Noir detective games are not too common these days. When you hear the term, you immediately think of L.A. Noire, but there are indeed others as well. One of these is Dry Drowning, a new take on the genre that tries to go about things differently. Dry Drowning is an interesting game, and Being closer to a visual novel allows the developers be more inventive in how they build the world. Dry Drowning wisely cut out any unnecessary content with the exception of some minigames. The result is a lean game that is still open ended. You never feel like you are being led by the hand to the next part of the game, but instead are encouraged to find new ways of continuing onward.
You will question people, follow leads, and deal with the bizarre politics of the setting. Dry Drowning has multiple themes going, with corruption, mysticism, cyberpunk and more, and yet manages to balance them out well. Its not perfect, and some parts of the story are a bit out there and not fully fleshed out, If anything, it feels like a lot of setup was made for a sequel but at the same time, the setup feels lacking. I do have to admit that I love how well established the world feels, as there is a lot going on at once. It does not feel like too much ever, but as I said, a lot isn’t fleshed out.
The main flaw I have with the game, is the localization. There are several parts where it clearly feels like the translation was done by machine and a lot of the original context was lost. Perhaps this is why it feels like many parts were not fleshed out well. It is not too bad I suppose, but there clearly are some issues so you will need to take this into account when you play. Fortunately, I was still able to get the gist of the main parts of the game.
Dry Drowning has a lot of social commentary, even via the minigames, and this is where I feel the game shines. While a lot of the commentary is influenced by the devs home country of Italy, it is still applicable to most of the world. Parts, like a minigame, were clearly inspired by some ongoing trends in China as well. I would comment on the plot more, but that would give a way too much and I do not feel comfortable doing that. There are branching story paths and you will need to play through the game a few times in order to understand it.
Dry Drowning is a well done visual novel that plays with conventions. It is not a long game, but doesn’t have any needless additions weighing it down. With a lean and concise story, it is worth checking out, but you need to be aware of the translation issues. Aside from those, this is a very decent noir detective game and an interesting experience to be sure.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided