Lust Theory - Season 1 Review

Warning! Before you read any further, this game is intended only for ADULTS since it contains various sexually graphic and suggestive elements that may upset some users. No matter what you do after reading this post, we won't be held liable.

Lust Theory reminds me of the classic Bill Murray's Groundhog Day, with its endearing story about an arrogant, somewhat sad news reporter locked in a time loop who must relive the same day again. In this case, instead of being a reporter, a college student learns to prevent mishaps, woo the girl of his dreams, and simply let loose in the knowledge that tomorrow will bring another chance.

The game contains explicit NSFW content and follows the narrative of a college student who becomes stuck in a time loop and must repeat the same day repeatedly until he figures out what's going on. While most of the material will be consent-friendly, some portions are overly intense.

Lust Theory is an interactive fiction visual novel in which the player reads and responds to text by clicking on objects, exploring environments, and conversing with other characters, mostly girls. You get to see the plot unfold while deciding how it will go. The fact that there is no single narrative with one decision to make every hour is a positive aspect of the game's progression, which occurs over days, with each day being divided into four phases.

In most cases, the plot crosses paths involving the girls you're dealing with and doesn't unfold in a single direction, while you must figure out what to do next for the plot to go forward. There will be a brief introduction, and then it's up to you to explore the plot and reveal its secrets. However, the game includes a hint system that keeps track of our recent actions and suggests what to do next.

The protagonist's primary goal is to have intimate experiences with all the girls he meets until the player learns that he must instead establish rapport with other characters, probe for information, and attempt things that are impossible to do successfully on the first try or require extensive backtracking.

The gameplay consists of you attempting to get down with your loved ones, just like most of the visual novels available on Steam these days. By reliving the same day repeatedly, you get access to new plot elements that give you an advantage in intimate interactions with other characters.

You are immediately thrust into a lengthy and entertaining scene right at the beginning of the game. While it's easy for the tale to grow tedious since it's set on the same day, skipping time phases to reduce repetitive tasks and dialogue leads us straight to moments when things may shift, and new events unfold. Once you reach a particular stage of a relationship with a character, images and videos will be unlocked and can be viewed again in a gallery.

The game operates similarly to any free-roaming visual novel in terms of gameplay, and you'll be confronted with some difficult decisions. There are seven quests that lead to 30 events, including eight hidden events, and each requires you to complete multiple tasks to progress the story with each girl. Unlike most games, it's rather easy to go forward or back in time to any given day, visit any given place, or choose from a variety of available dialogue choices.

If you want to acquire the secret scenes, or rather, secret chapters, simply follow the hints to complete each narrative, then use the guide function on your phone in the upper-left corner of the screen. Since the tale takes different directions after half an hour or so, it's a good idea to utilize the save points unless you prefer to scroll back all the way to the place or situation you want to start again.

Gameplay features of Lust Theory, especially the interactive elements on the screen, in particular the ones that move you around, are nearly always apparent, and the process of finding your way through the game is less frustrating than it is in some of the other games in this genre. The quick travel dropdown allows you to choose a destination from a list and go there directly.

This way, you don't have to move through different locations to reach a particular place. Even though the map shows an extensive city area, most of the game takes place in just a few locations, and you can only travel to a few, such as the colleague's home, the mall, etc. It would have been more engaging if a larger portion of the map had been used.

Lust Theory places a lot of emphasis on the animation since it's the major attraction of the game. Even though they are good, they are also somewhat constrained compared to the number of tasks you need to perform to trigger the animations. Since the game doesn't start with you having a fantastic connection with all the girls, you'll need to spend a lot of time finding out how to maximize the day's events to get the most out of it.

However, it's relatively easy to perform the tasks since they aren't filled with puzzles. And once you reach the animation phase, it seems as if it needs to be more connected to all the tasks you've gone through, which makes it somewhat unrealistic. Sadly, however, the animations are less spontaneous than you'd hope. They are undoubtedly nicely designed, but the movements felt awkward at times.

All the characters in Lust Theory, especially the texture of the girls, seem very realistic despite being computer-generated imagery rather than actual actors. Their expressions are all pre-rendered and presented statically, edited to reflect the characters' actions and facial expressions during dialogue. Few scenes have animations when conversing; however, they're only a few frames long.

Surprisingly, the dialogue seems realistic and even relatable most of the time. Everyone responds appropriately to your dialogue choices; therefore, when faced with an alternative, you can rely on the correct option for how to continue the plot. As far as interactivity goes, you have some say, and your dialogue choices have some effect, albeit not too much; this is still a visual novel, after all.

Even though it's rather simple to predict the conversation you want to get into, if you still didn't get the outcome you wanted on your first attempt, you can always go back and try again with a new set of choices. It seemed restrictive at times because of the game's nature, as you are forced to follow a predetermined plot for most of the story.

You can't interact with the characters who have no role to play in the quests you're following, and later, if you need to rewind to a particular conversation, you'll have to replay all the events till you've progressed the story. This gets gritty at times.

However, the game lives up to the promise of its Groundhog Day-esque time loop. Some simulation gameplay or puzzles, mixed with what it currently has, would make the game more enjoyable. Much of the gameplay relies on trial and error to identify the optimal strategy. A lot of grinding time can be saved by using the available hints.

Even the short, intensive scenes are enjoyable; hopefully, Lust Theory - Season 2 will have more polished animated moves. Lust Theory - Season 1 has enough content to keep you tagged for hours, including the Christmas events, even after you've finished all the quests. The female leads are eye-catching, and the plot is funny enough to elicit a few smiles.