Info about Dry Drowning:

Official game description:
DEMO AVAILABLE NOW
==================
**Save files are compatible with the full version of the game, so you will be able to keep them and continue your adventure right where you left it!**
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digital Deluxe Edition
======================
About the Game
==============
Dry Drowning is an **investigative thriller-oriented visual novel** set in the **futuristic dystopian universe** of Nova Polemos.  
A shady socio-political situation dragging everything down to the abyss, a serial killer drawing strength from this darkness, a tormented detective and his assistant craving for redemption.  
Dry Drowning challenges the player to find the truth, going through ambiguous characters, riddles, clues and unexpected events, while telling an extremely compelling and mature story.  
Game Features
-------------
*   Choices really matter: Players choices can lead to an always different story, with **more than 150 story branches and 3 completely different endings**  
*   Heavy moral choices: Dramatically **change the way you live the game**, affecting background politics, technology, environment, NPC encounters, who lives and who dies  
*   High replayability: **More than 20 hours gameplay** to see everything about  
*   Time travel: Explore the **detective's flashbacks** and investigate cases from the past to help you solve new ones  
*   Psychological interrogations: Break the masks and uncover the truth with the **Living Nightmares system**  
*   Original soundtrack: dynamic OST with **more than 50 audio tracks**, some of which live recorded, for more than 2 hours of music
**_Get ready to dive into darkness..._**

Release date: Aug 2, 2019

Categories: Visual Novel, Investigative Gameplay, Choice-based Narrative, Multiple Endings, Time Travel Mechanics, Puzzle Solving, Deductive Reasoning Puzzle


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $9.99 - $14.99
  - Reasoning: All four quotes consistently indicate that the game is only considered worth its purchase price when bought on sale. The reviews mention the game's short length, frequent sales, and directly state that full price is not advisable while discounted price offers good value. One review even suggests a half-price version would be acceptable. This strongly supports a fair price range that mirrors typical sale prices for similar short indie games, which commonly fall between $9.99 and $14.99 USD. The evidence does not provide exact dollar amounts, so the range is estimated based on common Steam sale pricing patterns for games of this type.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 9.5h
  - Story completion: 7.0h
  - Session length: 1.5h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: Game completion (typical total time to finish the game) is derived from multiple reviews reporting first playthroughs of 9–10 hours. Story/campaign completion (time to finish main story) is estimated at 6–8 hours from reviews that specify reading speed and the '6 hour game' mention. Session length is inferred from a review that plays one case per hour, suggesting 1–2 hour sessions, though another review says it's not a game for an hour, implying variability. Endgame is minimal: NG+ secret ending takes only about 10 minutes; no substantial post-story content is reported, so endgame is set to null.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game initially presents significant friction through dense text and exposition, causing boredom or drowsiness for many, but players who push through often find deep immersion and replayability driven by branching choices.
  - Stance: Clicks after
  - Anchor: Getting immersed and curious about choices
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: dense lore and exposition-heavy scenes; long dialogues that feel like a chore; repetitive text reading when replaying; confusing or poorly presented political background
  - Unlock drivers: curiosity about how different choices affect the story; immersive narrative payoff after initial slog
  - Conditions: patience with slow pacing and text density; interest in narrative-driven games; willingness to replay for full story
- Player Archetypes:
  - Narrative Detective (buy)
    - Motivation: Engrossing story and meaningful choices in a dystopian detective narrative.
    - Playstyle: Plays methodically, exploring dialogue and investigation thoroughly to experience the story's depth.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: story-driven gamer; detective fan; dystopian enthusiast
    - Reference games: L.A. Noire; The Walking Dead
  - Genre Connoisseur (sale)
    - Motivation: Enjoyment of investigative and branching choice mechanics within the visual novel genre.
    - Playstyle: Plays with genre expectations, uses manual saves, compares to other titles, and appreciates how the game fits the category.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: visual novel enthusiast; choice-game veteran; Ace Attorney fan
    - Reference games: Ace Attorney; The Walking Dead
  - Completionist Replayer (buy)
    - Motivation: Unlocking all achievements, secret endings, and content through multiple playthroughs.
    - Playstyle: Uses New Game+, hunts achievements, replays with different choices, and engages with mini-games for rewards.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: achievement hunter; completionist; replayer
    - Reference games: N/A


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Excellent music and visuals (weight 0.72): The music and art are top-notch, with particularly striking black-and-white character art contrasted with colorful cyberpunk scenes, enhancing the overall atmosphere.
- Multiple endings with consequences (weight 0.71): The game offers multiple endings (A, B, C, secret) that are well-designed, replayable, and heavily influenced by player choices, with meaningful consequences.
- Meaningful narrative choices (weight 0.64): Choices are central and impact the story in subtle or significant ways, with visible consequences that make decisions feel important.
- Cohesive cyberpunk noir setting (weight 0.57): The game successfully combines cyberpunk, dystopian, and detective noir elements, with strong world-building and a compelling, atmospheric setting.
- Well-written characters (weight 0.31): Characters are well-developed with realistic dialogue, unique traits, and distinct fates across different story paths.
- Engaging detective gameplay (weight 0.3): The gameplay feels more like an adventure than a typical visual novel, with features reminiscent of Phoenix Wright such as investigation and questioning, plus fun minigames like 'Be A Good Citizen'.

Common complaints:
- Poor character depth and development (weight 0.79): Characters, including the protagonist and NPCs, lack depth, personality, and credible transformation, feeling one-dimensional or shallow, which diminishes immersion.
- Significant translation and localization issues (weight 0.73): The game suffers from poor translation, including machine-like text, typos, awkward phrasing, and errors that hinder understanding, especially in Japanese and English versions.
- Poor UI design and clunkiness (weight 0.68): Many players report that the user interface is poorly designed, ugly, obstructive, and clunky, making navigation inconvenient and detracting from the overall experience.
- Weak gameplay and minimal interactivity (weight 0.64): Gameplay is limited to clicking through text with no real interaction, puzzles are simple or tedious, and investigation mechanics are shallow, making the game feel more like a visual novel than a detective game.
- Confusing and illogical story (weight 0.58): The story is often described as unclear, convoluted, illogical, or making no sense, with plot holes, inconsistencies, and a rushed narrative that fails to engage players.
- Multiple playthroughs required without fast-forward (weight 0.53): Players are forced to replay the game for different endings and achievements, but there is no fast-forward or skip option for already-read text, making replays tedious and time-consuming.
- Choices lack real impact or satisfaction (weight 0.43): Many choices feel meaningless, railroading the player, or only affect the ending through key decisions, reducing moral immersion and making players feel their agency is limited.
- Technical bugs and performance issues (weight 0.41): The game suffers from various bugs, including interface locks, save errors, crashes, high GPU usage, and showstopping issues that have persisted for over a year, impacting playability.
- Short length and insufficient content (weight 0.37): The game is considered too short (around 4-6 hours) with only 4 chapters and 3 endings, leaving many characters underdeveloped and the story feeling rushed or incomplete.
- Disappointing endings and emotional payoff (weight 0.33): Endings are described as lousy, rushed, depressing, or lacking emotional buildup, with some being compared unfavorably to other games, leaving players unsatisfied.
- Political and social themes mishandled (weight 0.3): Political content is seen as immature, subjective, or off-putting, with poor integration of themes like dystopia and mythology, and some elements feeling forced or contradictory.
- Wordy, pretentious writing and filler content (weight 0.28): The writing is overly verbose, purple, and full of filler, with pretentious language and a parody-like style that detracts from the story's quality and engagement.
- No voice acting reduces immersion (weight 0.26): The lack of voice acting makes the game feel dull and less immersive, especially for a story-driven title, though some see it as a minor issue.
- Repetitive or monotonous gameplay (weight 0.26): Gameplay becomes boring and repetitive, especially in later stages, with monotonous clicking and a lack of variety, making it feel like a chore to progress.
- Inconsistent art style and visuals (weight 0.24): The art style is inconsistent, with characters looking different between CGs, and some players find the visuals ugly, dark, or lacking color variation, contributing to a sleepy or unappealing atmosphere.
- Poor navigation and unclear progression (weight 0.24): Players find it confusing to navigate the story, with unclear investigation prompts, scene switching issues, and a lack of hints, forcing them to click everywhere to progress.
- Lack of save options and checkpoints (weight 0.23): Players cannot save during conversations or have no quick save, and there are no checkpoints in confrontations, making progress frustrating and punishing.
- Detective mechanics are fragmented or shallow (weight 0.21): The detective and investigation parts feel fragmented, with shallow clue systems and weak reasoning, reducing the sense of being a real detective.
- Forced or poorly integrated Greek mythology (weight 0.18): Greek mythology elements feel superficial or only a gimmick, with obvious analogies and lack of depth, failing to enrich the story or setting.
- Game feels overpriced for content offered (weight 0.11): Given the short playtime and limited content, some players feel the game is not worth the full price, especially compared to other titles in the genre.

Gameplay feedback:
- Visual novel with investigation gameplay (weight 0.96): The game is primarily a visual novel with click-to-interact investigation gameplay. Players explore scenes, gather clues, and engage in dialogue, combining traditional visual novel elements with detective work.
- Branching narrative with multiple endings (weight 0.86): The game features a branching narrative driven by player choices, leading to multiple endings. Moral dilemmas and severe consequences for decisions are highlighted, similar to visual novels with nonlinear storytelling.
- Detective investigation and interrogation (weight 0.5): Core gameplay revolves around detective work, including investigating crime scenes, analyzing evidence, and interrogating suspects. The game emphasizes deduction and puzzle-solving in a mystery context.
- Lie detection via mask mechanic (weight 0.45): A unique lie detection mechanic involves suspects wearing masks that reveal deception. Players must unmask liars during interrogations, adding a strategic layer to conversations.
- Dystopian cyberpunk setting (weight 0.41): The game is set in a dystopian cyberpunk future with noir elements. This atmospheric backdrop influences the story and aesthetic, often incorporating Greek mythology themes.
- Choices affect relationships and outcomes (weight 0.34): Player choices have long-term consequences on relationships and the overall narrative. The game tracks decisions to shape character interactions and ending conditions, emphasizing moral dilemmas.
- Similar to Ace Attorney and Danganronpa (weight 0.26): Gameplay and style are compared to titles like Ace Attorney and Danganronpa, featuring detective reasoning, courtroom-style confrontations, and a futuristic noir tone.
- Mini-games and logic puzzles (weight 0.24): The game includes logic tasks, mini-games, and a 'Become a Good Citizen' mini-game with 30 levels. These provide variety beyond the core investigation and dialogue.
- Average puzzle difficulty (weight 0.12): Puzzle difficulty is described as moderate, offering a balanced challenge without being overly complex. This suits players who enjoy accessible detective puzzles.
- New Game+ with fast-forwarding (weight 0.12): A New Game+ feature allows players to replay with fast-forwarding to key decisions, encouraging exploration of different narrative paths and endings.

Performance notes:
- Mixed reports on stability (weight 0.17): Some players report stable performance with no crashes, while others experience crashes or lock-ups. Feedback varies by system configuration, with some users noting issues on certain hardware.
- Performance issues reported (weight 0.13): Several users mention performance problems, including excessive GPU usage for a 2D game. This suggests optimization may need improvement.

Recommendations:
- Buy on sale recommendation (weight 0.46): Many reviews suggest waiting for a sale before purchasing, citing the game's price-to-length ratio or value concerns.
- Dark noir and cyberpunk themes (weight 0.4): Reviewers highlight the game's noir storytelling, dystopian setting, and choice-driven narrative as key attractions for fans of those genres.
- Target audience is visual novel fans (weight 0.32): Multiple reviews clearly state the game is best suited for fans of visual novels, light mystery, and detective stories, while warning that it may not appeal to those seeking action or gameplay.
- Not for all tastes (weight 0.28): Several comments note that the game is not for everyone, with specific warnings for those who dislike politics, perfectionists, or fans of certain acclaimed developers.
- High replayability value (weight 0.12): A few reviews mention that the game has high replayability due to branching storylines and encourages multiple playthroughs.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.15): Players are frustrated by poor translation and UI issues, such as missing auto-skip and slow loading, which disrupt gameplay. Bugs and lack of support, including the game failing to launch, add to the annoyance. Illogical plots, meaningless choices, and punishment for correct answers further aggravate players.
- Appreciation (weight 0.1): Players appreciate the game's strong atmosphere, art style, and music, which engage them in the detective and noir/cyberpunk setting. The thoughtful story, balanced reading, and rapid developer response to save errors are highlights. Features like skip intro and chapter summaries are seen as convenient additions.
- Disappointment (weight 0.1): Players are disappointed by shallow writing, poor integration of Greek myth and cyberpunk themes, and a rushed ending. The removal of key features each chapter, inconsistent art, and lack of voice acting undermine expectations. The game's potential for deep storytelling is wasted, leading to a feeling of having spent time poorly.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.08): Players find satisfaction in well-constructed endings, meaningful choices, and engaging detective puzzles with strong themes. The game provides value for money on discount, with good art and music enhancing the experience. Satisfaction comes from a cohesive narrative that, despite complexity, remains understandable and thoughtful.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.06): Players enjoy the combination of cyberpunk/dystopian/detective elements, beautiful illustrations, and music. Replays for endings, intriguing mysteries, and moral dilemmas keep the experience immersive. The game's story and interactions are engaging enough to hold interest.
- Excitement (weight 0.06): Excitement arises from unpredictable plot twists, hidden endings, and shocking revelations. Intense murder cases and engaging evidence processes create suspense. The responsive choice system, leading to exciting outcomes, also contributes to players' thrill.
- Admiration (weight 0.04): Players admire the sophisticated choice-and-consequences system and well-crafted plot with political relevance. The unique art style, impressive atmosphere, and innovative blending of themes by the Italian development team elicit admiration. The game's dark atmosphere and brilliant conspiracy are key factors.
- Engagement (weight 0.04): Players are engaged by the evidence-based gameplay, varied choices, and impactful outcomes. The game encourages personal investment, such as taking notes, and offers logical interrogations and moral dilemmas. The atmosphere and story scope keep players hooked, especially with multiple endings.
- Annoyance (weight 0.03): Players are annoyed by cumbersome mouse-only controls and unintuitive puzzles that require guesswork. The inconvenient UI and navigation, plus translation issues, cause frustration. Meaningless or consistently negative choices also grate on players.
- Love (weight 0.02): Players love the game for tackling realistic, hard topics with a dark story and beautiful art. The emotional writing and depth resonate strongly, leading to a pure expression of affection for the overall experience.
- Awe (weight 0.02): Awe is felt due to the game's overall quality and deep meaning, which resonates on a soulful level. Players are stunned by how choices reflect deeper life truths, leaving a profound impact beyond typical gaming.
- Immersion (weight 0.02): Players feel immersed through the engaging detective narrative, augmented by art, music, and story that create deep involvement. The atmospheric setting makes players lose themselves in the game's world.
- Pleasure (weight 0.02): Pleasure comes from specific enjoyable elements like the cool character Hera in ending B and the entertaining story. High-quality art and music contribute to a rewarding experience.
- Surprise (weight 0.02): Players are surprised by the game's unexpectedly long length and full-fledged detective gameplay in what seemed like a pure visual novel. Scary moments and the repercussions of choices also catch players off guard.
- Sleepiness (weight 0.01): Sleepiness is induced by the dark UI and lack of color variation, which, combined with early reading, causes dizziness and drowsiness in players.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom stems from monumentally dull gameplay, like repetitive door puzzles, and lazy storytelling with long dialogues. Players had to force themselves to get through a monotonous experience.
- Amusement (weight 0.01): Amusement arises from humorous scenes, like the laugh-out-loud border guard moment, and an overall fun experience despite other issues that might plague the game.
- Captivation (weight 0.01): Captivation comes from the story's ability to hold attention even with translation issues. The narrative's intrigue and unfolding plot keep players invested.
- Dislike (weight 0.01): Players dislike the unappealing UI that interferes with gameplay, along with character traits like Mordred's arrogant attitude, which spoil the experience.
- Contemplation (weight 0.01): Contemplation is sparked by moral choices that force players to think and reflect on real-life values. Difficult decisions prompt deep internal reflection beyond the game.}