Love & Sex: Second Base is an erotic dating sim where a geeky guy or girl (hopefully you) gets to be roomates with two very hot people and meet plenty of others in their daily life. The player has the choice of taking on the role of either a guy or a girl and meet a whole cast of unique and memorable characters along the way.
The game, developed by Andrealphus, has a free version with 5 dateable girls and a paid version (Available in both itch.io and Steam) with a total of 20 dateable ladies. While both Mike (The male MC) and Bree (The female MC and one of the bachelorettes) are playable, the female route is very much in an early development stage compared to the male route.
Like Summertime Saga, Love & Sex is a modern, western take on the Japanese nanpa subgenre of dating sims with RPG elements, where you have a sandbox city full of potential romantic interests ready to woo while having to manage your limited time, keep an eye on your economy and your physiological needs (Hunger, hygiene, fun...) and also raising your stats to be able to seduce the girls... and avoid an untimely death.
Unlike Summertime Saga, Love & Sex is somewhat light on the storytelling, lacking an overarching plot (Except perhaps the "roommates" angle) but has complex dating mechanics, with every girl needing a personalized approach and even having unique stats; for example, Harmony has a Purity stat, since she's highly religious, and Lavish has a Professionalism stat reflecting her high ambition at work. Juggling those unique needs is a big part of the gameplay.
Love & Sex: Second Base provides examples of:
- Amazonian Beauty: Most of the girls hit the gym regularly, but Hanna and Ayesha practically live there and are appropriately fit.
- Animals Hate Him: Invoked by name as one of the MC's starting traits. It doesn't seem to have an effect on getting the animal-related game overs, though.
- Bears Are Bad News: Don't visit the forest at night if you don't want to become bear kibble. On the other hand, you get an achievement if you do.
- But Thou Must!: When Alexis confesses that she never cheated on the MC, but she was actually raped and she was too shy and hurt to tell anyone. As a response, you only get a single option "Believe her".
- Big Bad: Dwayne, the CEO of the company Mike works for, is the closest person to one in this game. He's a corrupt sex-obsessed bastard who regularly cheats on his mistress (Cherie, Cassidy's step-mother), has his daughter Cassidy under his muscly thumb, and sexually abuses Aletta. When Mike decides to challenge him, he makes it clear that Mike will be in a world of hurt if he does. The entire office quest-line involving him lasts for a large part of the game (itself a continuation of his daughter Cassidy's own quest-line as well) and will require Mike to use every resource and skill he has at his disposal to try to end his reign of tyranny. Outside of Kylie and Lexi's abusive pimp Danny, Dwayne is bar none the most villainous character in the game.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: While Palla fits this stereotype the most, several girls (Aletta, Alexis, Cassidy, Ayesha) go from somewhat haughty to sweet during their routes.
- Expy: Lexi looks remarkably similar to a grown-up Roxxy from Summertime Saga, has a similar name, dwells in a trailer park and is generally found sucking on a lollipop,
- Guide Dang It!: Some of the girls really make the player work. For example, Palla's route is hard to even trigger without a guide, Cassidy's is a minefield that can even end in the player's death, and Emma's has so many pitfalls and bad endings that has to be planned well in advance. Also, see Kylie below.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The protagonist is nameable, though the default name is Mike Seeker.
- Incompatible Orientation: Subverted: at least two girls have a preferrence for the same sex (In the case of Kleio, it seems to be exclusive, even) but invoke If It's You, It's Okay.
- I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: Audrey's usual modus operandi. Unfortunately for her, Mike is so used to her antics that it rarely works.
- Kinky Roleplaying: Almost all girls have a "kink" stat that determines if they're sexually domineering or submissive. All of them have a tendency to one or the other, but with enough work you can play a Master role with all of them.
- Knight of Cerebus:
- When Kylie appears the game takes a decididely dark turn, so much that most guides recommend not triggering her appearance until you've taken care of most of the other routes.
- Dwayne: the normally lighthearted work substory becomes much more serious once he appears.
- Mood Whiplash: You can go from a sex-comedy situation to Kylie murdering Bree or Sasha and gifting you her head in a present box in a matter of mere minutes.
- Musical Spoiler: During the "Printer Incident" you're supposed to guess who the culprit it. If it wasn't obvious enough that it's Audrey, her leitmotif starts playing right when the event starts.
- Nerds Are Sexy: Bree is a stunning blonde with very nerdy hobbies (Like videogames and cosplay). Minami is also attractive, and an otaku.
- Netorare: Alexis' route has several opportunities for NTR. All of them are avoidable with the correct stats and choices, and avoiding them makes for a generally much happier relationship with Alexis.
- No Fair Cheating: The game is generally lenient if you use cheat mode, but it's not a good idea to cheat while pursuing Bree or Sasha.
- Nonstandard Game Over: While this is no Sierra game, there are ways to meet an early end: namely, you can be mauled by a bear in the forest, eaten by a shark in the beach, shanked by a drug dealer... and that's without mentioning Kylie, the local Yandere...
- Not Blood Siblings: With Midori. Becomes darker when your mother confesses she adopted Midori specifically for that purpose.
- Permanently Missable Content: Unless you tread very lightly, some things are mutually exclusive. Save early, save often.
- Rags to Riches: If you invest time in your job, Mike can go from barely making rent to being the CEO of his company and having more money than he can spend.
- Shower of Love: As the MC's household starts filling with girls, "sharing" the showers with them becomes commonplace, as long as you've reached a certain level of intimacy (Before, they simply get angry at you if you bother them while they're showering)
- Shrinking Violet: Shiori is extremely meek. If you become intimate with her, she becomes more forward, at least. sexually.
