Dry Drowning

Dry Drowning is a stylish, atmospheric visual novel with meaningful choices, great presentation, soundtrack, and strong writing. The puzzle elements are a bit thin, but if you’re here for narrative tension, moral dilemmas, and a moody cyber-noir world, it delivers.

I love that the settings and the characters get progressively worst. I think I got the worst/bad ending too. Yippee. I love that the story touches on realistic and hard topics that usually are glazed/babied on other similar games/media. A lot of times some of the dialogues got me thinking and relate like.. im very sure the writers here have lived under extremely corrupt government as well (I am Indonesian here I have a say at this), and not just the theoriticals that are mostly deployed on western writers. Very surprising since this is developed by an Italian studio. So either writers have lived under extremely corrupt government that nailed all the realistically political topics, or they did extremely good research. Although maybe the last scenes of the bad ending might be a little too rushed to my expectation (I was rooting for the villains!! come on, why are you glazing at the important part). it would have been 10/10 but I'll keep this at 8/10. Reason 8/10 bc other than that final scene; sometimes it gets confusing to navigate and progress the story (its that type of game that you need to click everywhere and make sure you've done everything). The UI/menu is not convenient …

I'm not going to insult anyone's intelligence by pointing out that you're buying a game called Dry Drowning. It is NOT a positive or uplifting experience you're going to get from this game, at all. There is no "GOOD ENDING" where everything is hunky-dory and you sail off into the sunset with Nicole having stopped the killer clown bomber. No, this is a different kind of game. I feel like despite it's sci-fi themes it's equally trying to go for a gritty style of reality where nothing is ever so clean cut and wrapped up with a pretty little pink bow. No matter what you do, you lose. Someone loses. Someone has to lose. If you're looking for a happy ending please go elsewhere, this game WILL depress you. It bummed me out. I knew what I was getting into and it still bothered me anyway. On my quest to play/replay all of my Point 'n' Click Adventure Games I kinda wish i'd left this one off my list, but here we are.

A well executed, and very dark, detective visual novel. The art is good. The music is good as well, and fits the mood. Took me roughly 8.5 hours to complete, with a new game plus option to replay and see different endings / make different choices along the way. If you like noir, it might be worth a look. Ran fine, had no issues or crashes.

What a GREAT game! I loved it. 10/10, will come back and get all achievements.

Dry Drowning is a dense, atmospheric investigative visual novel that leans heavily into psychological noir and dystopian cyberpunk, delivering a story-driven experience that prioritizes moral ambiguity and player choice over conventional gameplay systems. Developed by Studio V in collaboration with VLG and published by Leonardo Interactive alongside WhisperGames, the game is unapologetically mature in both theme and tone. It explores a bleak future shaped by fear, prejudice, and political extremism, presenting a narrative that is as much about internal decay as it is about solving crimes. Set in the oppressive city of Nova Polemos, the game introduces a society on the brink of collapse, where ideological conflict and social unrest dominate everyday life. The worldbuilding is one of Dry Drowning’s strongest elements, conveyed through dialogue, environmental storytelling, and the constant tension between factions. Rather than offering exposition dumps, the game allows players to absorb the setting organically, slowly piecing together how technology, propaganda, and paranoia have reshaped the city. This creates an immersive backdrop that feels hostile and morally compromised, reinfor…