This review was made after playing the 2.5.2 version of this game with no mods.
We are upon a game I could call unclassifiable. And while some people can find this a little bit exaggerate, I have some things to say about this game that may change your mind. First of all, I want to point the fact the traslation of this game has some mistakes, which it's understandable because japanese is a harder language than english, and the menus can't be edited; I won't take this aspect too serious because it's not an official traslation, but this might be a bother in the experience for the player.
Now, speaking of the game itself, this is one of the best VNs I have played from a developer I don't know, and this game has a little fandom in Internet, and after playing I can understand why. The game has a pretty, unique and interesting gameplay, characteristics, and options. The history is simple, yet somewhat crude but I couldn't say it's depressing; I'm not sure of the intentions of the developer with the history, I don't know if he wanted to show a real problem such as the human traffic in an erotic game from a strange perspective, or if he was just making a tragic history to make the player empatize with Sylvie, the girl who becomes your beloved. If the last option is the correct, then he did it good, because this game it's not pretentious and knows how to show you the tragic life of Slavie with some tact, and nothing feels forced or unnecesary. There's an strange creative decision: At the beggining of the game you can choose to reject Sylvie from the humble merchant who comes at your door, and then, the game ends right there. This breaks a little bit with the immersion in game, however this is an interesting introduction to the decision system of the game. Yes, this game has a decision system, something is not new in the VNs, nevertheless the decisions in this game brings real consequences. And so, this is how you can feel real remorse about what you did wrong in the beggining of the game, and here enters the argument I mentioned before; This game is not pretentious and, when you loose, you feel bad because you had to protect Sylvie with your own hands, yet you failed. 'This is your damn fault' the game yells, or it's your conscience? Then you must start again.
When you finally overcome the initial challenge with Sylvie, and after choosing the right decisions, the game starts to feel more bright. The narrative become less somber, the main character, I mean the doctor we are controlling in-game, starts to act more kind, and the love becomes eventually reprocical. Giving meals to her, getting out for a walk, the chatter, buying clothes, everything becomes more and more happier. I personally felt strange, because it's like you start playing with a character and with a girl, then you end playing with a completely different character and girl. If I had to describe the plot of this game, I would say 'It is like the calm dawn after the unnerving dark'. More or less, this game slowly introduce you to a better path if you do the right decisions.
Now, I want to talk about the art in the game. The art is, unique, and it's probably the most striking part of the game. Starting with Sylvie's design, she's a girl with scars in her body; At least 43% of her body has this mentioned scars. This is where the erotic and the crude argument collide between them; I'm pretty sure some might find her scars unconfortable or even disgusting for the erotic scenes, while others could say it doesn't matter, or even that this gives some enchantment to Sylvie. I cannot call this eroguro either, because she's not beign tortured in the sex scenes and there's no blood spill or grotesque moments beyond her scars. While I understand the idea of her beign a slave with a cruel lifetime behind, the scars may feel somewhat unnecesary. I personally don't find them unpleasant in any way, however I can understand if some people disagree here. Despite of this facts, Sylvie has a beautiful design anyway, and after buying her some clothes, she'll look amazing, so you will eventually feel more comfortable if you're patient. The rest of the art is, strange, and somewhat accompanied with the narrative; It's somber, cold, and the color palette remembers in someways to the classic gothic style; I know the art is subjective, so I personally find the rest of the art in game well done, neverthless something feels off. Even after all the brightness and happiness in the narrative, some parts of the game still don't match at all with this new perspective, feeling like some dark linger in the air. Perhaps the developer made this to remember the player Sylvie has a miserable past and now you're her last beacon of hope in her life; If is this the case, then he made it brillantly. I know some may think I am looking too much in this matter, and they're probably right. However I feel like the developer wanted to do more than your typic erotic game with a sad character who appears in your life and becomes your lover, and wanted to go beyond with the concept.
Finally, in other gameplay features, the game has interesting sexual scenes. The game doesn't restric itself to animations or sequential images like others, you can choose how to treat Sylvie, how to stimulate her, and, in general, how to have a good time with her. This makes the sexual scenes more interactive, going beyond than just reading some predefined text with a few elections, to give freedom to the player instead. There's a command system too, to write some phrases to make actions in-game or to chat with the different characters; Yes, you can chat with others in the game aside of Sylvie. The system needs to polish, but it has potential to become even better; I personally suffered many bugs with this system, I'm not sure if it's the version or my own PC, but I put it as a personal experience while playing the game.
In conclusion: Teaching Feeling has a well-deserved fame in Internet, taking place as one of the best VNs with original characters rather than beign a porn parody. And the reasons of why I find this game as unclassifiable are multiple; From its narrative and interesting history with some ambiguities, to the unique art with strange yet refreshing creative decisions, considering this is a game from 2016. The characters are memorable, the art is consistent and it's well done, and this game feels made with love and polished to make an experience that people won't easily forget in awhile. And while I want to give the 5 stars to this game, I mentioned some problems I had with it, nevertheless thos problems aren't completely relevant, so I won't be too hard and I give it 4 stars. Also, some of my criteria is based in subjective aspects such as the art, so you're completely free to disagree with me. If you want to give this game a chance, then you're delaying too much. Stop reading and download it right now.
