Ren'Py - Lust Theory [v0.7.1] [Inceton Games]

It's pretty great as a nukige.

The pacing of the storytelling is great, dialogue and characters well done.

I have a whole litany of complaints though.

• The lack of transition skip is inexcusable.
• It's basically a kinetic novel, no meaningful choices.
• The sandbox is essentially fake, there's no gameplay or choice at all, you just choose which scene to see first and follow the hint instructions like a baby. But IMO this is just fine, and it's better to have a fake sandbox than an annoying one.
• I'm just not very into the whole supernatural mystery aspect of it, it ruins the premise of the "repeating days, can do what you want" fantasy. It makes you feel like a labrat being watched waiting for the moment when the M Night Shamaylan happens.
• Not sure how I like everything happening in a *single day. The game would feel less rushed if it's a week or something, a single day really makes it hard to pretend it's not a porn game, everyone's fucking with basically no time talking.
• There's also a fake sex system where there are no choice or mechanics, it's just every sex clip is gated behind having to make a couple of clicks on a menu to access. It's strange and annoying, horrible UI. (Means I have to move my hand off my cock to move the mouse instead of just hitting spacebar you stupid idiot designers.)

But all in all despite all these foibles the characters feel decent and I like the premise.

Edit: Finished Season 2 and lowered the score 1 star. Story is so trash lmao.

The animations/scenes are the only thing that kept the interest in the game going, but that can only go so far.

Funnily enough, such as you get stuck inside a day (or a few) loop, it feels like this game is stuck in what was cool or new years ago. At least considering gameplay and story. Once again, the looks do the heavy work.

The gameplay and progression are purposely delayed in ways to make you annoyed (I's guess trying to make you keep playing to see what happens next). This can be proved by narrator comments left by the dev saying things like: "one could be annoyed by this happening now". Not exactly those words, but you get the meaning. I think this is a really outdated gameplay loop that h-games had and really show how old the game really is. As stuck years ago as you are inside the same day in the game.

Another old cliché is the loser, stupid and annoying MC. And what bothers me the most is the lack of progression with him. He still is overly insecure, afraid, etc, all those behaviors you can guess with the kind of adjectives I'm using. I totally get he being like that in the beginning, but it really annoys me how he keeps freaking out for plot reasons.

With the above, another thing that really bothers is the writing, its pace, its sense of humor. I understand that I may just not be the target audience, but this feels to be written for a 14-year-old, or less.

Progression is also a big problem since you get stuck inside a loop.
This could have been resolved with the MC maturing, but there is nothing in that regard. It got really uninteresting seeing scenes knowing that they would not have any impact in the gameplay. Maybe it was supposed to be in the same dillema as the MC who never knew when the day would progress and so should always be alert to that, but even that doesn't happen...

Can't say anything about VO since I don't like it. Turned it on a few times and didn't enjoy any.

Choices felt mostly fake, since where it mattered, there were always an exact string of choices to be made. It was cool early on to see some variations, but soon enough it got boring.

The way the game is implemented also have too much repetition. The Dev already tried to attend this skipping when variations were occurring, but frankly, it stills feels boring with how much you see the scenes repeating.

I'm a immersion kinda player who usually reads ALL the story/dialogues, but in here I needed to start skipping to make it to the end of Act 2. Btw, totally skipped all that ending event. Felt reaaaaally uninteresting,
Visual are the saving grace, though. Animations are really good and definitely still great up to this day .
I'd even recommend trying the game for them alone, even if I'd start skipping the story earlier....

In the end, I really wanted to like this game, but concept or delivery, it just doesn't get there, you know? The idea makes the game stretch itself too much and makes you feel like not enough happened (not trying to make a joke about in game days not progressing).

Would play just for the visuals

Started pretty good. I almost exclusively play incest games, and this one used to be in the absolute top because of the models and the actual sex scenes.

But that "Absolute Top" was more of a "hope" than actual reality. Had it progressed at a decent pace (2018 lmao, I was a different person back then). Not did it not keep up the top quality. It kinda degraded. There's only so far you can take the idea of this game and the dev just had no idea how to pivot.

However, none of this would have been so bad, if it weren't a faux-sandbox. You get no benefit from it being a sandbox, except that you can KINDA do events in what order you want. But not really.

Also, big issue. The world feels empty. Characters don't really interact with one another, so it's just MC and FuckToy. But the MC is the most limp dicked looser ever. And the fuck toys ain't that great either. The mom and the school m8 with a crush are okay. I guess the teacher being unlikable is fun for a blackmail route. But tbh, I only like the mom, and no one else.

I keep seeing the game in my feed and my dick goes "we should really check the new update out". But then my brain catches up and says "do we, really?"

It's not that bad. But again. 2018. Had this been a 2022 game, I'd give it some slack. But, it's not.

3 Stars is the absolute most I can give it. And honestly, incest is kinda +1. If you're not into that. There's good models and it's not that grindy.

Mc is an absolutely immature loser, which is way too common in these games. The art is fantastic although way too many of the models are a bit too btba/milfy for me. The loop is fairly well thought out and the english is good quality.

Biggest downfalls are that after you do the set content, the characters just disappear, the house is always empty and the sex scenes such because there are controls, but the player has zero control - you have to have sex exactly as the dev does. no choice

Later versions require patreon login. As grossly obnoxious as I could ever imagine.

Pretty decent game until roughly half way through season 2. I found the direction the story took to be a major boner-killer. I started rapidly clicking through scenes hoping it was just a weird one-time thing and the day would reset returning things to some form of normalcy. But no, just when you think it's gone over the top it finds a new peak to crest. Longer and longer sex scenes which I found to be completely uninteresting because none of the parties involved had any agency. And then the season was over.

Oh well. At least season 2 has a satisfying enough ending to just stop there. It makes sense narratively and I feel no compulsion to play through season 3 like I would if it had ended on a cliff hanger. So kudos to the dev for that. Over all I'd still give it 4/5 despite the flaws.

Season 1 was kinda quirky and funny in a ok way.
However.
This really stopped being funny rather long time ago.

From a sandbox game, one would expect very little things happening and being locked behind grindfest.
This one, however, takes it up to eleven, and even further - the MC is stuck in the literal groundhog day.
Which means events go as follows:
- you accidentally stumble upon a scene with a girl
- the scene gets interrupted due to MC being an epitome of idiot
- you try again the "next day" with MC having meta-knowledge
- the scene gets interrupted due to a female character (whom the scene was with) suddenly deciding to use her brains and not porn logic
- repeat ad nauseam

This gets old rather fast. And it is not like you get to develop some sort of connection with characters, since each day gets reset.

To add insult to injury, MC is basically - regardless of what his age is stated to be in game - a 12-year old.
In one of the scenes he literally jizzed his pants just from touching a girl.
This is just... unbelievable.
Do not recommend at all.

Not a bad game overall.
The protag's cougar is very nice, which is a huge plus.
Start of game is fun, but it becomes somewhat repetitive and boring towards end.
IMHO there ain't enough variety and I gradually lost interest.
TBF might be worth a play and a fap, but don't expect to get hooked.

Story starts out fine in season one but from season 2 it just gets to boring.

Game is very repetitive which you kinda would expect from being a groundhog dag plot, but its a bit to much of the same dialogs over and over, so it really gets boring pretty fast.

The the other thing is that the game is all out kinetic just hiding it behind a sandbox...i wish devs would learn to put in kinetic tag even if it is a sandbox since not all are kinetic like this one.

That also means LIs are forced on you, same with kinks and fetishes and to me thats one of the biggest turn-offs, when you can pick who to fuck since not everyone is into mother/son sex or big tits or loli and so on.

Like i said its a sandbox game and its one of worst types where you have no freedom at all, you just follow the kinetic set questline which makes the hole point of sandbox pointless and a waste of time, its so bad that even questlines are tied together so you cant progress untill you have done everything with every girl, so you truely have 0 controle over anything when it comes to relationships.

MC is also the type i truely hate, hes very childish and absolutly brainless and add to that massive pervert, playing him is just not fun and that alone ruins alot of the story and game.
MC dosent make sense either, first he meets a girl in the pool and just from putting hes hand on her bikini touching tits MC cums..??? i mean either he has a serious problem or its just idiotic and yeah its just idiotic since a min later he fucks her fine, which makes 0 sense since he should cum before even putting it in, its just a very weird game.

Girls 4/5
I liked the look for the girls and theres a bit of diversity in builds as well so thats all good.

Animations 3/5
Pretty standard stuff nothing special.

Music 3/5
Average background music.

Sandbox and Choices 1/5
Its kinetic hidden behind being a sandbox game, you have no freedom other then follow the quests and since they are tied together you cant skip someone you hate either.

Lust Theory offers an engaging and enjoyable experience, especially shining in its early stages. Season 1 is particularly captivating, utilizing a humorous and innovative time loop mechanic inspired by Groundhog Day to create an intriguing and entertaining narrative. The game features impressive renders, well-executed animations, and high-quality voice acting, which together bring the characters and scenarios to life. The exploration and progression through various scenarios keep players hooked, eager to see how each day unfolds and what new interactions and surprises await. While subsequent seasons may not fully capture the magic of the first, they still provide ample content and excitement for fans of the genre. Overall, Lust Theory is a well-crafted and fun game that stands out for its unique concept, engaging story, and polished presentation.

Like others have said, season 1 is really great. The time loop is funny and it puts a good spin on the cliche porn game tropes.

Voice acting is weird to get used to, cause barley any AVGN has it. But its good for the most part. Most of the renders are great. The mom is really hot. But i never really liked the other characters besides your sisters friend. They are just kinda bland, like what you would expect from a AVGN game.

Season 2 is just so boring. At this point the time loop feels really forced. The scenarios that the game puts you in are just bland and not interesting. Also the mom has barely any content which sucks.

Ya blew it.

S1 was great, great scenes due to the groundhog day time loop mechanic. Model choices were average, but the situations you were put in made up for it. Sense of exploration felt fresh, and while the things you were able to do due to the time loop were on the tame, even boring side, the possibility was always there and you looked forward to seeing how far the dev would go with the concept.

But it never got better. S2 was that lukewarm sequel that never quite lives up to its predecessor. Nothing interesting was explored with the time loop this time around. It even felt emotionally detached from the characters and just ended up being a case of how many inexplicable sex scenes can you cram into a certain amount of time at once. I like more than less, but they have to make sense and it started making less and less sense story-wise. Suddenly, the characters were immediately down to fuck, as if the dev forgot they were mostly starting from 0 due to the time loop each time. Some of the things done felt less sexy or boundary pushing and more in line with shock value and edge-factor. The ending reveal had me roll my eyes, but I figured cool, I can end it all with some sort of closure, no matter how forced and unbelievable it may be. On to the next project.

Yet for some reason we're still going...? Make way for the asspull of all asspulls in S3. Really bro? You're going with the fucking "nerd girl in garage who is also hot happens to be some omegasmart inventor" trope? That's your plan to keep this story on life support? She just opened up her github, typed some linux commands and made an all powerful AI timelord capable of altering physical reality and space? Word bro? Lol come on. At least the idea that MC was the only one left as a copy in the simulation after the world ended was far more palatable bullshit than this incredibly uninspired bullshit.

Now it's devolved into a tired romcom sitcom with the MC playing the bumbling fool and we're supposed to sit back and clap like seals at how hilarious it is that after five trillion days of dealing with women he still can't fucking figure out how to express his feelings or communicate without some cliched "misunderstanding" happening for comedic effect. Dude is also going "B-b-b-boobs?!" too like a turbovirgin when near Alice? After fucking everyone's brains out for an eternity? Yeah?

I think it's time to bury the hatchet you used to butcher this game and start a new project. You don't need to keep trying to milk this with the drip feed. Why not just start a new project if you've run out of ideas or inspiration for this one? The game ended, albeit poorly, on S2. Now it's just going further and further down the road into becoming the lower quality redheaded stepchild of Timestamps Lost Love.

It pains me to give this game a "poor" rating in this review... the first season was outstanding, the second season was interesting but quickly got boring/repetitive, and the third season has become an example of how dev's lose focus on the product they are producing and simply enjoy the feedback they got from the early version.

To the dev: the girls look amazing and there's nothing to prevent using those same girls in a new game, but the game play of this one makes it unpleasant... please accept that this game is done, and start the next game.

When you think about it, incest and time loop don't really jell together. An incest game is all about the tension slowly building up, it's about watching your relationships evolve into something new. And while things do happen gradually from the player's perspective in Lust Theory, in the end there's no character development and you just have to believe that the sister who hated you in the morning is ready to jump your bones a few hours later. So weirdly enough, the more I progressed through the story and the less believable it became, leaving me uninterested when things were actually getting serious.

And it's not like the game goes all in with the time loop and lets you to do the craziest shit either, the situations I've seen were pretty standard for a porn game. At least the renders and animation are good.

Fun beginning turned quickly into harem non stop orgy.
Lot of content for porn seekers, not much anything of essense though.
Just another hornyness fest, with some questionable writing choices.
Ugh...

first season was good. second season started off good but when the mc started to split himself and he all these dp scenes started i stopped playing. one mc is enough i dont like sharing and hate devils threesomes. so i stopped playing after that. not recommended if you think like me.

Season 1 is an easy 4 stars, the groundhog day premise and being able to mess around somewhat is great, some really hot scenes.

Season 2 on the other hand seems to forget all of that, the groundhog day premise is still there, but nothing interesting done with it. Repeat things to move the story forward, no choices that lead to hot or interesting things, just linear story pretty much, with an absolutely ludicrous ending (and not in a good way id say).

Season 3 i just stopped "playing" almost instantly.

Long story short, if you like Season 1, just stop playing after it, Season's 2 & 3 are so nothing like it, shame really.

This game was a journey. So much fun.
Game-play was really fun.
Interface: Usual
animations: Very good
voice acting: superb
Story: spectacular

Overall this was a game that took few days to finish and it was amazing.
I really enjoyed personalities of the characters, each had their story, each had past and quirks. I believe an anal scene is available for each character (super important) although with some not explicit.
Very good game if you know what good game is.

The best thing about this game are the renders. They're absolutely fantastic. However, the game is marred by lots of other problems. First off, the premise is that you play a moron who is living the same day over and over again; so basically a porn Groundhog's Day. And therein lies one of the biggest issues of the game: you play a moron who doesn't stop being a moron for the entirety of the game. After a while, the story just drags and drags and becomes less and less interesting the further you go in the game. It also doesn't help that the big plot reveal at the very end of the game comes off as extremely lame.

The sandbox element is completely wasted because the game really plays more like a kinetic novel. What this means is that you can't progress the main story unless you advance every girl manually; even ones you don't care about. You see girls in various areas of the day but you can't even interact with them at all unless it's at a very specific time; which means it might as well be a kinetic novel with all its restrictions.

The voice acting is really hit or miss. Some girls sound bad. Some sound okay and I only thought one of them was excellent. It doesn't help that the voice acting is censored in a sense that none of them say "brother, sister, or mother." This is pretty lame considering I've played plenty of voice visual novels that have no issue saying any of those 3 words.

S1 & S2 combined rating.

If you like groundhog day (the movie) you might find this game amusing. Unfortunately this gimmick of time resetting over and over makes it very hard to build any meaningful sense of progression. Not only within the story itself but also within the characters. This will become even more apparent when you get into season 2. I don't think the writers did an awful job at this, but they certainly could have been more creative with their approach.

Basically forget about the story cause it's not really there. There's just different ways of getting to sex scenes. The sex scenes are decent, but most of them feel very lackluster, basically more of the same. Fails to capture sexual tension and build-up in many cases and there is no shortage of games like that. Turns out making the day reset over and over can really make it hard to develop anything. If I was the writer I would have turned this gimmick on its head in season 2 and actually brought something new to the table, cause it's clearly run its course.

Anyway, the renders are decent, the girls are somewhat unique in their looks, but personality wise they are just cock-hungry sluts who can't stop admiring the MC's horsecock. Having one or two of those girls is fine, but 10+...no. The narration in sex scenes is quite decent, but the same can't be said for the dialogue between characters, again they are basically just too obsessed with the MC beyond a certain point in the game. Add that together with the day resetting and it just becomes a character assassination that would make the most heinous serial killer blush.

The VA is a nice luxury but it can't carry the game on its own.
Still I give S1 & S2 a combined rating of 3.5
Like I said the girls are hot and the scenes are decent. I just wish season 2 took a different route.

I will probably check out season 3 a few updates in, but if it still bangs the same groundhog day drum...

One of the best games out there! I have truly enjoyed it. Every season so far has hit the mark and I am looking forward to see what season 3 brings to the table. It's more than worth it to support the developer.