Ren'Py - Lust Academy [S4 v4.2.1d] [Bear in the Night]

This is a tough VN to rate because I WANT to like it much more than I do.

THE GOOD
The models and animations are drop dead gorgeous. Mostly all of them are super attractive and the animations are top notch, providing multiple angles in quite a few scenes. 5/5 art style.

THE BAD
The game has no real bad issues per se...Season 1 starts off well with a fairly interesting introduction into this universe. 3/4 of the way through season 1 after all the characters have been introduced and the mechanics have been explained to us, the Title gets to be... SLOW, BORING, PLODDING and more of chore to slog through then it is to read.

The writing is just uninteresting.. The story beats in Season 2 should work as the plot sounds good but the writing is just dull. It's not a bad game but it also not a good game it's very very average at best.

I'm still slogging my way through season 3 and I will try season 4 but I really don't feel like it, it feels more like a chore than something I want to do. To be fair to this title though I will try Season 4 and see if it gets any better.

Also all women are treated the exact same way, with respect and love as if each one was on the girlfriend route... I don't look for logic but there are damn near 40 women all on the girlfriend track with the MC, which makes no sense. This may seem logical to the Anti-NTR crowd but it makes little sense, and worse it makes the love interests all boring as hell.

Amazing renders, I liked them very much. The rest? Oh boy, I seriously tried to keep playing this for the sex scenes alone but I just couldn't force myself to do it in the end.
The LI look good, but that's it, all other aspects of their character despite their looks makes them all very unappealing and actually makes me dislike them quite a lot. The relationships dont build very well imo, its kind of boring actually, maybe because you don't care about them outside of looks. The story itself is a mess, there are choices that are not respected/ignored, its just a hassle to play. I am dropping it here.

It was really good at the start,
but with time the story got shit,
The characters and their relationships with mc got bland,
You fuck the whole college but you still act like casual friends with all the girls,
No developing bonds or romance,
Just fuck n forget and act like a robot or an npc the next time you talk to them,
Renders are good and the structure of the story was good but the bland characters that makes you feel nothing about them or the story had me abandon this game.

I've done all the seasons because I always tell myself it's going to get better, which it hasn't.
- The sandbox gets boring over time (yes, you can put it in VN mode, but I don't recommend it).
- you have no choice except to choose whether you want to have a relationship with the person (which makes it closer to a Kinetic novel than anything else)
- the duels are pretty cool, the only time I felt like I was on a game.
- The renders are of good.
As for the story, there's so much text to read with no interaction that after a while I just skipped it. If you like to read without having a lot of choice, you might enjoy this.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

v Season 4 - 4.1.1d

Story 2/5
Writing 2/5
Graphics 5/5
Characters 2/5
Audio 4/5
Gameplay 4/5

Lust Academy is a Harry Potter spoof with a focus on harem and hot waifus, with story and world building coming a distant second.
You play as MC, the least intelligent man alive (possibly some kind of mental retardation is at play), who one day receives a letter from not-Hogwarts about attending magic school. MC lives with two legal guardians that clearly hate him, and berate him every day, yet MC for some reason trusts these two explicitly. Anyhoo, MC goes off to magic college where every woman has triple-Ds, and even though MC suffers from a bad case of cerebral palsy he turns out to be the best at everything (presumably why the women need triple-Ds). Strangely enough, MC has no interest in magic whatsoever, and only goes to magic school for the purpose of banging hot girls. This turns out well, as every woman, including the teachers, have a thing for the mentally challenged, and MC quickly starts drowning in hot puss. There's also a main storyline somewhere in there, but since MC cares equally about the main plot and working his side hustle as a Downsy waiter, it can't be that important.

Story
The story is something. Not particularly good. It is mostly ruined by awful pacing, a recurring problem where the dev doesn't seem to understand how to follow a thread or weigh significance of different events from the perspective of the MC. This is evident from as early as the exam (an event in the beginning of the VN) where MC is told that the exam is critical, the exam is imminent, and the exam is difficult, yet most of the time in this chapter is spent talking to random people about pointless things. The actual exam part of the chapter is the smallest component. Same with missions and tasks - a large amount of the text dedicated to various tasks revolve around pointless shit while the task itself (which MC has been told is central and important) is resolved in a few lines.
The story also suffers from classic anime syndrome - everyone is wearing plot armor, and no matter how much you use the training/practice features in the game to become a stronger wizard, MC will still get beaten by the weakest of wizards when the plot calls for it. The world as a result does not feel real at all, and even internally it is inconsistent. This ties into the MCs severe retardation - the conclusions he makes to advance the plot are truly immersion-breaking and ricidulous. Trusting someone that tried to murder you five seconds ago? Sure, why not. Trusting the woman that is known for being deceptive and doing everything to get ahead? Absolutely, no problem. Trusting a complete stranger with information that would immediately get your sister expelled if revealed? I don't see why not. Trusting your absolute bitch of a sister with information that would get both you and your other sister expelled? Yes sir. Does the player get a choice in these obvious matters? No. Does the player ever get a choice in the decisions that matter? No. All of the important decisions are made without player input, and this is a strange choice from the side of the devs. The house you end up in is decided beforehand. Whether to tell your magical patron about the plans of the guy that tries to murder you is not a choice given the player. I don't think I've ever disliked an MC this much before.
It is also worth noting that the sex scenes are truly uninspired with nothing out of the ordinary happening. For a game about magical possibilities, this is surprising. In fact, the magic part is weirdly toned down in general.

Writing
The writing, the most important part of any VN, is bad. It's frivolous - way too much exposition usually, far too modern (stop using the word literally to mean figuratively, and stop using the word literally where it doesn't mean anything), Google translated, and in several places simply incoherent. The not-Instagram feature is the worst offender (every post sounds like a shallow teenager's version of "insightful"), and the comments left by MC sound less like a real conversation and more like some kind of idiot meme joke. I fully expected to see a comment of "plz show bob and vagene".
The most egregious error, and the one that takes me out of the game every time, is how schizophrenic the MC is. While the girls for some reason have no clue that MC is sleeping around, it also appears that MC has no clue that MC is sleeping around. Every time he meets a new girl, he acts as a virgin. Then he plays the supreme gentleman, throws out some teenage level "insight" about following your dreams or how no one is ever responsible for their terrible actions. He tells the girl that he has fallen for her and that she's special and everything, then he bangs her. Then he goes back to the dorms, jerks off on a sleeping roommates face, pats himself on the back for being such a kind and caring soul, and goes to sleep. Then he meets a new girl and the clown circus continues. He's a schizophrenic combination of supreme gentleman and Buffalo Bill sex offender. It's annoying how he talks about every girl being perfect and beautiful, how much he cares, only to go blammo on some sleeping girls face five seconds later. It would do much for the game if MC's personality was coherent and made the player feel sane. I'd also like it if the MC wasn't such an absolute beta, and would defend himself from the people that acted like bitches (Don, Don's wife, Audrey, black chick, and so on) instead of trying to appease them like a cuck. That choice is unfortunately not available.

Graphics
Graphics are great. No complaints. I'll say the characters all have far too large boobs, and ideally only one or two girls would, but realism in that area is a personal preference. The UI elements look far more professional than average, and work really well.

Characters
Characters range from acceptable to awful. Too many girls are absolute cunts, and the only choice open is to try and understand them and change their opinions rather than destroying them. The one character that I felt had some interesting thoughts behind her, Dakota, doesn't appear until S2. Most characters should be fairly recognizable - the slut (with huge boobs), the sister (with huge boobs), the nerdy virgin (with huge boobs), the tiger mom daughter (with huge boobs), the zesty black girl (with huge boobs), the MILF (with huge boobs), the second MILF (with huge boobs), the tsundere MILF (with huge boobs), and the list goes on. Most of the characters talk too much about pointless shit, which is further emphasized by the MC having several thoughts about the pointless shit adding even more pointless shit to the pile. It's not great, and most of it ends up being very skippable. To add insult to injury, MC quickly starts calling the girls 'baby' which merely comes off as embarassing and juvenile (in a bad way).

Audio
Audio is pretty good, at least to my ears.

Gameplay
This one is pretty decent. The mini games aren't difficult, can be skipped, and at least the duels are kinda fun before they get tedious. There's not much depth to any of it, but it works well enough. I do wish there were more events and outcomes tied to the duels, as this is supposed to be a game about magic battles. The UI is also intuitive and easy to use / access. Well done.

Summary
An average VN, strangely split between excellent UI/renders/animations and deficient writing/English/creativity.

Truly spectacular! I love this game! It is a wonderful balance between lustful lewd scenes and genuinely good story telling. This world of magic and love will keep you coming back for more. I know I keep coming back to see what they add next

I really used to like this game, it clearly has a lot of effort put into it with really beautifully crafted models and, very unusually for these types of games, the menus look pretty much professional-grade, really top notch.

The problem is the game is just way too much of a slow burn. Do you like a particular girl or a particular thread of the story? Too bad, you'll be lucky if it gets revisited once or twice in a full year. And even then when you get content with that one girl that you've been looking forward to it's way too little and is over before you even get to enjoy it.

season 2 lacked in story and options. I began feeling like my choices didn''t matter and maybe it was never meant to be a "multiple ending" kinda game? Still, I wish it gave me the illusion that my choices mattered like in season 1.

I want to start with a review as a whole, then Season 3 specifically.

To begin, I love the game. The story is very good, and each character for the most part feels like they belong and serve a purpose, no 2 characters are too similar and the important ones get their story fleshed out enough that you actually like their personality.

The characters are what really sell this game. The magic is cool, but most of it is not used, or used once then never seen again. You get 4 real spells to work with. One that does damage, one that does damage over time, one that stuns, one that heals. Pretty basic, but it works I suppose. I just hope they do more with spells in the future as the way they are used right now is extremely bare bones and surface level.

As I mentioned, the characters are what really sets the game apart. My favorite is Haley, as I have her Fan Sig, followed closely by Ashley, as well as Lily, Vanessa, and Season 3 arrival June. Although, I am not a fan of the whole bimbo body type, so the characters such as Victoria, Olivia, Season 3 arrival Eva, and Adele, never really stuck with me despite Victoria and Adele being fan favorites it seems.

Overall, the game is very good. It's had time to grow and develop so it really has found something with it's formula. Sandbox mode is awesome, as it allows me to choose the order of things I do. Additionally, I very much enjoy the ability to replay scenes in the shower. I know it seems like a weird thing to point out, put I like being able to see snipets like that. After you're done the whole night peeping thing, which can be completed in maybe 3 or 4 in-game weeks, there isn't much to do during the night hours, so being able to replay a random scene from a chosen character is really nice. I just slap on a random number generator for which character I get and I basically just get a random scene at that point. I don't know, I like it.

To end this off, I'd like to review Season 3 specifically. Season 3 seems to be the weakest in the game so far, but it's still good, don't get me wrong. I think my main issue with it is that there was too much in one season. It takes you all of Season 2 to free the founders of Cordale, then you free like 2.5 schools in one season. On top of that, they added a whole batch of new characters, which I'm glad they want to add characters, but it feels like there may be too many now. Adding new characters means less energy spent on existing characters and their stories. I mean, Audrey came back after being gone in Season 2 and there is barely any content for her. Only a handful of missions. Sam really doesn't have much going on, nor Ashley. Haley gets a bit, but she's the face of the game pretty much. My point is, it feels like there are too many one off scenes and short storylines for a bunch of characters rather than the longer more engaging stories for existing ones, and I'm just not a fan of that. I feel like the game should have spread out the main story over 2 seasons rather than one, this way, they could have focused on fleshing out the characters from the other schools, as well as the side stories, and gotten more in depth with their characters, which has always been a strong point for the game.

To conclude, I like the game a lot, I just felt that Season 3 tries to cram too much in a small timeframe, I think the main story being spread out among 2 seasons, and allowing there to be more side content for new and old characters, would've benefited the game. We are introduced to new characters at the other schools too, but we kinda just pump and dump before actually being able to connect with them in any way. I'm sure they will return, but I think it would have been better to build up those relationships rather than rushing them so quickly. Either way, the game is still great and has something for pretty much anyone, Season 3 may have left me a little disappointed, but it's not bad by any stretch. Still a 4/5 game.

I gave up after 2 hours of pure bullshit. I used to like this game because it’s clear a lot of effort went into it. The models are beautifully crafted, and the menus look surprisingly professional for a game like this.

But the game is way too slow. If you like a specific girl or storyline, tough luck—you’ll be lucky if it gets any attention once or twice a year. And even when it does, it’s so brief you don’t even get to enjoy it.

The story is a mess. New events pop up out of nowhere, adding to the chaos when there’s already too much going on. Meanwhile, some storylines get ignored for over 10 updates. It’s impossible to stay engaged when nothing makes sense and everything is all over the place.

And the bad English? It’s not the worst, but it’s bad enough to constantly annoy me and make the story even harder to get into.

Unless you’re looking for something insanely slow-paced and confusing, stay far away from this game.

Best 3 star game you will play.

If you asking why not 4 or 5 star, that's because this game will not give you what you want, only what dev wants.
I really hope that dev will consider all these negative reviews and give players what they want. You cannot just show us Victoria's cake and make us wait 3 season to see scenes with her. It is absolutely unnecessary waste of time.

I really wanted to love this game. The models are really good, and I downloaded the game (hoping) that the second hurdle (writing) was as good. It was not. If you can understand any of the dialogue then good on you, but even when you CAN understand the dialogue, its boring and makes no sense. The running theme of this game is that things are happening and for some reason, YOU (as the MC) are the only one that can save everyone, and every minute counts!!!! But... dont worry you can just casually go for a week doing literally nothing but going to random classes and banging random girls (and or guys), with not even the tiniest sense of urgency. Things just seem to work out because, well... because you are special or something. The main story is nothing if not boring, the scenes are well animated and the models are really top shelf. Just so much dissapoint with the actual story. I just... cant.

First of all this is one of my favorite games and is very well done on both the VN and sandbox side. I love all the npcs and the girls are very attractive as we..

Pros
- immersive story
- Solid renders
- Unique NPCs
- Variety of choices and options

Negative
- not many but I would like a bit more romance and I feel like I should be able to ask a girl to be my steady and focus on her. Kind of at times feels like a forced harem with no love.

overall great game and I only have that one little beef with the romance tag. It feels like some dates are romantic, but they end without ever establishing a relationship.

This game had a lot of potential, but unfortunately, it falls short in several key areas. While the visuals are stunning and the renders are top-notch, the writing is subpar, marred by grammatical issues and poor dialogue. The fantasy theme, clearly inspired by Harry Potter, initially seems promising, but the story fails to captivate, feeling more like a shallow porn game than an engaging narrative.

The protagonist is a significant drawback, coming across as both creepy and unintelligent, which detracts from the overall experience. The female characters are two-dimensional, fitting typical harem stereotypes without any real depth or consistency. Despite an intriguing premise, the game does not fulfill its potential, and the more you play, the more evident this becomes.

For those who enjoy visual novel modes and dislike sandbox elements, there is some appeal, but the lack of an interesting plot and the inability to transfer saves between seasons are significant flaws. Ultimately, while the game is worth playing for its visuals, the weak writing and character development leave much to be desired.

It HAD alot of potential ... BUT ... I give it 2 stars because the writing is sub-par to the visuals. While there are some positives to this project, the negatives outweigh them. There are issues with grammar and writing.

I imagine the time and money spent would have been better divided into clearer and more flowing dialogue. Even taking snippets from Harry Potter itself. Many games suffer from this issue Poor dialogue/great renders or Artemphonemic. I had hoped that the problem would have been addressed sooner.

I would recommend playing the game more for the visuals than the dialogue.

Good thing about game is visuals. Renders are top notch and there VN mode for those who hate sandbox. Fantasy theme is inspired from Harry Potter about the story it's not interesting at all. Felt like a porn game that's all there is no interesting elements. Also protagonist is creepy asshole. Completed season 1 dropped the game at season 2 halfway

The scenes are decent enough visually. But that's basically the only thing the game has going for it. It's writing is stale it's protagonist is both creepy AND stupid the girls are completely two dimensional harem stereotypes that change on a dime. The game honestly had an interesting premise but the more you play the more you realize this game is never going to live up to it.

the game itself looks good, but I didn't get season 3 because I can't transfer the save from the second season then, as well as the normal plot is good, mostly the world of cool magic and wizardry Hogwarts

Models, graphics, story everything 's top notch.
Updates are frequent and dev is working really hard to provide updates on time.
Have been playing this game from 2021. And i love it
Support the dev in patreon and leave a feedback in here, so that it can reach out to the newbies.

[Played till 3.4.1d] Great mechanics, fun plot, great LIs (please bring Naomi back and get rid of Gabriella tho)... Just a fun game overall.
I have a few suggestions. Even though it's simple, I dig the duel style and I wish it was more present throughout the main story. I also would like to see a trans femme (operated vag and all) in the future. The last one would be having more people around on the scenes. The world just feels really empty for such a big place.
My complaints are: MC's personality is annoying and I wish it was adjustable and we could have more dialogue choices; maybe it's affected by my disliking towards the MC, but the dialogue could be better; MC's face is the weirdest of 'em all on all 3 seasons (including pixies, giant and mushroom girl); might be her outfit, but Victoria's body took a slightly weird turn in season 3.*

Keep up the good work, dev! Looking forward to see what comes next.