Steps of Debauchery

Michael
Jan 24, 2024
4 min read

Updated: 8 hours ago

About This Game

Steps of Debauchery is an NSFW visual novel-style game where you will get to make some choices that will influence the game in the long run, while also managing your finances to support your partner’s dream of owning a bar and exploring different options of adult life.

The game is in early access and only has a few hours of content so far, but that is planned to change as the game develops.

Storyline

You play as Riley, a college girl studying to become a nurse who just moved into a fancy apartment in a city with her quite older husband Mike, where he bought a bar.

At first, everything seems to be fine, but things quickly go down hill, when you are late for your exam, leading you down a path of getting blackmailed by the College Dean, and if that isn’t bad enough, you quickly find out that finance-wise not everything is going as good as your husband says, leaving you to require a certain amount of cash per week if you wish to continue your life.

While you have your own story, you also help other characters develop their own, as you hang around with them or give them a hand with everyday life.

Gameplay Mechanics

The gameplay is simple and straightforward. It’s mainly a visual novel, with some point-and-click adventure outside of conversations and NSFW scenes, where you look for collectibles that give access to extra images, and make choices that so far don’t seem to have much of an effect on the story other than in the moment, but that is likely to change when more of the game is released.

You can buy some collectibles on the laptop in your apartment, travel to parts of the city, more of which you unlock the longer the game goes on, buy clothes that affect your job performance, or travel to areas where an event with a character just might trigger, leading to quests, which are triggered by meeting up with a character at a certain time of the day.

During the day you can do parts of the story and quests, some only available during afternoons and evenings, with mornings so far not having much to do other than be skipped. During the day you can work in your neighbor’s apartment cleaning, while during the night you can help at your husband’s bar working for tips.

There is another mechanic, where every week you have to pay a certain amount of money to a loan shark, as you are given another chance to pay off your husband’s debt over time instead of all at once. It's important to have the money ready as if you fail, there are consequences.

You can hang around with so far with 4 different characters during day-to-day life but also have story quests with your husband, college Dean, and neighbor. You can talk with some of them throughout the day, where they talk a little about what’s going on with their lives, but the dialogue quickly begins to loop and repeat.

During some quests, you also have “minigames” which involve either clicking on items in the environment to clean them up or clicking on an item you are told to grab.

Some quests have NSFW scenes, but so far there are only a few of them and all are animated, where you can change positions, speed, and camera view for a different look at the action.

In case things start feeling too intense for you (nothing so far that should cause that), just want a little break from what’s going on, or most likely in case someone walks in on you playing the developers included a “Panic Button”, which interrupts whatever is going on with a few slideshow images and music until you are ready to continue.

Visuals & Audio

Visuals

The game is stylish, and both the scenery and characters are well-designed, but some characters look a little out of place with their chosen design.

Each character has their own unique look, so none of the characters feel the same.

The NSFW scenes honestly don’t bring much so far and are short and basic.

Audio

When you open the game, the main menu opens with a song, which you may or may not like. I think it was alright.

There is also music during gameplay, but it starts looping quickly, so you are likely to just tune it out after some times. There were also a few times when it just stopped playing entirely for a while before starting again.

Pros

Good character design, especially for the main character,
Interesting story,
Animated NSFW scenes,
Ability to scroll back and forward in dialogue.

Cons

Talk dialogue with characters starts looping quickly,
Almost all mornings need to be time skipped, leaving a portion of a day wasted,
Very short Early Access.

Note Had a few minor issues, which weren’t game-breaking or anything, but I feel like I should include them anyway.

During dialogue with Ivy when she is introduced her dialogue has a typo error saying she is “ he” instead of “she”. (There is a space instead of an “s”).

There was at least one line of dialogue where it’s been interrupted by a “*/” before continuing.

Conclusion

The game is definitely interesting, and I did enjoy playing it, and definitely recommend it depending on the price when it releases. It had a few minor issues, but nothing that affected gameplay or would ruin the experience.

If you don’t mind playing a reverse harem I suggest you check out the game and consider if it’s worth it for yourself.

Doing everything available in the current Early Access with skipping a little of dialogue took around 3-4 hours.

Rating: 6/10