Dry Drowning
Released Aug 2019
Dry Drowning is a psychological investigative visual novel set in a futuristic dystopian city. Follow the story of Mordred Foley, unscrupulous private detective haunted by his dark past, and look into a series of macabre serial killings inspired by Greek mythology.
80% positive · 512 reviews
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence
Where to buy
Prices in USD, as listed by each store.
Buying through an affiliate store helps support the site
Evaluation
Dry Drowning launched on August 2, 2019 as a complete visual novel with a self-contained story. After launch, Studio V delivered a series of post-launch updates: a major UI and features overhaul in October 2020 (adding controller support, new sound effects, and Korean localization), followed by a second major update in February 2021 (adding German localization and quality-of-life improvements). Both DLC items — a Soundtrack (released August 13, 2019) and an Artbook (released June 23, 2020) — are purely supplemental extras and have both shipped.
By April 2023, Studio V's creative director posted directly to the Dry Drowning Steam page to announce their next game, Shattered Heaven, explicitly framing it as what the studio moved on to "after completing Dry Drowning." This statement confirms that development on Dry Drowning has concluded. There are no unreleased DLC items, no announced future content, and no post-launch update activity since February 2021. The studio's focus has fully shifted to their new title.
Evidence
Studio V's creative director announced their new game Shattered Heaven, explicitly stating 'after completing Dry Drowning' the studio set out to create a brand new adventure — confirming development on Dry Drowning is finished.
Major update v.2.0.5 released, adding German localization and quality-of-life improvements. This is the last update shipped for the game.
Content
2 of 2 released · no outstanding content
Media
Details
Developer
Publisher
Leonardo Interactive
Achievements
20
Platform
Windows
Controller
full support
Steam Deck
Not rated
Players
Single-player
About this 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...

Last evaluated Jun 26, 2026
Something about this evaluation looks wrong Report illegal or harmful content