Drowning - PS5 Platinum Review

This game is unique in the sense that it's essentially a walking simulator with a text-based narrative story. You simply control your character to make him walk through a variety of low-poly environments in first-person while reading his story, his thoughts and how he learns to live with his inner demons. There's not really anything else involved in the game besides walking down a path and reading the text. You can hold X to slightly increase the walking speed and you can skip scenes from the pause menu which makes completion a lot quicker.

I've already played this game twice before on PS4 and PS VITA but it's just been released on PS5 and the Platinum is fairly quick and easy so it's worth grabbing again.

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Overview

• Release Date: 14th April, 2021
• Publisher: Sometimes You
• Developer: Polygonal Wolf
• Date Started: 14th April, 2021
• Date Completed: 14th April, 2021
• Version Played: Digital
• Price: £2.49

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The Good

• The game is very simple and quick to complete.
• The price is low and good value for money.
• It's very unique, slow paced and makes you think.
• The scenery - although low-poly - is well designed and helps bring some visuals to the text-based story.

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The Bad

• Besides holding X to slightly increase the walk speed, the gameplay is very slow. I understand it's a walking simulator, but it feels like a bit of a drag even with the quick completion time.
• The story is from the point of view of a school kid and really seems to be aimed towards young teenagers. If you're a bit older, you might find that some of the dialog feels a bit 'teenage-angst' and cringeworthy.
• The story is difficult to follow and it's hard to tell who is supposed to be speaking / thinking.

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Hardest Trophy

• All Endings Complete - Find and complete all the game endings.

With a guide, all of the trophies in the game are fairly easy to unlock. This one requires you to unlock all of the other endings but it's not difficult as long as you know what you're supposed to do for each ending.

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Helpful Tips / Bugs / Glitches / Exploits

There's no exploits, but definitely hold X to speed up the walking. When you know you've collected everything in a scene use the pause menu to skip the remainder of it to get through the game quicker.

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Platinum Difficulty Rating - 1/10

There's no challenge here. There are some missable trophies so it's best to follow a walkthrough but there's no combat or any way to fail. All you have to do is walk in the right direction until the trophies pop.

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Platinum Time - 30 Mins - 1 Hour

If you've played the PS4 or Vita version before and you're using a guide it should easily be possible to Platinum the game in 30 minutes. Without a guide it could take a few hours by the time you figure out what to do and where to find the collectables.

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Platinum Enjoyment Rating - 7/10

The game is very easy and quick if you use a guide. I do feel it's a slight grind because of how slow you walk, especially when going for the ending trophies, but for a game that can be Platinum'd over a lunch hour via Remote Play, there's not a lot to complain about.

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Overall Game Rating - 6/10

The game is a good concept and it's interesting to have a walking simulator where your main objective is to read the dialog and think about what must have been going on in the writer's head, but I did find it a little bit of a grind. I appreciate people struggle with different things throughout their lives, but personally I couldn't relate to the story. It might resonate more with kids and after all it is a game following a young teenager in school, but some older gamers may not be blown away by the dialog.

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Platinum #551

Here are my most recent Platinum Trophies up to and including this game.

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