Excellent is the very enemy of just "good". I checked out Philly Game's truly excellent "City of Broken Dreamer's" first (one of the very best VNs ever, in my opinion) and only after that decided to check out "Depraved Awakening", which was the first project by the dev.
It is maybe a bit unfair to compare these two games, but nonetheless playing "Broken Dreamers" first did have an impact on how much I was able to enjoy "Depraved Awakening", so keep that in mind.
"Depraved Awakening" is a hard boiled detective story about a private eye who gets involved with some really depraved and shady sex cult that develops a drug that lowers inhibitions and raises the sex drive and then abuses women in quite nasty ways.
The story is pretty average, it's certainly not bad at all, but you get typical evil men doing evil things, there's not much subtlety here. But still, there are some good (and bad) surprises here. Characters you think are more or less friends turn out to be antagonists, assholes turn out to be pretty decent in the end (based on player action!), characters who you may grow attached to die (you may not like that at all, so be warned!), so the story has a few twists and turns that elevate it.
But where "Depraved Awakening" stumbles, in my opinion, is with the love interests. There is not all that much depth or character development here. You have your typical sex crazy nymphos (some of them are under the influence of the drug though!), you have a damsel in distress with an asshole husband and you have your (not-)daughter Judy.
I tried to focus on Judy in my playthrough since I never really connected to any of the other female characters.
Character design is also not the best in this game, Judy is pretty, Christina the redhead is attractive (but her character did nothing for me) and Mi-do the Korean damsel in distress is kind of cute (but her face is not the best looking)... all other characters have weird lips and/or weird looking faces. Of course this is higly subjective since beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
On the plus side you don't get any silly body proportions here and everyone looks normal and more or less realistic.
But even though I focused on Judy I cannot really say that she is a well developed character. She mostly exists for the MC to romance. Other characters like Mi-do or even Christina have some more depth to them, but I didn't like Christina's character all that much and I found Mi-do a bit boring. Carli, the call girl / hooker, you meet very early in the game is ok as an character, but her looks did nothing for me. And Stella is the sex crazy nympho (under the influence of a drug) that just rang all my alarm bells.
You never really see the MC's face in this game, some like that approach, I usually prefer it if the MC is visible, because it gives you more options for camera angles, but for the most part it works here. But kissing scenes (the few there are, not that many really) are the usual awkward affair all POV games suffer from, or you get cropped faces with only the chin and mouth in the frame. But it mostly works here.
"Depraved Awakening" has a rather dark story, as you can guess by the title. But you can, more or less, opt to play a somewhat less creepy version of the MC. But even if you avoid corruption / depravity as much as you can the MC will still have some thoughts and inner monologue you may not like. He is a little bit of a creep no matter what choices you make.
There are also a few scenes that are unavoidable (at least they were in my playthrough, I did not explore each and every option) and that make no sense really if you want to focus on just one character.
For example in my playthrough there was an unskippable threesome with Christina and another female side character. Didn't want that, would have liked to avoid that entirely. It is avoidable but I tried to play blind and apparently made a wrong choice or so that railroaded me into a threesome and as soon as I realized what was happening the game offered no way out.
Later in the game there is yet another unavoidable sex scene with a side character. You have sex with someone's wife in front of his eyes. As some kind of punishment (he's one of the men behind the secret sex club). Did not like that at all. But there was no option to say "no" and to walk away or to get the necessary evidence in some other way. It's a story requirement since you need to secure the wife's cooperation in finding evidence against the cult/club. And her requirement is that the MC has his way with her and gives her a good time.
The game also tries to push threesome scenes with Judy and Christina, pretty hard too... I tried to avoid that as much as possible... still got an unskippable threesome with them close to the end which again, I did not like at all.
Apparently you have to make sure to have a very low score with Christina, but I had accumulated some points with her early in the game, my fault maybe, but then again, nothing indicated this would have results so much later in the game. So if you want to have a solo route without any sharing/threesomes and if you focus on Judy it's probably best to keep your score with Christina as low as possible, Lust should absolutely be close to 0 and below 2. The game keeps track of the score, so you can reload if you see that a dialogue choice gives you positive points with a character.
That being said, even if the lust score is 2 or more with Christina... the game should have given an option not to have a threesome with Judy and her. I'd rather not get any scenes than scenes I don't like. So a "no" option that just skips everything (so it never happens) should be the way to go, in my opinion.
In the final stretches of the game I avoided Christina as best as possible, yet there is one more potential threesome scene at the end. I think games in general should not be minefields where certain (not obvious) dialogue choices railroad you into unskippable scenes.
But in theory you can avoid Christina if you don't want Judy and her to share scenes with the MC. But of course without spoling yourself with a walkthrough and reading up ahead you don't know that. And you have to make certain choices pretty early in the game before you even know what is really going on.
You will also get several (more or less unpleasant) sex scenes between a female side character and NPCs, so the MC is not involved, but the game will still show you certain scenes where the villain(s) discuss things and have sex. It fits the narrative, since depravity is a major theme, but you may not entirely like those scenes. If you don't like sex scenes between other female characters (non LIs!) and other males you may want to avoid "Depraved Awakening" perhaps.
On the positive side you can avoid certain kinks like anal sex, there are options for those who love it, but you can just as easily ignore it. That's always a huge plus. It's more puzzling then why there are mandatory and unavoidable sex scenes with characters like Mrs Turner (the punishment for the husband scene). Especially if you play a very low depravity route, which I did. The scene, in my opinion, only makes sense for an MC with a high depravity score - which is hidden btw. Just pick the less creepy option when there are choices like peeping or groping someone in their sleep etc. And if you generally try to be "nice" it's easy to have a low depravity score even if you never know about it.
So my overall enjoyment of the game was lowered by several unavoidable scenes or scenes that are difficult to avoid unless you read a walkthrough all the way to the end. Or else before you know it you will have several threesomes with characters. Stella and Carli, Christina and Lynn, Judy and Christina several times... not a fan of this.
Also, the story is not too original, but still, there are several very intense moments, gun fights, chases and a few actual surprises. So even if the story is not very original, it's still quite intense and it will keep you engaged. You will not skip anything here.
Finally, the animations in this game are not all that great but improve in later chapters. It's not a dealbreaker. But don't expect too much here.
So who will enjoy this game?
If you like dark(er) stories with the option to become a bit depraved yourself then the game is absolutely worth your time. It looks a bit dated here and there, but this is to be expected. Character design is also mediocre.
If you would like to play a less depraved MC and maybe even have something of a wholesome romance then "Depraved Awakening" is a very mixed bag. Depending on whom you choose as your main love interest (you have to choose!) it can be pretty wholesome or it turns out to be a minefield of potential threesomes you may not want, if you want them, great, since it's very difficult to avoid them entirely. But if you don't want them... I would advise you to consult a walkthrough and to plan ahead, but this kind of defeats the purpose of playing a game.
So my advice: just try to avoid Christina as best as possible if Judy is your choice... and if you do not want a Carli and Stella threesome make sure to lie to Carli about the MC's encounter with Stella. And make sure not to tell Mo-di that you REALLY like Carli later in the game (which puts you on her path). Again, you will not know about the consequences of these choices while you play the game, there is no foreshadowing, no hints, you need to know this by reading a walkthrough. Likewise, if you DO want threesomes galore just do the opposite of course and you will have plenty of fun!
Where does this leave things?
"Depraved Awakening" is an ok game for me. Some lack of choices, some forced scenes and some unwanted scenes that are too easy to get diminish my enjoyment.
The themes in this game are of a darker variety but well executed for the most part. I just wish a low depravity route would have also resulted in a less creepy MC at times, did not like several of his inner monologues and I was also not a fan of how some of the scenes with Judy played out (not a fan of spanking, but that's just me), but overall it was ok.
The big negative here is that the attraction between Judy and her (not-)father is never really truly explained. Stella is into the MC because she's a nympho and under the influence of a drug, Carli is a sex worker, Christina receives orders to get close to the MC, Mo-di is grateful the MC rescued her... but Judy just wants to jump on the MC... it is kind of explained by Christina spiking the drinks of both the MC and Judy with the sex drug, but even when the effects wear off there is never really any deep soul searching here, they just have the hots for each other. It's ok, it's your typical VN logic, I just wished it would have been somewhat more 3-dimensional, especially when you come from the follow-up game that has all that. It's apparent Philly Games learned a lot while developing this game.
All in all "Depraved Awakening" can still be an enjoyable experience, but it's far from perfect or even great in my opinion. For that it lacks better character design, the story, while having some unforeseen twists and turns, is still pretty clichéd at times and the game lacks more choices when it comes to the various sex scenes. I really would have liked to avoid that scene with Mrs Turner for example and making threesomes with Judy and Christina so very easy to get without any warning or foreshadowing is unfortunate. This is made worse by the fact that the game tracks certain variables, like Judy's corruption, which are never displayed, so you don't really know if your choices decrease or increase her corruption, unless you once again consult a walkthrough.
But overall "Depraved Awakening" is one of the better VNs, it's also completed. Chances are very high you will enjoy this game if you like the somewhat darker subject.
Best detective game I've ever played this game It has one of the best stories simply well done It looks like an action and romance movie script mixed all together several choices that can affect the future of Mc in the game too much and it's also one of the only ones games that Mc dies and the game continues with a sad story I'm too weak I always cry at this part lol this one (Philly Games) made a masterpiece will always be in my top 10 like his other game that is almost similar (City of Broken) This is my top 2 one of the best games ever made
