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Plattform: PC Veröffentlicht: 02.08.2019

16,79€

Preis Update 02.10.23

Dry Drowning ist eine investigative, spannungsgeladene Visual Novel, die im futuristischen, dystopischen Universum von Nova Polemos spielt.

Schlüpfe in die Rolle von Mordred Foley, einem Privatdetektiv, der von seiner dunklen Vergangenheit heimgesucht wird, und tauche ein in eine Reihe grausamer Morde, die von der griechischen Mythologie inspiriert sind.
Eine fesselnde, dramatische Geschichte mit aktuellen Themen, mehr als je zuvor, die sich durch moralische Entscheidungen und vielfältige Enden auszeichnet.

Stell deine Ermittlungsfähigkeiten auf die Probe und decke die Wahrheit unter mehrdeutigen Charakteren, Rätseln, Hinweisen und ständigen Wendungen auf.

Wirst du Licht auf Nova Polemos und seine Verbrechen werfen oder wirst du in der Dunkelheit ertrinken?

Spielfunktionen

Erstelle deine persönliche Geschichte: Deine Entscheidungen werden den Ablauf der Ereignisse drastisch beeinflussen. Eine Geschichte, die immer anders ist, dank mehr als 150 Routen und 3 verschiedenen Enden zum Freischalten
Bewältige moralische Dilemmata: Eine Entscheidung zu treffen, wird niemals einfach sein, insbesondere aufgrund der folgenden Konsequenzen. Ändere das Spiel, indem du die Geschichte, das Umfeld, den politischen Kontext, die Technologie, die Charaktere, die du triffst, veränderst ... die, die leben und die, die sterben
Spielen und noch einmal spielen: Entdecke jedes Geheimnis der Stadt, genieße wechselnde Ereignisse und sieh, was passiert. Garantiert mehr als 20 Stunden Spielspaß!
Reise durch die Zeit: Erlebe die Rückblenden von Detective Foley und sammle Hinweise in seiner dunklen Vergangenheit, um Licht auf die aktuellen Fälle zu werfen, die gelöst werden müssen
Entlarve die Täter: Bereite dich auf albtraumhafte Verhöre vor, lass die Masken der Lügen fallen und decke die Wahrheit auf
Original Soundtrack: Über 2 Stunden Original-Soundtrack mit intensiven und dramatischen Klängen. Mehr als 50 Audiospuren, die sich dynamisch an die Atmosphäre, die Umgebung und die Charaktere anpassen, sorgen für ein noch intensiveres Erlebnis

Minimum
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Setzt 64-Bit-Prozessor und -Betriebssystem voraus
CPU: Intel Core i3-4160
GFX: Intel HD Graphics 4400
RAM: 4 GB RAM
Software: WINDOWS 7, 8.1, 10 (64bit)
HD: 2 GB verfügbarer Speicherplatz
DX: Version 11
LANG: Deutsch, Englisch, Italienisch, Chinesisch, Japanisch

Setzt 64-Bit-Prozessor und -Betriebssystem voraus
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570
GFX: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
RAM: 4 GB RAM
Software: WINDOWS 7, 8.1, 10 (64bit)
HD: 2 GB verfügbarer Speicherplatz
DX: Version 11
LANG: Deutsch, Englisch, Italienisch, Chinesisch, Japanisch

Deutsch (1)
Englisch (41)

800 Produkte im Account

367 Reviews

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704 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 20.05.21 12:12

Dry Drowning

Visual Novel von 2019.
3.350 Review in meinem Archiv.

Eine investigative, spannungsgeladene Visual Novel, die im futuristischen, dystopischen Universum von Nova Polemos spielt.

Schlüpfe in die Rolle von Mordred Foley, einem Privatdetektiv, der von seiner dunklen Vergangenheit heimgesucht wird, und tauche ein in eine Reihe grausamer Morde, die von der griechischen Mythologie inspiriert sind.
Eine fesselnde, dramatische Geschichte mit aktuellen Themen, mehr als je zuvor, die sich durch moralische Entscheidungen und vielfältige Enden auszeichnet. Dies ist vom Herausgeber und beschreibt das Game sehr gut. Es gibt drei Enden um Genau zu sein und sie können sehr unterschiedlich sein. Mit sehr weitreichenden und heftigen Folgen.

Dieses Game zu beschreiben als Review hier, ist fast unmöglich, da es derart vollgepackt ist mit Inhalt. Du spielst eine Geschichte nach, die locker ein 1.000 Seiten Buch füllen kann. Und gefühlt ließt du in dem Spiel auch genau so viel. Wobei wir dann auch schon beim Thema sind. Das Game besteht aus einer Reihe von Handlungsorten die miteinander verknüpft sind, dazu kommt, wie schon erwähnt ein Text, zu allem und jeden, sowie zur eigentlichen Geschichte natürlich. Spielen tust du ebenfalls überwiegend über Text, Das heißt für dich Ermittlungsarbeit und noch mehr Kommunikation mit anderen NPCs und wichtigen Personen im Spiel. Die Mordfälle die du Aufklären musst oder besser willst, sind derart intensiv dargestellt das mir die Worte als Beschreibung fehlen, um auszudrücken was ich eigentlich sagen möchte. Gut 12 Stunden Lesestoff und atemberaubender, spannungsgeladener Spielstoff, habe ich in einem Stück durchgespielt.
Ich kenne nichts, von auch nur annähernd so guter Qualität, wie das hier vorliegende Meisterwerk.

Meine Gruppe und mein Archiv mit über 3.350 Reviews hier:
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/hoi4deu

Dry drowning

Visual novel from 2019.
3,350 review in my archive.

An investigative, suspenseful visual novel set in the futuristic, dystopian universe of Nova Polemos.

Slip into the role of Mordred Foley, a private detective haunted by a dark past, and immerse yourself in a series of gruesome murders inspired by Greek mythology.
A compelling, dramatic tale with hot topics, more than ever, characterized by moral choices and multiple endings. This is from the editor and describes the game very well. There are three endings to be precise and they can be very different. With very far-reaching and severe consequences.

Describing this game as a review here is almost impossible because it is so packed with content. You act out a story that can easily fill a 1,000 page book. And it felt like you left just as much in the game. Whereby we are already on the subject. The game consists of a number of locations that are linked to one another, plus, as already mentioned, a text about everything and everyone, as well as the story itself, of course. You also play games mostly via text, which means for you investigative work and even more communication with other NPCs and important people in the game. The murder cases that you have to clear up or better want to be, are presented so intensely that I lacked the words as a description to express what I actually want to say. I played through a good 12 hours of reading material and breathtaking, tense play material in one piece.
I don't know anything of even remotely good quality like this masterpiece.

My group and my archive with over 3,350 reviews here:
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279 Produkte im Account

121 Reviews

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129 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 20.03.22 08:42

i gave it enough tries to play it through but just never captured me. dialogues felt unnatural and story wasn't interesting to me. 5/10

265 Produkte im Account

14 Reviews

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581 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 03.09.21 07:47

While Dry Drowning might not be revolutionary in any capacity and the interface is clunky sometimes. I consider it to be a very well made detective visual novel with a lot of nice ideas. The devs poured a lot of love into it and that's appareent.
If you like the genere I wouldn't hesitate.

8 Produkte im Account

2 Reviews

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1179 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 09.08.21 01:07

pretty nice vn and art, very dark.

1575 Produkte im Account

44 Reviews

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114 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 13.07.21 11:58

Ah yes, the detective game where proving the truth is subtly treated as the wrong thing to do.

151 Produkte im Account

12 Reviews

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827 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 27.06.21 09:47

Well written story, simple and casual gameplay style.
I liked to play several times to get all the endings and diferent sotry branches.
Reminded me of Blade runner game of sorts.

342 Produkte im Account

50 Reviews

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352 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 12.06.21 18:28

A detective game with mediocre puzzles, a convoluted story-line, and subtle political undertones. The visuals are pretty enough and the soundtrack keeps to the background, but with clumsy writing and translation -- you should stay away.

Dry Drowning has you playing a Private Eye taking on a murder case. The game is not exactly cyberpunk and just has a tinge of futuristic atmosphere, with the story being delivered through static scenes and well-drawn character slides. There are multiple cases, loosely linked to another, that will take roughly six hours to solve. Throughout, decisions will arise that will dramatically alter the endings of the game. Some are good, others are pretty bad.

The puzzles are fairly easy to solve, though on occasion you may struggle to find the proper answer or clue. There are very limited walkthroughs on the internet, so that may be an issue if your not too good of a gumshoe. The interrogation sequences are great and you can fail them, adding a level of tension to each poke and prod.

There are some political undertones throughout the game. The bad guy political party has numerous right-wing stances and it is easy to make some connection to current political trends. One of the main characters also may off-put some players [spoiler] A large part and crucial decision in the game involves a transsexual. There are also subtle homosexual interactions. [/spoiler]. I did not find them too in your face, but I know some players are not interested with more 'woke' elements.

Overall, it is a chunky story with mediocre mechanics wrapped in a beautiful package. I play for the story and felt it was lacking in this case.

152 Produkte im Account

107 Reviews

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823 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 11.05.21 13:18

What a beauty of a game, anyone else feel like we are already living in Nova?
How people in care homes are almost imprisoned anyway and how unless we have societal value we are deemed worthless?
This game echos our current system.. Viva la revolution...

491 Produkte im Account

37 Reviews

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84 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 11.04.21 21:16

There aren't a ton of deduction games out there so I value the chance to play a new one, but this game has such rough translation issues that I can't get through the first chapter.

1518 Produkte im Account

83 Reviews

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1210 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 19.03.21 05:02

A great story well told. The choices feel heavy and the twists were unexpected, but made so much sense. I don't want to say much about the characters, but they were so well realized that they made each decision even harder to make. I went back to make a couple of changes on a few choices, but I'm happy with my first play through of Ending C. It was heart-wrenching, but so worthwhile staying true to how I saw these strong characters and it wrapped it all up nicely.

965 Produkte im Account

205 Reviews

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617 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 15.03.21 21:12

Dry Drowning has the most sophisticated choices-and-consequences system I've ever seen in a visual novel. Whatever we choose to do in as early as the first chapter will be reflected later on and may have a huge impact on how the storyline is gonna play out. We play as a detective in a dystopian future city which boasts its security surveillance resulting in almost non-existent crime levels. So when a crime is committed, it's a huge deal, and rest assured a crime will be committed. It's then up to us to make deductions and decide who to trust and who to steer clear from. As we go down the rabbit hole the case gets more and more complicated, and I guess that's the source for the title of the game. But if we play our cards right and keep our wits about us, there may just be a chance to resurface from those nasty criminal depths yet.

For all of us who simply like to sit down and enjoy an immersive interactive detective story, Dry Drowning is a great choice.

193 Produkte im Account

15 Reviews

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193 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 15.03.21 00:37

the art is nice but the story is meh and is more interested in demonizing conservatives than telling a compelling narrative and the game proceeds to morally pander and chastise you for picking the quote on quote wrong choice by proving an innocent man not guilty because releasing the evidence would have the evil conservatives win the election and kill thousands of people so no i will not recommend this game as i doubt i will ever bother finishing it my self way to much political pandering for my tastes

2777 Produkte im Account

253 Reviews

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1326 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 25.02.21 05:29

Verbose. WINDY. Overall, too much, far too much. The art is neat, music very good. But there's just so much, just a crushing amount, of overwrought filler verbiage, that the overall experience is a trudge-and-a-half. The story is so convoluted as to be borderline gibberish, there's a zillion unremarkable characters most introduced willy-nilly, and the prose is so yellow it comes across as more parody of noir detective novels than a pastiche.
There's pretense at game. There's really one big path with cosmetic differences that pretend to be 3 branches. But the minimal adventure game mechanics drop off at about the 60% mark and the rest is just page-flipping. Once all your decisions are made, powering through to the end takes literally an hour.
There was a decent, tight, detective story in here, that got buried by 10 tons of filler. Price is too high, game is too little, novel is too bizarre, time-sink is too much. Maybe someday a director's cut at half price can fix all this.

166 Produkte im Account

8 Reviews

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1031 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 17.02.21 12:47

8/10
Dry Drowning is really a amazing investigative visual novel game. In all other kind of multiple choice game,usually they won't affected the plot trend of this game,or you even can not find the result that your choice have affected.However, in this game,every choice you made is related to the future of this game.3 different ends,and the multiple choice system,make every players could experience their own journey.The topic of this game is also very broaden,Art,Political,Cyberpunk...there are so many factor in this game.And it is perfectly combined,showed us a Dystopia city.Although the puzzle of this game is so easy,then,it meant that this game also could leave more space for you to enjoy the story.
From my points of view,the only shortcoming of this game is too short.Obviously,there are not enough bedding to building character,and the action of the game is a little too urgent.A lot of foreshadowing left uninterpreted,while some of those is too forced.
Worth you try,may surprise you for a moment.Still have a lot to improved.

492 Produkte im Account

12 Reviews

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849 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 05.02.21 00:58

The Italian Ace Attorney.

Kinda short, and even though it boasts about branching choices and multiple endings replaying it is a pain in the ass (no fast forwarding, can't skip final credit sequence)

Art is gorgeous.

Features politics which might be rather grating.

508 Produkte im Account

133 Reviews

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446 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 30.01.21 14:59

6/10 Decent.

An Italian visual novel (I think), translated to English, Dry Drowning is a dark, cyberpunk novel taking place in 2066, in an independent city-state that is run by a far-right political party.

You take control of Mordred Foley, a private detective, who along with his ‘assistant’ Hera, get tumbled up into a murder mystery. The client? That very racist politician in charge of the country.

The game has three distinct parts that work together; First is the visual novel element itself, which is dark and bleary, accompanied by haunting, depressing music and a fairly solid, if at times twitchy translation. You pick topics to discuss, and can present items to people etc, much like in the Phoenix Wright games.

The second part is the investigation part, where you arrive at a scene and click on items of interest as you hunt for evidence. Mostly standard-fare stuff here, there’s a map for travelling over as well.

The third part is the interrogation section, where you question people and present evidence to build your case against them. This runs on a three-strikes and you’re out system, trying to encourage you to think before picking your choices or presenting evidence.

Mordred has a special talent you see, when people lie to him, the screen distorts and he just sees animal masks instead of the person’s face. It’s a neat trick.

The writing is solid, backed with good music and as a darker, more adult visual novel, it offers something different. The variety of choices all seem to have an impact on relationships and outcomes etc. I was hit with several fairly important choices straight off the bat in the first chapter, which kept me engaged throughout.

It is a grim game, don’t look for many happy endings here, and I think it’s a worthwhile one to play, however, extra care could and should have been taken in regards to the translation, which I’m docking a point for.

540 Produkte im Account

102 Reviews

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559 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 13.12.20 11:49

Dry Drowning is a dystopic visual novel taking place in an authoritarian city somewhere unspecified in Northern Europe. It's inspired by Bladerunner and similar pop culture influences.

I played through it once and probably got the worst of the three endings. I replayed the last chapter to get another ending, this time the best one I guess. I also started a NG+ to see the crazy secret ending which only takes about 10 minutes in NG+ and which I highly recommend to do if you ever play this game. It's weird in a Japanese kind of way and I got a laugh out of it.

The novel itself consists of three regular chapters and three different endings which constitute the fourth chapter being about half as long as the previous chapters. As usual for a visual novel, you have to take a few crucial decisions which will determine your ending.

You are playing as Mordred Foley, a shady investigator who was responsible for framing two innocents as being the serial killer Pandora and who were executed accordingly. Your career lies in shambles when you are offered the chance to reestablish yourself. The dilemma is that your client is the head of the authoritarian party terrorizing the city state.

This setup is simple and while a bit blunt works well to pose interesting moral decisions you'll face further on. This simplicity of storytelling is a continuing characteristic. Starting out with uninspired names of the characters drawn from popular movies of the 80's like Foley or Deckard, continuing with basic leitmotifs like xenophobia or conflicted relationships, repeatedly using greek mythology in obvious analogies and ending with characters that are 2D only graphically. Dry Drowning still succeeds in delivering an entertaining story but don't expect any mature and reflected writing. So far, typical for the genre. Luckily, it's not as repetitive and drawn-out as many other visual novels and it rarely becomes cringeworthy.

I like the graphical style. It's sufficiently dark for the story and the character drawings are detailed albeit 100% clichéd in their attractiveness and youthfulness as long as they are no baddies. The music has a classical touch and was in parts specifically composed and recorded by the developers themselves if I read this correctly in the credits. The sound effects support the story by conveying a sense of urgency, specifically when you are faced with critical decisions.

The best thing I can say about this visual novel is that at times it doesn't feel like one and I got the impression of playing a 'real' game. Even if this was delusional, it's cool to have this in a visual novel. In the interrogations, there was some stress trying to figure out the right answers or accusations. I felt pressure to solve the puzzles correctly although it wasn't in fact possible to fail them. The choices had weight to them and I was troubled to take them. One of the better visual novels. It won't change your mind on this genre but if you are into visual novels, I can recommend Dry Drowning.

408 Produkte im Account

34 Reviews

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806 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 06.12.20 02:28

Incredible story. So many amazing moments with many unpredictable plot twists that will keep you engaged and thrilled throughout your journey in Nova Polemos!

789 Produkte im Account

14 Reviews

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1625 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 02.12.20 21:09

[spoiler]Every happy ending is a lie. [/spoiler]
Ah yes, don't I already know that so very well.

* Great/unique mystery/sci-fi(ish) visual novel with an good soundtrack to compliment it.
* Would recommend it to someone who would maybe like to try and see what the genre can provide for storytelling, or perhaps just likes/wants a good crime/mystery story with some spicy Orwellian bits thrown in.

225 Produkte im Account

3 Reviews

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1853 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 22.11.20 16:44

Choices finally matter, deep story, immersive atmosphere. Grats for the devs, keep up the good work!

643 Produkte im Account

49 Reviews

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785 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 08.11.20 08:08

Recommended for detective and visual novel fans. Unlike most games the alternate endings are REALLY worth getting and playing for alone :)

109 Produkte im Account

39 Reviews

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1005 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 22.10.20 18:30

Deep quest scenario, a lot of different endings and choices. Thumbs up for StudioV and development team. Good work and recommend this game.

6746 Produkte im Account

99 Reviews

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357 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 17.10.20 18:47

More than 1 year in, and the game is still buggy that locks up the game with no way of bypassing with clunky UI and performance issues..

Pro-active developer manages to resolve some show stopping bugs that was reported a year later, allowing me to finally proceed with the game normally.

519 Produkte im Account

39 Reviews

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708 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 03.10.20 14:11

A solid game with some caveats

**This review was written before their planned October update, which they say addresses some of the issues and concerns I wrote below~ **

This game delivered a solid experience with a mature story; a visual novel without waifus or anime memes (which, don’t get me wrong have their own charm.)
But there are a couple missteps that prevent this from being a masterpiece.
1. The game was made by an Italian company (how cool is that?) but unfortunately, there are spelling and grammatical errors which seem really striking giving the polish of the rest of the game. Not only that, but it was obviously a translated work, and as such the story is a bit difficult to follow.
2. There are a lot of quality of life issues and just minor things that perhaps a more well thought out approach would have prevented. For example the art is beautiful, but in the quest to be noir-ish all the character portraits are in black and white. The problem with this is that I found a lot of characters looked similar, and if they had, for example, different color outfits that would have helped immensely. In the first chapter, there were girls named Alicia, Anne, and Abigail. Like the game went out of it’s way to be confusing. Like, how hard would it have been to give the girls names with different starting letters? I even found the shape of the pointer to be counter-intuitive at first. And when you get a new item in the inventory or a profile, the game doesn’t go directly to the file, it flips through a couple menus first which is not a big deal, but seems like something that could’ve been done better. Not game-breaking by any means, just things that could’ve been fixed quickly and easily by a test audience.
3. There are a couple points in the game where you are asked a question and you have to choose one of three answers, or select a piece of evidence to show, or stuff like that. It would’ve been helpful if they kept the question on the screen while you’re going through evidence. And I mean, it’s been done before in the Phoenix Wright games, so there’s no reason they couldn’t have done it/thought about doing it in this game. Once again, nothing big, but just a simple quality of life issue that would’ve improved the game.

Now, on to the good points:
1. No filler. The game respects your time and I went through one playthrough in 10 hours or so.
2. Multiple endings which are different. I only got ending B myself, but I watched another ending online and it was significantly different.
3. Although I didn’t really care for the dystopian noir vibe, I’m sure there are probably people that do. At the very least it’s an original take and the world they created was well thought out and interesting.
4. Mini games which switch up the vibe every once in a while. Nothing that will tax your brain or require a walkthrough, but something different.

Overall, the game is good. The story and world is interesting enough and it is a unique game that stands out against all the Japanese visual novels which have flooded the market. However, there is room for improvement, and they are all in areas that could’ve been solved easily, which is a bit frustrating.

I was satisfied with the ending, and the overall game experience and I got to the end which is more than can be said for a lot of games in my library. However I don’t think I’m going to pick it up and play through the other endings, nor do I consider it to be in the top five visual novels I have played.

7.7/10

16 Produkte im Account

2 Reviews

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1271 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 31.08.20 12:33

Dry drowning overall is a very well designed graphic-novel/detective game, and if you are into this type of thing it's worth the price:

Pros:
-the art and design in this game is absolutely beautiful, it takes place on a dystopian planet with a political system that you would think was designed by Ayn Rand herself where egalitarianism has almost disappeared and each citizen is judged by their use value to society alone.

-A great storyline involving a mythical serial killer! An addictive page turner for sure!

-The puzzles are pretty challenging and they force you to think about the story line and cause-and-effect relationships. The correct answers to keep the story moving are not always obvious. Dry Drowning is certainly educational in many aspects.

Cons:

-all of the activity in this game consists of reading and clicking, hence it is more of a graphic novel than a video game. This takes away from a good deal of the fun that's present in a lot of action-oriented video games. People who aren't into reading books or reading stuff on the internet probably are better off spending their time doing something else.

-I have yet to get to the end of this so I don't have much else to say, I will say that Dry Drowning isn't personally exciting enough for me that I'm probably not going to play it a second time with more of the alternate endings for the reasons stated above. I definitely want to see what these developers have to offer in the future though.

72 Produkte im Account

7 Reviews

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1001 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 16.07.20 16:52

beautiful art & music , equally wonderful gameplay & storyline . i really enjoyed some of the concepts that were used in the game , especially the clever nod to mythology .

edit : i just got 2/3 of the endings & i must emphasise how rewarding this game is & how every choice had me splitting - ends for the 'right solution ' . dry drowning is such a wonderful reinvention & exploration of common cyberpunk themes & topics . i thoroughly enjoyed playing this game & i cann't recommend it enough .

175 Produkte im Account

1 Reviews

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983 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 08.06.20 23:26

I truly enjoyed this game. The story was fantastic. They really make you think about the choices presented to you. What I liked most about the story was the added creepiness of how close to reality this dystopia could be. Our society isn't to this point yet, but you can see how it might get there and this game provides a scary glimpse.

403 Produkte im Account

63 Reviews

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1077 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 10.05.20 20:46

I liked this game very much! I bought it as a visual novel and expected to be just clicking along. But this being a detective mystery, we get to investigate crime scenes and analyze evidence to make deductions (with consequences for getting it wrong!). There is even an optional mini-game! :-)

So there is a lot of interactivity to the game beyond clicking through dialogue. The music and art were very well done and really lets you slip into this dystopian world the devs have created. The writing was very well done, I thought. The mystery was intriguing and held my interest throughout. The choices we are asked to make are huge and will affect the story. Sometimes it feels like there aren't any good choices, but that is a reflection of the grim world the story is set in.

I recommend using manual saves so you can feel comfortable starting and stopping whenever you have a dialogue break. My first play through was about 10 hours (but I went achievement crazy on the mini-game) and I think the story is good enough I'm going back for more to make some different choices.

I highly recommend this game.

9617 Produkte im Account

237 Reviews

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928 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 02.05.20 16:51

Review by Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam.

Is this game a masterpiece? It's an Italian made visual novel, thankfully without anime characters, that follows the story of a chain-smoking detective and his girl on the trail of a serial killer. The detective can see if someone is lying him into the face, so he is quite successful at interrogations. Unfortunately, his hunt for the serial killer was not always successful so far, there even was a serious failure a few years ago. All the more he would now risk anything just to finally solve the case.

Far above a run of the mill detective story with some additional relationship-related issues, the background story shows a (near) totalitarian city-state of the future, with strict immigration laws and where the government decides upon the value of its citizens based on their contributions to the state - and therefore treating homeless, jobless, elderly, sick, or undereducated people rather badly... for their own gain. The complete media control and the obligatory use of the state-controlled computer operating system is quite distressing. The story of the serial killer is interwoven deeply with the politics of the city, making it quite interesting to follow.

The gameplay is typical for a visual novel (following conversations), but you also have to investigate locations, use a piece of evidence from your inventory during conversations, select the right answers from clues you found before during a few sequences and there is even a small puzzle game (a Pipemania clone) included that you can play whenever you feel like it (actually, the state encourages you to play it). Sometimes it feels more like an adventure than a visual novel. There are also a bunch of choices to make during the gameplay, and they do have severe consequences on the story later on. Finishing the game unlocks game+, where you can make different decisions and try to see the alternative endings. The ending I reached was... a bit unexpected.

Conclusion:
Dark visual novel set in a dystopian city... every good ending is a lie.

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131 Reviews

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565 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 22.04.20 21:12

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Dry Drowning is a detective thriller visual novel with choices and consequences. We take on the role of Mordred Foley, a cynical private investigator trying to get by and making a living together with his work partner Hera with whom he has a very close personal relationship. The year is 2066 and the future couldn’t look any bleaker. Mass brainwashing, police brutality, political propaganda, and xenophobia are all vastly prevalent. While all this is going on, a twisted serial killer returns from the past, killing his victims in a brutal manner to mimic the scenes from Greek mythology. Mordred and Hera now have a chance to redeem their past misdeeds, but at what cost?

I greatly enjoyed the way narrative was handled and the amount of world-building the game has. A lot of aspects about the city in which events take place were described in great detail. The game manages to create intrigue well and often manages to surprise us with its events and plot twists. The character development is also superb. The development of two leading protagonists, Mordred and Hera, is especially good, as they live from one bad situation to another while trying to stay strong and keep trust in each other.

One of the big aspects of story-telling in this game also are moral choices and most of them seem to have a pretty big effect on the developing events and ending. These choices are often morally grey and are good at testing the player's moral compass.

Aside from the dialogue and moral choices, the game also involves us investigate crime scenes and find pieces of evidence in them. This then becomes useful in confronting lying characters. The main character has a strange psychological condition where he sees a hideous mask on the face of those who lie to him, and so part of the gameplay is to unmask these characters by presenting evidence to them and outwitting them through logical deduction.

The art style of characters, environments, and still images is quite amazing. The music is also very intense and full of emotions and is great at enhancing the atmosphere in each scene. There's no voice acting, but this feels normal for a game such as this, and music does a good enough job at conveying emotion instead of it.

It's a great thriller story, one of the best you'd experience in a game, and there's been clearly a lot of attention given to world-building and character development. Its gameplay is only supplementary to the story, but it still offers enough to keep the players engaged and using their brain. If you enjoy murder mysteries, dystopian settings, and disturbing story events that pull no punches, especially when coupled with political themes and personal drama, then go and get this game right now, or at least add it to your wishlist. This hidden gem should not be missed.

For a more in-depth review and a gameplay video, check here: https://saveorquit.com/2020/04/22/review-dry-drowning/

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5 Reviews

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1278 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 17.04.20 23:56

Solid point and click noir game.

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58 Reviews

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87 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 15.04.20 11:11

First, let me go on the record to say that Dry Drowning has one of the best intros for any narrative game! Music is perfect! The art style is mesmerizing as well as the subtle nuanced animations that help the art come to life. The world that the game has built is very interesting and cyber noire is definitely my jam.

However, the major downfall for me is that the story is conveyed in a bit of a forced manner. I'll be honest, I'm not a visual novel aficionado, but I don't enjoy that a ton of the game is broken up by documents to read mid conversation. They set up the universe and are pretty important to read. There's elements to the story or the universe that you don't really infer from people talking, but more so from the understanding that you read the person's profile or an article on an event or organization. I'm okay with there being a few articles to read here and there, but I prefer to have a fluid conversation with someone and then catch up on some details before/after. Also there's a bizarre mechanic of whenever someone's lying there's a repetitive loud static sound and you see a mask on someone. That's really obnoxious and heavy handed. I get it, it's more of a mystery of WHY someone is lying, but I like games with more subtlety than a giant neon sign pointing at a lie.

All in all, you may enjoy this game regardless! I'm super nit picky with my games, particular that of genres I'm not too into. But these elements broke up the flow of the story and for a visual novel game, it's a bit of a deal breaker for me and my short attention span. Some of these elements may change as the game progresses on, but an hour and a half in and it's seemingly only getting worse for me.

742 Produkte im Account

5 Reviews

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699 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 27.03.20 20:53

A very interesting choice based visual novel. I enjoyed the mature and serious story. Revealing lies and solving the crime case is done well as it forced me to think and there was also a thrill to it. The overall complexity of design was a bit too much for me, like an overkill of different mechanics and plot turns. Less would have been equally impressive and more professional.

925 Produkte im Account

42 Reviews

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10 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 20.03.20 04:27

I played this in offline mode so my playtime looks wrong, it was probably around 8-10 hours or so.

This is a very interesting visual novel-ish with detective elements. The gameplay isn't as refined as Phoenix Wright, but it does have a few legitimate puzzles in the style of a point and click adventure game as well.

The storyline is excellent, and the choices you make have actual ramifications to the storyline at large, even though the case structure looks relatively locked in place. It's good enough that I'm planning to play through it at least one more time to see how things turn out if I'd done them a little differently.

Largely the difficulty is fairly light, so I'd say not to worry if you would normally have trouble with puzzles, but it might also be a turnoff if fiendish puzzles is what you're looking for. The storyline and reactivity is the real king here, and for that it was well worth the buy.

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23 Reviews

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743 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 16.03.20 03:41

I would recommend this game to anybody who enjoys detective fiction or dystopian sci-fi. The investigation are not as thrilling as some other games, but all in all it's a good that carries an interesting mystery, which is a combination I'm always happy to have in my video games.

Don't buy this if you expect fast paced, incredible gameplay, or if you don't feel like reading. Also don't expect a game that deals with very real, adult, down-to-earth themes. Do buy it if you're looking for a good story, interesting characters and a hauntingly well crafted environment and atmosphere. It's worth the price, and more than that.

7.5/10

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5 Reviews

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486 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 12.12.19 09:20

I was a bit skeptical at the beginning but this is truly an immersive experience with beautiful although dark story that akes you care about the characters

210 Produkte im Account

36 Reviews

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543 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 09.12.19 20:37

Aside from the protagonist being too much of an ass in some situations, the game's definitely solid. Plus, to my mind, it does represent the cause and effect rather well, I missed that in a few other VNs. A part of me wishes there was a truly happy ending... but oh well, that's noir for you.

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96 Reviews

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377 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 07.10.19 21:15

The interesting thing here is that the title of “Dry Drowning” itself is very paradox, I mean, how can one drown without any kind of liquid? The meaning is simple, as the protagonist doesn’t actually get drowned by water, but by the darkness of the twisted society here. That being said, Dry Drowning is a thriller dystopian tale full of mysteries that are only waiting to get solved by its reader. Before starting this visual novel, I already had the feeling that it is going to be one of a kind as, although it does take place in a futuristic world, it talks about quite current themes we all can relate to and in all honesty, I just can’t get enough of cyberpunk and dystopian stories.

The story takes place in the futuristic city called Nova Polemos and revolves around Mordred Foley who is a private detective, although his reputation greatly got destroyed due to a past case. With Hera, his partner, by his side, he tries his best to cope with his past and survive. Thus, he accepts a case of a new client which turned out to be way too similar to the case which ruined his and Hera’s life.

In total, you go through three different cases where people get murdered and it’s up to the reader to slowly connect the dots to find out who the real culprit is behind the series of deaths. At first, it didn’t seem like the cases are really connected besides probably having a similar intention, but as I went on with the story, I found that all three are more tied to each other than one might assume at first. Despite all the mysteries, the story still made sense and was understandable for the reader, which is no easy task when it comes to the story reveal yet I found the outcome very satisfying, and the tale Dry Drowning has to tell.

The special thing here is that, although Dry Drowning is a visual novel, there are still gameplay elements available to solve the cases. You don’t only go through the story as a passive reader but have to participate in the culprit chase. One of the active parts in this game is the investigation where you can interrogate its residents, solve several puzzles or check several items in an area to find the evidence you can collect or find out more information to use it to “unmask” someone.

This leads me to the next point, Foley is a special detective who can see through the lies of others thanks to masks appearing on their faces when they’re dishonest. As aforementioned, he is “unmasking” people when they’re lying and this is another gameplay element of this visual novel as well. During the confrontation, you have to choose the right evidence at the right time to drive them into the corner. Although you have three tries in total until the game hits “game over”, you can start over anytime when you end up dying. Since the game takes you back to the beginning of the “unmasking”, it’s necessary to replay a certain portion of the visual novel, which I found quite annoying at times since I wanted to skip all the already read text, which felt like a chore between remembering the right answers as well as randomly choosing one when you really don’t know the answer. That being said, some answers to a few questions weren’t exactly clear to me, yet you could go through the game with just guessing as well, so it’s impossible to get stuck here.

There are several choices available in Dry Drowning, which affect the relationship of the characters and depending on your choice, there will be a different outcome as well. There are three different endings in total and various branches throughout the story which will have an impact on the later part of the game. Important decisions are marked and I felt really torn between some as I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to do the right thing or something more convenient for me. To me, it felt like the decision actually mattered for the story, as sometimes you can even decide between killing or saving someone.

It’s obvious that due to all the gameplay, it won’t be possible to just skip through the text like in a normal visual novel. A very neat feature here is NG+ which gets unlocked once you finish the story once. In NG+, you can only select between the important choices and after confirming them, the reader jumps right to the ending of a chapter to be able to see its outcome. I found this feature very useful when you don’t want to go through the whole investigating part once again but just want to see the different endings.

Something which really stood out to me was the artwork in Dry Drowning. While some positions of the characters looked a bit off, I just can’t help but adore unique styles that were very fitting for this dystopian game at the same time. The CGs are breathtaking and are varying with every decision you make. Something to nitpick for me was the animation, although it wasn’t a big deal, I found some really unnecessary such as the moving textboxes or the up and down moving characters which didn’t help with the weird propositions at times. The soundtrack was pleasant to listen to, yet, voice-over, which is missing, would have greatly helped with the immersion of the player.

All in all, Dry Drowning is an interesting futuristic dystopian visual novel with unique features which is very refreshing when you can actually participate in solving crimes instead of just reading through them without any interaction at all. I found the reading and gameplay part very well balanced as well and it never felt like any part of the game became overwhelming. This visual novel offers interesting puzzles and requires you to carefully think about your decision. That being said, Dry Drowning is definitely worth a try if you enjoy cyberpunk themes and solving mysteries.

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152 Produkte im Account

56 Reviews

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948 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 27.08.19 16:24

Dry Drowning is an Italian dystopian visual novel which doesn't have anything related to real drowning at all. Here the act of drowning is metaphorical – this is a story about how a private detective, Mordred, and his sidekick, Hera, are slowly but surely drowning in suffocating Nova Polemos, a dystopian city of fear, lies, ignorance, propaganda, racism and hate towards immigrants and unemployed people. Our main objective is to uncover the true identity of a famous serial killer called Pandora. Yes, like Pandora box, and this similarity isn't a coincident. In this novel Greek mythology plays a huge role in understanding what's going on.

Pros
+ very unique and well-written story, at least for visual novel genre.
+ stunning art.
+ great and fitting music.
+ your choices do matter, and I suggest to complete all three endings because they're done not in a copy-paste-change-some-small-bits manner but they're whole different stories with different ideas, events and conclusions.
+ investigation mode is well done and I've enjoyed digging into all clues and facts, some revelations (including the true identity of Pandora) were huge plot twists to me.

Cons
- I personally dislike Be a Good Citizen mini-game [strike]because I'm dumb as a rock[/strike], however some may like these puzzles... which are necessary to complete in order to unlock 3 achievements [spoiler]and a secret ending[/spoiler].

I have additional thoughts about some strange differences in certain characters' motivations in some endings, however I don't think it's fair to put these complaints into the review because objectively speaking the visual novel is great and I wholly recommend you all to play it.

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159 Reviews

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584 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 17.08.19 22:51

More interesting reviews on Fenol Baron Approves Curator Page

Detective dystopia “Dry Drowning” plays on rather traditional motives, but nevertheless definitely brings something fresh and interesting to the genre. To begin with, the game is an extremely interesting mixture of a visual novel, a detective investigation (with all the attendant attributes - interrogations, building logical connections, etc.), an adventure puzzle, because in some places we literally have to solve riddles of varying complexity. Based on the description, I thought it was a purely visual novel telling a story exclusively, but the more surprising was my surprise when I saw that the developers created a full-fledged detective story. Yes, the element of the visual novel is still the main one, occupying most of the gameplay, but the rest of the components do not look abandoned at all. It is noticeable that great attention was paid to the game mechanics of interrogations and the mechanism of comparing facts, they develop during the game, and the creators constantly bring you some new discoveries so that you do not get bored. And this already characterizes it from the very best side, when such indifference is noticeable both to your game and to your player.

The game story is very gloomy, tough and merciless, the genre obliges. The script is very harmoniously intertwined between the story of the persecution of a bloody maniac nicknamed Pandora, leaving a bloody trail behind him, and dirty political upheavals, like a dump truck driving through the fate of hundreds of thousands of people. Our protagonist as if descended from the pages of noir detectives - he is cool, smokes a cigarette without a filter, does not erase his cloak, and also has such a dirty past that literally everyone hates him in the city of the future. Except for his beloved girlfriend Hera, as if being the voice of reason in his gloomy head. In general, the Greek mood is hovering over almost everything here - this also applies to the architecture of the city, the names of some characters, and even the serial killer whom we pursue recreates the myths of Ancient Greece in its sophisticated deeds. The scenario raises a lot of problems that humanity can pursue - here are the problems of migration, personal freedom, the difference between justice and law, and many other ethical issues. To be honest, in some places the scriptwriters are working too hard on this issue, clearly overloading the moral weight of the story being told, and trying too hard to hammer their story with allusions today. But at a greater distance, the balance between the two components of the plot - detective and political, is observed perfectly.

The game is long, the first time took me about 9 hours, and there are still a few undiscovered endings, so the game will need to be played several times. Ah yes, endings. The visual novel implies a plot decision points, and there are plenty of them. Both these narrative choices and plot twists are very painful and difficult (you can be sure here), several times I literally hung on the choice of the future path, because it really determined the further course of action in a very serious way. There is almost always a catch in the choices, it is far from always worth trusting even the closest characters, as a result you realize that you really influence the existence of a whole huge city. Everything looks wonderful, all backdrops are drawn to the highest level, watching and hearing the game is pure pleasure. Sometimes, of course, the sounds become a little strange (especially with regard to the sounds of steps, but these are fleeting moments.

“Dry Drowning” did not drown in a political swamp and a sea of blood, following a very thin line between these two temptations. This is a full-fledged big story, which is extremely interesting to explore and easy to fall in love with, I got a lot of pleasure from it

430 Produkte im Account

81 Reviews

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126 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 05.08.19 13:38

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Hello, i have a Curator Page on Steam where i review games. I'd be happy if you could follow the page. It helps me a lot.

What is Dry Drowning?

Dry Drowning is a mystery/ psychological thriller visual novel where your choices effect the game. Game sets in a futuristic place called Nova Polemos. You play as a detective called Mordred. Mordred doesn't have a positive history at his job so people dislike him. One day, a client calls him and wants to talk with him about a murder. Not having much options to clear his name, Mordred concedes the job. So this is how our story begin.

Gameplay

Unlike some other visual novels, there are some different gameplay elements in Dry Drowning. For an example, you can travel more freely to places. Examine items in your inventory. (This is not a new feature though.) Also, you can select topics to talk with others.

Pros

+Dark and mature story.
+Good drawings.

Cons

-You need to wait for conservations to end to save the game. I think it'd be better if we could save anywhere we want.

272 Produkte im Account

69 Reviews

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204 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 02.08.19 20:20

So far with what I played, I'd say its a well mature VN expierence.

+ atmospheric with grim and cyberpunk setting
+ choices and consquences
+ twist and turns
+ interesting mystery plot

- could use a few fixes and features (auto text, quick save)
- not all choices have sever impact

Dry Drowning

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What is Dry Drowning?

Gameplay

Pros

Cons