THAT ONE PART in the beginning... Seriously wtf? You're going to leave me with that and now I'm not going to be able to sleep until I figure out what happens.

I've been having a lot of fun with this one. Thank you for everything. Truly a masterpiece in it's own right. I haven't finished it yet, I'll update my review as time goes on though.

The game music is a 10/10 for me. It's like the creators of Maplestory got their filthy hands on this game. I'm irritated because it's elevator music I actually like. I know, that doesn't make any sense does it?

[Rev @ v0.10.0 Part 2]

I dunno what this is trying to be, but it's trying too hard to be it.

Art's fine.

I found the writing intensely unlikable, pretentious, smarmy, and it smacked its head trying to break the 4th wall too often.

Porn's here. So's a ton of other off-putting crap I didn't care about.

Gameplay is an uninspired point-based flag chase peppered with kaRAYzeh Subvert Your Expectations moments.

TLDR: Nope-y Nope-y BitchImSure Club.

I'm more than halfway done through the game, and at this point I don't even care if there are no lewd scenes (of which, there are quite a few although nothing excessive). The interactions between the characters, their personality and the plot (what is apparent at least) is absolutely beyond the norm. The characters are so brilliantly fleshed out, that it almost seems like a slice of life anime. Unironically, the "protagonist" is not mindless and more often than not, I tend to disagree with his actions (the drawbacks of the medium and a set narrative). The soundtrack is arguably better than any other visual novel I've played, of a similar genre at least- which is nothing short of phenomenal in my honest opinion. The only negative aspect I can think of is the repetitiveness at some points, however it is nowhere near a deal breaker. Given the option, I would wipe my memory and play through at least a couple times more. I did not mention best girl because frankly speaking, all of them are (If someone hurts my homie I will hurt them). A fantastic experience, overall.

Edit:

(Edited for 3/17/2024)
P great... I think?

I've bee playing every update as it comes out for the last 3 years. I really need to replay the game and collect my thoughts totally, but from the experience of the past 3 years I'd say the game is pretty great... i think?

There are some extremely funny moments and some really good events/characters. Almost all of the characters feel distinct, and I want to know more about whats going to happen to them. The general dark themes of the game and exploration of really evil people is interesting to me too. In general, every update theres usually atleast one moment or event I really end up liking.

The "I think" portion comes from the games kind of meandering nature. There is a lot that happens, and things have been picking up recently, but it still feels like theres so much setup without much payoff. Its hard to stay excited about the game when every new update feels like one step forward, two steps. In addition, some of the poetic writing or abundant nihilistic moments can fall flat.

Despite my criticisms, its something that's worth giving a try.
If you like the writing you will probably REALLY like it and if you don't you'll probably hate it (Seems to be no middle ground for this game).

This is one of the best games I've ever played, and most definitely the best koikatsu out there! Really the genius behind Lessons in Love is Selebus' storytelling. The writing is amazing, and there's so much humor and personality in all of the characters, including the MC, that you hardly see in other games. On top of that he manages to somehow make all of the girls look good. I've played a lot of other games that always had one or two girls that are just butt ugly, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got into this little gem.

For the people who get stuck or complain that the game is a grindfest, just take a look at the discord or be a little more patient. This is definitely not one of those stories where you meet a girl the first day and seduce her the next. This is a visual novel that takes time to develop a relationship. If you are keeping track of the affection levels, it seems like events may trigger at specific intervals or something like that, so just take a couple minutes and just do the work. If you actually care about the story and its characters, the wait is totally worth it.

I think that the most impressive feat here is that Selebus pumps out updates biweekly. You can't really say that about other games. This mastermind is really pushing out quality content for a lot of players and he's been the only one that I'm actually glad to support on Patreon. If you guys are looking for a game to play and thoroughly enjoy what it has to offer, instead of just mindlessly rapid-clicking, then this game is perfect for you.

Keep up the good work Selebus! <3

Came here to fap, stayed for the creepy happy story and characters. This is one of those games that will have you crying from sadness laughter.
P.S. Rin Noodles for best girl
P.P.S God is dead Have fun =)

The gameplay is honestly quite grindy and very slow a lot of the times, but this game is probably the most well-written and intriguing porn game I have ever played, like I'm genuinely invested in the plot.

"There is something buried underneath my feet"

One of the best games I've ever played .... All characters are amazing, as you get to know them you will like them all ... The dialogues are great, very fun and funny ...

Great scenes, great character design ...

I'm in love with Ami, best niece ever!!! Flat is justice!

This is one of the better games on this site. Not becuase of the H-sences, but becasue of its story and its writing. This is (in my opinion) a very rare game, it focuses alot on the story and the personalized character. You can feel the diffrencen when two diffrent character are talking, and for me, is something i love and makes them more relatable, they almost feel human. What i also love is the "horror", but its more a psychological horror and has no gore. But what made me hook on this game is the "massage" of the game, and how good the dev put its togheter.

On the gameplay, its quite grindy, and i can see how some will be discourage by the confusing nature of the game, but there is always the discord and the lovely people to help you out.

The dialogue is very good and consistent whit the story.

Now for the nice parts, H-sences. The only way i can describe them is, satisfying. What i think many devs forget (if you are making an story VN) is the build up to the event, and it makes me satisfying even when they happen, i feel like i have actully deserved it. It makes a bond between the player and the character.

The only thing that slightly annoys me is the older sence, which mabye could have a re-do.

5/5, please more clocks

This game, honestly, was one of the best games I've ever played:

Pros:

•Beautiful dialogue and a superbly written plot; characters felt so real.

•Great porn scenes that actually make sense. None of the bullshit hentai logic; you can fuck a girl when it logically makes sense to fuck one.

•Although not all girls have porn scenes YET, the ones who do have great scenes - most of which are animated.

•If you wanna just jerk off, download the gallery unlocker (google Lessons in Love Gallery Unlocker Mod) and jerk off via the gallery scenes. It takes time to get to the h-scenes, just like it takes time to fuck a girl in real life.

•If you've liked Grisaia or Katawa Shoujo, this game is definitely for you.

Tips:

•Helpful to read the guide book on the front page of this discussion, right under the download links. Will alleviate most confusion.

•Google "save editor." and use them for the affection stats (and lust stats when you unlock them) if you hate grinding.

•ALWAYS SAVE every time you need to make a choice, as to not regret it later. Trust me, it happens.

This (v0.09.0 Part 2) is kind of hard to rate for me but I will try anyway.
At the beginning it was fun to play. I liked the dialogues and the girls are really cute.
But the more I played the more annoyed I got. The grind felt excessive at some point. I had to seach for events to trigger without knowing what triggers them or how high I need to grind the stats for them. I felt the dialogues were getting longer and weirder with each event. I just spend days (ingame) clicking and skipping without getting anywhere or anything.
I was at a point where it just got really boring and when I finally found a new event I just didn't care anymore, it registerd in my brain as blablabla skipskipskip blablabla boooring nothing happens.
And then finally... I hit rock bottom... I'm halfway through the main events where it doesn't matter where you go nobody is there (Reset? or the one before? Can't remember).
At that point I just deleted the game because it just felt grindy, boring and weird as fuck and it didn't motivate to keep playing at all.

Fantastic game, lovingly crafted with well-designed characters, who are each treated like actual people who build relationships with the main character at their own personalized rate rather than being lewded just because it's an H game. The game also receives frequent updates, has beautiful storytelling with funny moments and scary moments, as well as touching moments.

I have never supported a game on Patreon before, but this game's story and characters are so good, that I practically had to.

I don't know how this game is getting 5 star ratings, but 2 words can describe this game. Boring Grindfest. That is the only way to describe this game with the same exact text to skip through day in and day out in each in day game. Are there actually any NSFW events in it? I've come across maybe 4 total. When you do get to have sex with Ami, after the first time you actually can't see anything below the waist. Same goes for Ayane. What's the point of going to their dorm rooms to have "fun" when you can't see anything. It can't even be called an open world sandbox game. There are less than 10 places to actually visit. You can't even roam around the house of the MC. The events that trigger are so far in between it's more exciting to watch paint dry than to skip through boring text just to reach them. Maybe in another 2 years or more this game might actually be considered a "good" game with more events and less text to skip through. The UI is in desperate need of a major overhaul. The player shouldn't have to hit escape to see the levels of each girl or the events. The computer in the MC's room is pretty much useless at this point in the game. If you are looking for a quick "fap" game you will be sorely disappointed. I can understand the dev wanting to build relationships instead of just jumping into the h-scenes and the NSFW content. But going through 20 or more in game days for an event to trigger?

This is one of my favorite games on this site. Love the look of the game's scenery and especially the different girls and their different personalities. Each girl has their own story and doesn't really rely on the other characters to advance their arc. Last time i played was version 5. Since then it has been regularly been updating and i can't wait to dive right back into .

When I downloaded this game I was really curious about why people seemed to like It so much and now that I almost completed It I can only agree with them. I think that the characters are well developed and the nsfw scenes are neat but what surprised me the most Is the story, in fact at some point I started to play just to discover more about the story and the "lore" that i almost forgot that It was supposed to be a porn game. I'm not a fan of horror but I appreciated the creepy moments , I can say they're well done and not just made to scare you. I absolutely reccomend It, it deserves to be played !

Usually i don´t write reviews coz english is not my native language.. and i don´t want to torture you but i make an exception here

Positive

- The MC is not dull or an ass (it´s rare these days)
- Every character is well written and has a personality (also rare XD )
- There is no real grind + you can focus on 1 girl and don´t have to raise the other girls to unlock events (at least i didn´t notice)
- It´s not a maze like many other sandbox games
- There is a good amount of content for a game that was released a half year ago

Negaive

- Nothing so far