VN - Ren'Py - Taboo University [Book One v1.03] [ViNovella Games]

Version: 0.5.21
I'll give it a 2.49/5 because I'm not rounding up.

I enjoyed it at the beginning, but find myself losing interest as the story goes on.

First of all, the branches. I played using the mod, otherwise the game makes you pick just 2 of the 3 groups to investigate. This time constraint feels artificial as the case was cold at the start of the game, and was only reopened because of a pushy teacher. Why do we not have enough time to investigate all 3? And within each branch is a sub-branch between two specific people to investigate. Again - why would we only investigate one of these people?
The choices don't really matter. It's either; Do you want to sleep with this person? or, How would you like the next lines of dialogue to go? Before it continues on with no lasting changes in the MC or others' personalities. Not only that, the MC just makes dumb decisions in general. Everything is moved forward 'for the case' which takes the human element completely out of it. Even if you decide the MC is mad about a situation, he's over it after a couple lines of dialogue.
Also, the choices don't seem to track. Characters often make vague comments about a scene that never happened because I rejected them. The script just assumes you're fucking everyone all the time.

Each of the three branches comes with one forced LI, and various other characters. Some avoidable, some not (talking about lewd scenes). Also, in each of these groups, there is 1 antagonist that doesn't like/trust the MC, but everyone else either instantly or quickly grows to love the MC. I've grown to dislike most of the LI's at this point for one reason or another, including all of the mandatory ones. But in defense of some of them, it's often because of how they reacted to some dumb shit the MC does. The only characters I even care about at this point are Josie, Iona, and Oleysa.

Quality-wise, the renders are good. The animations are robotic, though. There are also a lot of continuity errors between renders due to reusing previous renders from the scene (characters go from standing, to kneeling, back to standing, just based on which character is in focus while talking).
Honestly, the best way to describe it is... the writers came up with a scene, and described what was happening in the scene. They then played a couple rounds of 'telephone' before it got to the artists and we're left with narration of actions that just don't happen. In the lewd scene with Monika, they go from cowgirl to missionary ONLY for the moneyshot render, but the narration is still as if she's in cowgirl.
The Asami lewd scene was just very poorly done. Pretty sure the MC's dick is missing texture in one render, and its such a big difference between narration and what is shown on the renders at the end.

Now, the detective mechanics are pretty cool. There is a conspiracy board to keep track of all characters and their connections to the victims and groups that updates whenever the MC learns something interesting. There are clues you can click on during the game, and "flashbacks" to bring up, but these are mostly in the beginning of the game. Would be cool if this was more involved with more hidden clues to find.
I expected more, and the game started off a lot better than the last couple of updates have delivered. We've gone through 3 'parts' of investigation which each group, and now they're marked finished. Don't know if it means finished for the update, or if we're moving onto another step. I hope it turns around - I really do - but I also hope that at the end of the story we can throw most of the people in jail or get them expelled or something.

this is one of the best games on the site first it uses mostly unique beautiful models with good amount of animations instead of same models that you see in every game! it lacks in fetishes compared to dev previous work but the story is much more interesting than fetish locator actually in term of story i think it's one of the best if not the best each character has actually depth and personality instead of mostly mindless bimbos who fuck mc on first sight and mc is not the only male in the universe and story itself all 3 different ones are really interesting it's probably one of the game that i actually played for story rather than porn but i hope we see more fetishes in future !
it probably can use more choices but i guess it will complicate it's development because you are investigating 3 different branches and each branch has few key branch inside it makes sense that there aren't many choices as dev has to do a lot of work already and further branching will makes it development really long. i didn't like the fact that you can only investigate 2/3 in 3rd round of investigations i don't know why they did it this way and you have to replay the game it should've stayed like part 1 and 2 that you can investigate all nevertheless still 5/5 top 3 games on this site .

This is a kinetic novel, not a visual novel. The choices are so few the dev might as well remove them altogether. Plot itself is... Sigh. Just give the story five minutes and you'll understand why I gave it this rating. Renders are ok, I guess.

'Integrate yourself into the cliques of a prestigious school and uncover their secrets. WHICHEVER PATH YOU CHOOSE, you will have to use your charms and other instruments to...' is what the summary of the game says, but don't expect to do much when it comes to actually making choices because, like I said, there aren't that many (at least not ones that actually mean something).

I could go onto name a few more things that I disliked about the game, like quite a few annoying girls that I had no choice but to deal with since there's no point system and thus all the girls will be close with me no matter what I do, but I cba.


Not a good game, despite what the rating might lead you to believe.

The story is rather good and quite deep. The MC has to investigate 3 different clubs/groups, which is very refreshing in the VN world. The Self-Help club is really disgusting, and that’s exactly on point, we don’t want to enjoy being with these manipulative assholes who brainwash innocent girls who have some issues in their personal life. The Syndicate (fight club) is a great idea and adds a lot to the whole story because of its shady betting system. The Volley club is quite nice but adds very little to the overall story so far, let’s wait and see.

The renders and animations are very good, ViNovella never disappoints in this area.

Here is the BIG negative point now: the lack of real choices, whatever you choose the story is still the same, at this point it’s more a kinetic novel as the only choices you have are to skip some of the sex scenes without any consequence to your relationship with the girls, i.e. you say NO to a girl, next time you see her she will still be all lovey-dovey with you and offer sex again. Even worse! you can have zero point or even negative points with a girl, you will still fuck her, no choice. One would say that it’s for the story, for the investigation, but it’s not, not at all, you can act super friendly with the girls, get some evidence from them, without having to fuck them.

And should we talk about Brigitta? At no point in the story you have the choice to shove your fist into her big useless mouth, which is super frustrating, she just never stops vomiting insults without any reason and you can’t do anything about it.

Prepare to be seduced by a game that will tantalize your senses and leave you craving more. This captivating narrative is like a siren's call, drawing you in with its intricate plot, diverse storylines, and unforgettable characters. Let yourself be swept away by the game's immersive environments, where every detail is a feast for the eyes. And as you venture deeper into this virtual world, you'll discover a cast of characters who will leave you breathless with their charm and depth.

This game is a feast for the senses, with visuals that will make you swoon and characters that will make your heart race. From the sweeping landscapes to the intricate details of the character designs, every element is crafted with passion and artistry. You'll find yourself captivated by the game's rich world-building, so immersive that you'll feel like you're stepping directly into the story.

But the real seduction lies in the game's characters. Each one is a fully realized individual with their own unique story to tell. You'll fall for the strong and independent female leads, the wise and enigmatic mentors, and the quirky and lovable sidekicks. They'll make you laugh, cry, and cheer, and they'll leave an indelible mark on your gaming experience.

The game looks good. Not amazing, because of the plastic skin of the characters, but renders are great quality, there are a lot of locations and a lot of time and effort was put into the game.

Storywise I got indifferent really fast. Start was actually ruined for me by the setup. I've got an incredibly hot looking girl who I am in some relationships with and - out of the blue - I have an undercover job? Pff, no way, sir! Those are not given out as an ordinary missions, they require if not a particular mindset, then at least an agreement. And as a player I am sure I will not give one. Then my girlfriend breaks up with me and tells me to fuck other girls for the mission. Yeeeah, no. at that point I was done.
But then I thought - hey, maybe it can work out with me being a decent human being, but the dev forces unwanted sex scenes on you.

Then comes your neighbours. Sympathy and political correctness. I know, I know I can avoid one of those, but the choice still strongly implies she really is not a real woman and I can't discard that.

MC looks nice, but douchey with the haircut. And I prefer 1st person perspective, but the game makes me look at him too much. Although the guy is not interesting, not particularly witty, so just some nice looking guy without any reason to sympathize with him.

The choices in the plot are far and between, so you just watch and MC's face and read not particularly interesting dialogues.

I would much rather prefer playing an ordinary (or not very ordinary) guy in college leading his own investigation, than the cop. As a player I don't really care about the case. MC just being dropped there.

So regardless of all the future stuff and tags first impressions diverted me from the game. I think there must always be a way to stay one-girl kind of man in serious VNs. This game has none. Also I agree the dev is technically very good, but writing characters and plot lines needs serious improvement in logic and depth. I want to care about characters, I want to like the MC, but here I just don't.

So this was a pretty frustrating experience to play not gonna lie. So let me do the positives first.
Positives: The game is clearly made by pretty talented people at least from a technical point of view . The renders are pretty good and are a step above alot of games on here and the transitions and menus are slick and well made. If you only care about renders and sex scenes then this might be a 5 star game for you.

Negatives: Now this is where the game falls apart for me and its that you have next to no agency in the main story and the game is basically a kinetic have sex or don't(that only lasts so long you are forced into scenes later in the game) novel. Its all justified by the same story mcguffin... I have to do this because the investigation. Every fucked up scenario you are put in, this is the singular justification for the mc actions, even in situations where there is an option to confront people it still ends up in the same result no matter which of the 3 choices you make. I get that the plot is you being undercover but that doesn't mean you have to go along with everything and not use your brain to outsmart or come up with better alternatives.

Maybe when this next part or 2 are out and the investigation parts are over they may give me some agency as to how we progress I could change my review because I do like some of the characters I just wish this wasn't so frustrating to play right now.

The game is just...awkward.
Most of the characters have atrocious personalities, and this isn't the kind of game with a branching narrative so you just have to deal with them, the animations are stiff and there's just something about the female models that seem...off. The butts are too lifted and flat, hair is too big, I just didn't feel it.

Also the 'social situations' you're put into are pretty lame. The first is an introduction to your roommate who is a blind girl that rock climbs ( yeah, sure ), the other is your dorm neighbor who you meet once briefly, and then decide to just walk on into her dorm ( you're a dude, btw ) without any warning and catch her getting frisky. That's about when I dropped it.

It's clearly trying to take itself pseudo-seriously, but I can't do the same. I'm not sure entirely what niche this targets to receive so many five-star ratings, but it's clearly not one I'm part of.

This is another fantastic game by Vinovella, and it is getting off to a start so good it will easily contend with Fetish Locator.

Excellent graphics, enormously broad fetish categories being set up, and so far better character development. It really seems like they learned from Fetish Locator and improved on an already strong base.

The plot is interesting and engaging while not overstaying its welcome. The sex and sensuality is properly distributed and built up sufficiently that it has actual meaning. It's not just nifty animations; the erotic storytelling is very real and quite good.

Honestly my only complaint is the overall stagnation in butthole art, but this is a problem throughout the industry. We have marvelous detail for faces, myriad nipple textures, all variety of skin shades, and yet the genitalia, particularly the buttholes of these characters remain unchanged and unimproved upon for years.

That is a minor concern, however, and like I said above not one confined to this game. In fact, I have yet to find a single game that does not suffer from that problem.

All in all, this game is on my very short list of must-plays.

The game begins with a typical porn AVN in the college setting. But the storyline becomes very captivating as it progresses. There are a lot of characters which are gradually revealed. The story has a thriller like detective vibe to it. Character building is in general good. The renders, visuals and animations are top notch.

Seems like another college porn AVN at first glance but it proves itself as more than that very quickly.

Plot is not that simple that you can come up within a day like in most college AVNs. There are some good foundations that may lead to all sorts of drama and conflicts so a big potential is there for 0.4.17 version. Models, renders and animations are good. The voice effects for dialogues might sound strange at first but it was successful at keeping the reader engaged. Characters are different and may be too different (stereotypical) for my taste but it works. MC is not a dumbfuck which is always a plus.
There are some choices and pathing but we certainly not know the full extent of their impact on story yet. In conclusion, if you are into detective stories with strange overtones this game hits the spot. For now player has no agency to manage investigation in anyway so it seems like a kinetic novel in that aspect. I can say that it got me hooked and I am looking forward to see this AVN unravel.

v0.4.16
Well if you loved Fetish Locator you'll love... actually this is nothing at all like FL even though its from the same dev. I suspect there will be more tags as the game goes on, but as of now its a traditional story/plot driven game. A good game, but nothing at all like FL.

Good- I liked the plot. Its well put together. It makes sense (in porn game terms), at seems to be leading somewhere at a reasonable clip. Its well written in clear, non-engrishy English. The renders are quite nice as well, and the girls are all quite nice to look at, while not looking like rehashed models we've seen in all the other games. The animations, holy smokes there's a lot of em. Honestly I don't think I've seen this many animations in any other game of similar length. And they are good. Most of the animations are not of the lewd type. Speaking of lewds, there actually aren't all that many so far. Certainly nothing compared to their previous work, but what is there is good.

Bad- Vinovella has gone for a large content drops that take a long time to drop. Doesn't bother me but do keep it in mind. Sound/BGM, hm, they were there didn't stand out in any way (good or bad). There is a lot of content, but it does take a while to get going. The detective storyline is spread out over time and not all accessible in a single playthrough, and some done like having to replay things. Personally I think its a feature rather than a bug, but YMMV.

Very well done game. Self-assured. The devs know what they are doing and its gonna be kink friendly at some point. There are only a few updates so far, but those updates are gigantic. Dont be afraid of it only being a 0.4 release, there's a ton here already.

+Amazing renders enough to give 4 stars from the start.
+A really cool MC. We can never have enough of those.
-Too many trap/trans/futa type of characters (3). Not my preference at all.

The game's story is a bit unrealistic so you might have trouble immersing yourself although I personally don't care about the quality of story as long as it doesn't hurt the game (like killing of LIs)

Overall, if you don't think my "-" as a negative the game is probably a 5 star game for you.

[v0.4.16] I'm absolutely invested on the story! The dev took what is probably a cliché on VNs at this point and added the investigation to it which was already enough to pick my interest.
The characters are also quite intriguing and can't throw enough appreciation on ViNovella's way for giving space for trans characters on his games. It's all optional if your masculinity is that brittle. But I do recommend to giving them a chance specially after meeting Lyssa on FL. Looking forward for future updates!

Just played this game an hour or so, but really love the it. The story is interesting, the dialogues are not too long (no click-fest) and the girls are really beautiful and have their own special characteristics

Well done!

An AVN with an interesting story hook

Game sets up a really interesting framing to the story 5 minutes in (won't spoil it here) that makes it more interesting than other VNs that take place at a college.

The decisions you make, specifically the order of your investigation choices, also seem to produce different scenes/impacts. Not clear how big these impacts will be as the story progresses.

Renders are nice, animations are solid. The UI and music are also pretty decent too. Lot of sexual interactions from the get go.

This dev has alot of experience through developing with their other (also popular game). Unfortunately, they seem to share a few problems like:

1. Too many fuck buddies that have zero personalities, which also really detracts from the love interests. There's just too many, with no development and it's hard to keep track of them all as well. There's a point where you get not 1, but 2 buff mma types in the story
2. Animations are decent, but they all still feel a little stiff. The dev has started recently introducing choices during sex scenes (switch positions)

Version: 0.3.16

Gametime: About 3-4 hours if you do all the paths (use multi-mod to do all paths in 1 playthru)

Visuals: 4.5/5 -- Very beautiful well done with unique scenary set pieces. You'll notice some of the most commonly re-used assets in DAZ but overall very visually appealing. The animations are on the same level as FL so very smooth and well done but a pretty short loop.

Story: 5/5 -- This is where the game shines. It is really fun! The idea of the detective corkboard and you investigating is really well done. It keeps your interest outside of sex scenes and you really feel involved even though its probably pretty linear. Piecing the investigation together with different clues that get added id really enjoyaeble and I'm looking forward to seeing where the story goes.

Characters: 5/5 -- A unique and diverse cast. You got the solid sterotypes that work (friend from youth who is in love with you) as well as some really interesting and unique characters (really interested in the blind room-mate). The red-head who is both slutty and shy for those with a Madonna-whore complex . So far only 1 out of the sex partners path do I completely skip (ugly cougar -- don't worry there is also a hot cougar).

Overall: This game feels like a big improvement over fetish-locator. A more serious story with a more likeable MC and theres hints of some extreme fetishes (cum-swapping so far) without it turning into a golden-shower fest.

[v0.3.16]

Expectations were definitely a little lower going into this one. The previous game, while enjoyable, had a fair share of flaws. While Fetish Locator was more of a four star game, Vinovella University is, without a doubt, a five star experience. It's everything current adult visual novels should be, and then some. Great renders, acceptable soundtrack, fantastic/diverse character design, and a very interesting story that keeps you hooked.
The very early twist of your true identity makes this story extra compelling! An undercover cop tracking down three missing girls at an university with several shady moving parts; using whatever means necessary to find helpful information. This allows for my favorite part about any story structured like this. Meeting the big cast of colorful characters and trying to figure out who/what they connect with is such a fun experience!! There really is a girl for everyone in this story and I hope most of them get enough time to shine as the story progresses. Writing skills have also noticeably improved! Not only are the characters written in fun and charming ways, but sexual scenes and even just the story itself are showing great promise!
Overall, a fantastic experience so far! Looking forward to the finished product!

Another great vn from VinovellaGames. Great visuals, animation and models. The story and the investigation stuff looks fun and awesome. The backgroud music and the voice acting also gives depth to the overall experiance. It has that top tier quality like other top games out there. Looking forward to future updates. Hope more people find out about this amazing title.

So far this looks like a really great game. The Story has an intriguing setup and a touch of mysterie which makes it interesting to play. There are quite some secrets to unravel . It doesnt feel forced and has a good pace to it. I really like that you get to know the persons you spend time with and have them open up to you while you listen to them which deepens the realationships slowly. Sometimes it would be better to have them open up even slower in my opinion if their character is built that way which i think is the case with some of the girls but its still fine.
The game overall looks absolutely great and i really like how the girls look. There is quite some diversity to the women and even tho there are a lot of them its not quite obvious how many will be romancable characters. The only thing i dont like is that you go in with kind of beeing in an relationship already i really dislike this in games, but its not too bad.
The Music and Sounds compliment the game really well and even tho i think the voice sounds are unnessecary and annoying maybe there are few people who enjoy them and you can mute them so its not a big deal.
Overall i think its a great game and the dev does a lot of things right which makes it super enjoyable to play.