Dry Drowning

7.5/10
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. Three 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,i t 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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