Debasing Grounds is a web-browser-based text RPG and social simulator set in a post-apocalyptic world. You can play it online or download the latest version and open the Debasing Grounds.html file using your preferred browser. The game is compatible with various platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. The game is currently in alpha version.
Debasing Grounds contains graphic and dark material that can be unsettling or triggering to some people. The game contains descriptions of non-consensual sex, bondage, sexual humiliation and physical abuse. You must be 18 or older to play this game.The game focuses on dark themes and offers different paths where players can explore (or at least try to) dominant or submissive questlines and sandbox mechanics. Some of the most developed themes are BDSM, feminization, humiliation, non-con, dub-con and pet play. The game includes feminization, sissification and transgenderism themes.
Your name is (X) and you are a (X)-year-old (boy/girl) (selectable from age 18). Your skin is (X) and you have (X) eyes. You have (X)-long (X) hair. You are of (X)-height and (X)-built, with a (X) chest.
A gust of cool air brings you back to reality, making you shiver. Your surroundings snap into focus, an unfamiliar landscape that leaves you feeling more lost than before.
You open your eyes to a strange town, with a mix of new and old buildings, some of which have been hastily patched up with different materials. The newer construction seems to be done with bricks and tiles, yet the older structures appear to be composed of metal and concrete. A massive wall made of mud and metal bars surrounds the town.
A few strangers appear walking down the street, wearing a mixture of modern clothes and tattered robes. When they come close enough, you hear them speaking your language. Their faces are rugged and unwelcoming.
There are more than 300 NPCs the player can encounter in the world.
Players find themselves in a desolate world with no clear direction. Your priorities should probably find shelter and make some cash. Don't stray too far at night!
Alternative starts:
Version v0.4.4 "Full Sex Customization and Strap-on Scenes" Update is now available for free at http://debasinggrounds.com/
Version v0.4.5 "Synapse's Bank, Software, Slavery and Bad Ending" Update is now available for supporters in both SubscribeStar (preferred) https://subscribestar.adult/debasing_grounds and Patreon.
Here's the changelog for version 0.4.5: "Synapse's Bank, Software, Slavery and Bad Ending":
Synapse's Bank & Software:
- It's now possible to enter the Synapse Bank.
- Six new NPCs as part of the Synapse Bank
- Bank: New scenes in Vivian's office - voyeurism (possibly NTR), cock worship, pussy eating
- Bank: New way to make e-coins in Vivian's office
- Bank: At Trust 20, Vivian offers a quest to corrupt two of his employees (requires email)
- Bank: Successfully corrupting them will unlock Vivian's scenes with them
- Bank: New quest after completing the previous one (requires email account)
- Software: New quest from Synapse Software that allows you to enslave up to six characters, including the quest characters, in the new bad ending.
- Software: New job available from Synapse Software after completing the quest, paying 30 e-coins per week and allowing players to join the Synapse Corp faction under Caspian.
- Software: New location - Synapse Vaults
- Software: 15 new NPCs
- Changed the location of the electronics shop and the ATM on the minimap so that the ATM is next to the bank.
- The electronics shop now also sells small electronics
- New head chip items: Stealth, Agility, Charm, Quest
- New computer options: Save files to head chip and Synapse shop
Synapse Slavery and Bad Ending:
- New Synapse Corp Bad Ending
- Players who sleep in the ATM risk being taken to the Synapse Vaults.
- Players wearing Caspian's chip will be taken to the Synapse Vault
- Wearing Caspian's chip makes escaping much harder, as it gives -50 to Control and Temperance (it can be removed later)
- Players can decide to go through two different paths (Light, Darkness)
- New punishment scenes: punching, spanking, electric shock, needle play, whipping
- Players have a chance to control their reactions with a Control check.
- New sex scenes: tentacle anal, tentacle vaginal, tentacle oral, tentacle double and triple penetration
- "Giving in" during sex scenes greatly increases fetishes
- Players have a chance to continue by making a Temperance check.
- Each Control and Temperance skill check increases these skills.
- Successfully controlling your reactions for 6 consecutive scenes will give players the choice of trying to escape or releasing one of the other bio-processors, which will make it easier to escape the next time.
- At the end of each loop, players will have the opportunity to match their appearance to the other bio-processors.
- If the gender-bending toggle is active, the standardization will include genital changes to female-looking genitalia.
- Agreeing to the standardization has a chance of kicking the other bio-processor out of the cluster, making the next escape sequence easier.
- Liberated bio-processors can be found in the slums after escaping (Melchior unit processors go to the eastern slums, Caspar ones go to the central slums)
- New chat options for liberated bio-processors
Other stuff:
- Players can now be agenital from the start of the game and choose their sexual orientation towards agenital NPCs
- NPCs can be selected as agenital
- The name of your current location is now displayed below the minimap
- Combined the "Ask for jobs" and "Ask for work" chat options
- On load, the game now checks for new NPCs in savefiles and adds them if they're not there, to help with savefile compatibility
- On load, the game now checks if there are new locations in the savefiles, and adds them if there aren't
- On load, the game now checks if there are new lootboxes in the savefiles, and adds them if there aren't
- On game load, the game now checks for dynamic NPC lists
Bug fixes:
- Fixed a bug during one of Holger scenes where anal sex would switch to the vaginal scene and mention a non existent gag
- Fixed bug that preventing players from Initiating sex with NPCs kept in dungeons
- Fixed typos in the slave start
- Fixed a bug that prevented players from initiating cuddling
- Fixed that bug that could cause the wrong location buttons show after a street encounter
- Fixed a bug that prevented some stat effects from being applied more than once
This game surprised the heck out of me and I wanted to write an honest opinion on it. Something I've not done in a few years as there was a lot of the same stuff flloating about. Suddenly came this game, on the surface some of the same tropes but well written. However, the depth of gameplay - if you look for it, made me double take. Seriously, knock a door, as it's an option, and next I know I'm someone's ponygirl? I was so delighted I had to put it out here. This game has several such semi hidden story lines and it's nowhere near done. I wanted to praise the sort of non-linear way this was done. Give it a go, even someone more surface oriented won't be disappointed.
The best thing about the game is probably the writing. The author "gets" what makes dom/sub interactions hot in a way that not many do. There is plenty of extremely good content revolving around the player's humiliation and corruption in an unbelievably harsh world. Even better, despite being early days a lot of it feels somewhat "organic" from the conditions the game sets up. The game world feels well thought out and has quite a lot of depth in some areas and throws plenty of surprises to keep the player engaged.
Overall I really enjoyed this game and would definitely recommend it.
There is also some room for improvement though. For example- even though the game is set in a harsh world, sometimes the character interactions are a bit "much", even for the setting. For instance, over about three gym sessions Holger moves from insults to skullfucking. It just moves way too fast. Ditto for the cafe and maid storylines- phenomenal writing but the characters have a distinct lack of chill that kind of breaks the immersion. Also in personal interactions, even your flatmates will jump straight from asking your name to full on sexual assault. (The insult mechanic is amazing, by the way- though it rarely seems to trigger). The scenes themselves are great and I know the author is probably still working on the pacing but generally I wish there was a bit of a slower burn. It would also be good if there were a cue to let you know that you'd come to the end of content in an area.
Currently there isn't really any feminisation content in the game. Transformations are implied but AFAIK cannot happen to the player (though there is the groundwork for them to be implemented soon). Personally I didn't really notice the lack of images- the descriptions are good enough.
I played this a bit, it has a decent amount of content, but a few things stand out: it can be quite repetitive, it could use at least some graphics in addition to the text, and lastly (and most diappointingly, from my perspective) the 'feminization' content in the game involves very little actual feminization, and doesn't seem to understand the fetish at all.
I’m inclined to view the current iteration of the game as the ‘bones’, rather than the ‘meat’, but I’m sure that’s something the creator is aware of. That said, the two things that are apparent to me from the outset are these: First, the game suffers from the same issue that begets a lot of games on this site, a lack of connection between the audience and the PC. The writing, as stands, does not give much in the way of a PC’s thoughts, feelings, or motivations beyond ‘find a bed’. Your understanding of your own character is more or less limited to your stats, with everything else being the responsibility of your own imagination.
The second issue is more or less a lack of signposts to guide PCs to interesting content. The billboard at the start is decent, as it directs the PC to a quest and employment opportunities. But beyond that, you sort of have to hope that you talk to the right person at the right time at the right place. Which is why the previous review by Salisria remarked on the need for a guide or stronger hint system.
Having not engaged with this game in earlier stages of development, I can’t speak to what earlier stages looked like. But if development has an ‘outward’ focus, as in building more content events, I think it might not be for me. If development instead has an ‘upwards’ focus, as in strengthening the pillars of the gameplay loop, plots, and your understanding of your character, then I think it has a very strong start and potential.
It just depends which way the dev takes it.
The good:
There's a decent amount of content here already, and it works as advertised.
The bad:
The game is extremely grindy, more than is truly needed at times.
The ugly:
The game is in need of either an in-game hint system or an out-of-game walkthrough.
There's promise here, and it's even playable if you don't mind the grind.
As far as game play is concerned, the free penultimate version is as good, albeit one version behind, the paywalled ultimate version. I'd recommend paying for this game to reward existing content rather than to spur development of new content.
