VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Depraved Awakening [v1.0] [PhillyGames]

Overall - 6/10
Hscenes + renders - main reason to play the game is for this
Everything else kinda falls flat
Story - 3/10
MC detective - delve into death of dude -> sex cult - dark mysterious adventure themes
Story / writing- didn't really feel like a detective - going around fucking every girl - flow of story is interrupted so heavily - points for multiple endings
Characters - 4/10
Never really learn them to a deeper meaning - meet -> talk -> sex -> more sex
Animations - 5/10
Sometimes decently smooth, other times 4 fps gif animation.
Renders - 10/10
Models feel similar to being a diks models - they are the best piece of this game
Sound - 7/10
Most of the game is a classic detective BGM - fits to the theme
Playability - 7/10
Hscenes carry this game hard - a lot of it and there is plenty of actions to do whilst in the Hscenes
Multiple endings
No lag

You are a private eye in Free City. Your latest client has found himself dead. As for how, many suspect suicide, though your smarter than that. But poking around may get you in some hot water. But then again why would you be a private eye if you weren't looking to face the heat.

Content: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Graphics: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Script: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Enjoy:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Total: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Depraved Awakening is a nice exception. Remarkable in absolutely all its sections, but it doesn't reach the maximum greatness due to being the debut of PhillyGames.

Some will say it's because it makes beginner's mistakes, but Philly has created, in the first try, a better work than 90% of the works of this kind.

I am sure that “City of Broken Dreamers”, his next work (and taking into account the current reviews) will get 5 stars from me.

Depraved Awakening really managed to nail the noir private eye niche it was going for. From the music to some of the dialogue to the plot it was all well done in that regard. All that was missing was a lot more rain; liquor and the right voice for the role. The plot was entertaining and kept me interested. I wish the main villain had some more backstory to him. I also wish that the character of "The Dragon" had more time as she was my favorite. There is a good amount of choices to be made and I felt like I could take the story where I wanted to more or less. The music wasn't just well done but fit the scenes it was used in well. There is a scene later in the game where it is cutting from a funeral to a police chase back and forth and it is intertwined nicely. Those who just want an erotic game will get their fill but those who want a bit more have something to be offered as well. The game could have used a bit more backstory on the organization you're going up against. Overall this is a solid game. Whether you just want a lewd game or are a fan of visual novels as a whole there is something here for you.

Probably more a 3.5, but I'm rounding up rather than down as I had fun with Depraved Awakening.

This game didn't leave the best first impression ; it's getting on a bit and looks rough at times. Renders can look nice but, early on at least, are average at best. They have a tendency to pull some odd faces, and the "animation" is distractingly bad to the point that still images must have been a better choice. Both aspects, renders and animation, improve as the game progresses and by the end it's much more attractive than when it started.

A noirish detective story, Depraved Awakening is a nice change from the common college/slice of life genres that constitute a large proportion of AVNs. It's not perfect but the dev spins a fairly compelling detective yarn involving mysterious deaths and lots of sex. Nothing mind-blowing but it remains interesting until one of the many ends. The main character, of course, gets to partake in a lot of the old in-out-in-out, some unfortunately happening rather abruptly and ending almost as swiftly. Still, there are many good scenes with some attractive women, and there is a reason the MC is so insatiably horny for much of the story. Technically, the writing is on the better end of AVNs. There are some typos and such but the dialogue is generally well written and believable.

Being a relatively short game, there isn't too much scope for character development, but I did like all of the potential love interests. Christina is probably my favorite, a red-haired firecracker with sky high libido, followed closely by Carli, a sexy escort with a sky-high libido. I wasn't too convinced by Judy, the main character's step-daughter (actual daughter with a patch, but for me that doesn't ring true given some of the MC's behaviour towards her), though she undoubtedly gets some of the hottest scenes. Other characters left less of an impression but I was interested enough to get their scenes and endings.

On which note, playing through Depraved Awakening blindly is likely to result in a lot of scenes being missed. Each love interest has a visible love/lust stat, and often some combination of this and an invisibIe depravity stat for the MC is required to unlock options and scenes. I went blind for my first run and, though happy with my ending, I didn't want to leave it there. Evidently some seemingly innocuous choices lock the player out of scenes, paths, and endings. I recommend at least one blind playthrough as for me a lot of the fun was working out how to get scenes with various characters, but there are walkthroughs and a mod if it's too much hassle.

[SPOILER ALERT]

This game.... I don't truly know what to say, perhaps this is the goofiest dectective-ish game I've ever played. I'm no stranger to detective games, Sherlock Holmes, The Wolf Among Us, L.A Noire, Disco Elysium, Shadows of Doubt, blablabla you name it, but no I'm not going to compare Depraved Awakening with those games. I will, however, talking about the aspects of "how should detective game be make" on this one.

First, I will talk about the story. You start as a private detective (also an ex-cop) who works for a guy name Richards to look for evidences about his wife involvement with some shady organization. A day later, your client has fallen from 25th floor. Since then, you take the case into your own hand without being paid, but also bigger danger and risk behind your back and people around you.

Here's the important point, when you're talking about detective game, you're probably thinking about finding clues, investigate someone's space, interrogation, being an undercover, etc. Sadly, this game doesn't have that (well it does, but not in the way you think). Everything in this game is very straightforward, so if you're an idiot don't worry this game won't push you to think too much. I also don't like the way the story progress because the mystery behind it already explained in the first few moments. The MC is also a little bit dumb, risking too many movements around his enemies without thinking a lot about the people he cares for. Sounds like Max Payne, eh? except this guy ain't Max Payne. To be fair, everything in this game could be cut into half if MC decided to tip the FBI instead of going alone and doing everything alone. Perhaps Stella could be saved that way, but well this game wouldn't have been fun if you cut them in half.

Back to the aspects that I need to talk about, yeah this game doesn't have that mechanics. "Long Live The Princess", an AVN game made by Belle that was also released at the same year as Depraved Awakening, did it much better. It has freeroams, interrogations, finding clues, cross examination, etc, something that this game doesn't have. That game also has multiple endings depend on your investigation. Depraved Awakening, however, its endings are depend on your relationship with some of the women, nothing about your investigation at all because of how straightforward it is.

Second, the sex scenes. Kinda basic but not as basic as "Intertwined". I let it slide because it's one of those old games so don't expect high quality sex scenes. The only positives I can find about this game is the render quality and my baby Judy. So yeah anyway, I gave it three stars at best. Maybe if Philly decides to remaster this game in the future, I would give it four stars instead.

Very good story for AVN standards with great dialogue and lines overall (AVN or not)

Setting is crime noir so doesn't feel as generic as "boy returns home where only his mom and sister live"

Lots of choices, including some really meaningful ones down the road

LIs have lots of personality and feel like different characters

There's no shortage of fappable material

This is like a textbook on how to write a great AVN. Would give it 6 stars if I could

The Story is Good, not the best out there but definitely blows other VNs out of the water. The characters feels kinda normal which can be a good thing, they are a bit one dimensional per se. The Scenes are good, with good variety of choices per scene. Replaying though, feels terrible, Unlocking the scenes is a chore. You will miss a lot of scenes on your first playthrough, so get a walkthrough guide if one is planning to unlock all of the scenes, even then I still missed a scene, somehow.

A great game and one of the most iconic, the TRUE visual novel. An interesting story with several endings (depending on your choices), the soundtrack is what brings the "magic" and immersion to this game, especially Kai Engels' "Something". The characters are well crafted, models very well made, good aesthetics.

Even though it was an above average game, it started to bore me a lot towards the end and sadly I had to quit the game towards the end. It would have been better if some parts were not so long. I didn't feel that the choices in the story were effective enough.

It took some time, but my quest to find something good, new and different (on this website) is now concluded. Depraved awakening makes me wanna use the word GREAT. There are other titles (here) that I'd qualify as great, but my idea was to keep trying stuff outside my comfort zone. This time it's gonna be "all rainbows and flowers review", cause I genuinely believe that Depraved Awakening deserves it, and you that you should try it.

Here's what I liked:

- I never saved - I never felt like was giving a wrong answer, or that I should go back and give another answer. I was always good or at least Ok, with the consequences of my choices, and I never bothered to check the girls" numericals". I was entertained and immersed ALL the time.

- Surprising characters - It was a short run, but something simple like a "switcheroo" between who you can and can't trust did wonders, to add some depth to some of the cast.

- Good writing - I don't know who it is, it doesn't matter. He/she/it/them/other knows what they are doing, and understands how fiction should be delivered, at what pace, and the limits of what can be achieved, in this sort of work. It's perfect within its scope, and some "non-following content" every now and then, doesn't detract from my statement, it actually makes things better.

- My own preconceptions were put into the spotlight - It's simple, I was so relaxed, and natural, that I was able to confirm some things about my own tastes. Ex: I should have been born in Ireland, cause pasty white, freckles, red hair, and green eyes really does it for me. I'm not even sorry, Christina is a freaking treasure.

- The only character that "escaped" was the hooker - I'm a virtual scumbag, but the irony is not lost on me. Are you still here, go read this!!!

- The ending - I ended up alone, and it was fitting after my choices, no idea on the possibilities, but this one felt right (my choice? died... maybe she could be saved).

- Silly similes - I like them, they fit my own taste. Can't give a bigger compliment than that. (I use the word silly because they revolve around things like Dorothy and the wizard of OZ)

- The music is there but it's not intrusive - Some titles have barely any audio, others delve too much on the author's own tastes. This one just gives some adequate ambience. It's good by comparison, not by itself.

- Visuals - Again better by comparison to other titles, although I will say the animations need work on the camera shots. Do note that I'm still new to this kind of presentation (half a dozen titles).

- Action sequences/dramatic events - Good quantity, surprise factor, lasting consequences. What else can you ask for from a work of this magnitude? They are very good.

- Many of my own influences came to mind reading this - Stuff like Spider-Man, resident evil, sin city, even train to Busan (name drop). I don't know about the writer, but I thought about such things.

- Tanned, blond, shy, Korean is a thing - "You live and learn boy". You live and learn.

What about the bad? There's some of course, but people on the internet are finicky. Just this one time let me exert some positive influencing. Lord knows I'm overly critical, most of the time.

This a 10/10, no question, when looking at fun, engagement, surprise and by comparison to the some of the competition. I'm buying this (had a great time with it, it's only fair), replaying it at some point, and checking the developer's other title. If it's close to this good than some support is in order(I'll want more). Highly recommend it, and I'd feel some sort of satisfaction if you also end up enjoying it.

Fun fact - I named my character Humbug Fapdoodle, that should tell you that I had zero expectations reading this.

Just amazing looking women with high quality renders.

Game is just so well polished and looking great.

Awesome storytelling capability with creative imagination.

It's a real pleasure enjoying game from this developer.

This is one true gem of a game. Pure noir detective story (something from Humphrey Bogart era) with nice jazz music and spiced with sex. Game start as a novel, not much of a choice. But as soon as all player are introduced, things start to be more interesting. Decisions affect the further branching of the story, graphics become better and even sex scenes become wilder, witch culminate with the big bang at the end. Actually there are several possible endings, and each one has different end sex scene, but there are all extremely good. Not to mention that all the female characters are very fuckable, I mean likable

Overall a good game which greatly improves as the game progresses. Took me ~4-5 hours to complete and I used the walkthrough mod. I unlocked most scenes, but some depend on which ending you choose. I would rate this a high B-tier or low A-tier game.

TL;DR
Good
-Interesting story (and somewhat realistic?)
-Animation and renders significantly improve in the 2nd half of the game
-The girls have unique models, they aren't just carbon copies that you see in a lot of VNs

Bad
-The animation and renders are really awful at the start
-Some of the girls are not attractive at all (e.g. Kirla)
-Audio is very basic
-Incest patch doesn't feel very natural, i would recommend not using it


Full review:

The story is one of the high points of this game. I really like the mystery and detective work. Since I used the walkthrough mod, I'm not sure how impactful the choices are on the story. I thought the story pacing was great and the conclusion was well done as well.

The character design goes from really awful to amazing. The render quality is average at best for the first 2-3 hours, then for the second half of the game the renders have incredible quality. In particular, Judy's face in the 1st half is really quite ugly and unnatural, but in the 2nd half she's super hot. The only girls which remain hot throughout imo are Carli, Christina, and Stella, and even then their render quality greatly improves. I do appreciate that this game uses models which are unique unlike a lot of other VNs.

The scenes, just like the character design, goes from rudimentary and basic in the 1st half of the game to incredible in the 2nd half. The animation in the 1st half is choppy and often is just 2 images playing back and forth - at that point I'd rather just have still CGs. In the 2nd half of the game, the animation is noticeably better, with actual smooth animation and it's brilliant. The scenes are also easy enough to unlock if you're following the walkthrough mod. There is also a gallery in the main menu which shows all the scenes, even if you havent unlocked them in game which i think is good. One of the problems with City of Broken Dreamers (the dev's other game) was that I only got like half of the scenes and the rest was just locked.

The characters are also interesting, they do have actual personalities for the most part, though of course a lot of them are super slutty (this is a porn game after all). I don't really feel like a huge emotional connection was made with any of the girls in aprticular, in my playthrough, the MC seemed to have gotten together with Carli, but it didn't really feel natural? Like he's banging all these girls and he just chooses Carli, I didnt really have a choice. Another thing is the incest in this game. I feel like Judy wants to fuck you way too easily, after like a few days of living together, and the incest did not really feel natural (though I guess this could be attributed to the Awakening?). Either way, it doesn't affect anything too much, just a small criticism.

My only other 'issue' is taht the audio was very basic, I would've appreciated more moans during scenes or just some music during the story/dialogue as some parts are just completely silent.

Overall, it's a good game with a great story and animation/renders which significantly improves in the 2nd half of the game. If you can get past the choppy, low-quality scenes in the 1st half then it's definitely worth playing.

This game was able to catch my attention, thou I don't really like a used models. Only a Judy (second from right) was able to get my attention on start and Christina(first from right) later.
It was interesting to see the story and check a different routes.
Scenes was quite good too, especially with Judy and Christina.

I have played through this game and I haven't seen half the available characters.

Great atmosphere, ok mystery, above-average writing with believable characters. This is definitely a studio to keep an eye on, as pretty renders are a dime a dozen - writing skill is what separates the good stuff from the chaff, and this game has it.

One of the good 18+ with nice renders, and interesting story, though I am a bit disappointed that one of the victim girl is destined to die, the game still gives a quality time to sit down and enjoy a somewhat bloody, violent but enough sex content to make up for that. Worth playing!

Review of v1.0 completed around half.

Pros:
- Decent size, no pointless grind
- The graphics improves with time
- The game was finished
- Pretty static girls shots
- Lots of sex scenes

Cons:
- pretty meh story for me, maybe better than average game here but I did not care about girls at all they were just sex dolls
- some girls look downright scary when their mimic changes, it improves a bit towards the end
- terrible animation loops
- unlikable protagonist
- the sex talk is pretty bad. MC talks to all girls like sluts which is fun but its a bit much of it here. Also even that is pretty low quality.

Overall:
I would rate this 5/10. Seems people here like it very much, but meh story, ugly graphics especially during sex scenes and lack of care for characters is a bit much for me. 5 years ago it was probably good but now there are many games with better story and graphics.

This was an interesting game that I enjoyed playing. It's more of a visual novel than game I guess, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Beautiful renders and environments - I really appreciated how many renders there were for even small things like walking or running in action scenes, it gives the content a faster and easier time getting through instead of lots of unnecessary text describing these more mundane actions between the fun stuff. Would have loved to see true animated sex scenes and not just "moving pictures", but still very enjoyable. Beautiful girls but perhaps a bit bland in varying personalities.

Easy but interesting plot, I do enjoy a real plot behind all the crazy porn logic that still feels "kind of" real, which I feel the author managed well.

Nice varied porn, beautiful models, decent plot. There are some branching options with several girls, allowing you to go for more/less depraved relations with them.

And a gallery to check out variants after you're done.
I enjoyed it, looking forward for more from this author.

countless ages and reviews exist for this, but had to confirm that there are in fact minimal choices and most gals (and choices) are sex
(often times sex is forced and choices are want any progress with them then do every dirty possible thing from groping too spying N jacking it possible and nothing else)

For more in depth review suggest just checking screen shots, accept "animations" are below average, and then mainly focus on reviews that are 2-3 stars.