Hank Drowning on Dry Land is a comic book-inspired indie that reminded me of my grandfather and his disease. CW: Death, Alcoholism
On September 9, 2002, my grandfather died of cirrhosis. He had been repeatedly told that his alcoholism, which would cause the loss of his family, friends, and eventually life, was the root problem. He was told if, perhaps, he could reduce the amount of alcohol intake he drank every day—not even to fully quit it—he could have a chance to see his nieces and nephews grow up. He did not listen. I was 9 years old when I heard the news. My precocious mind barely wrapping its head around the idea of death, I cried without even knowing for certain what was lost.
As I grew older, I would hear the fun side of my grandfather. That as the AA meeting was ending, he’d say, “I buy the first round at the bar” to his fellow reforming alcoholics. That he used to say I had his eyes because, strangely enough, when I was born, I had sea blue eyes just like him, even though they turned hazel as time went by. That he used to hold me tightly and say that he wished he had done things differently. Maybe if this disease had not taken over his life, he would still be here. But we cannot dwell in the past.
Hank Drowning on Dry Land is a stylish, bite-sized puzzle game inspired by a comic book art style. Imbued with the ability to time-travel, Hank drowns his sorrows in the bottle every night as he dispassionately fights crime due to his decidedly overpowered skill. Looking like a middle-aged, beaten-down, and messy version of Batman, this so-called superhero’s real battle is with himself. No matter, as this universe’s version of The Riddler, The Unraveler, has plans to finally take him down and has devised every possible outcome to turn out victorious, starting with one easy step: to poison Hank’s drink and kidnap him to solve an elaborate puzzle.
The game can be beaten in 30 minutes, and the solutions are as approachable as they are straightforward, but Hank Drowning on Dry Land has a secret weapon: its not-too-subtle message. While the puzzle is to press three buttons around a graveyard to save a person from being bombed within a time limit, there is something more to what’s actually required to complete the game. Although not as simple as it sounds, the goal is to have an honest conversation with Hank’s archenemy. Just like that.
Elevated by down-to-earth vocal performances and its aforementioned art direction, what the game is trying to tell us is not to beware the dangers of alcoholism, no. Thanks to the clear time constraints set from the very beginning, it’s the unbridled focus on the most finite and important resource we all have: time. A resonating dialogue that The Unraveler tells Hank is that it does not even matter if only he can remember when he turns back time, because they will haunt him forever, and there is nothing he can do about that.
The only thing I have left of my grandfather is an envelope. At the center of it, a message written in shaky handwriting reads, “For: Luis Andres, My Nephew From: His Grandpa Ricardo.” Inside this envelope is an old $50 Mexican peso bill out of circulation. I will never know who he truly was, what his aspirations were, or what he wished he could have done differently. But as I said, we cannot dwell in the past, and the future is yet unwritten.
Hank Drowning on Dry Land is out now for $2.99 on Steam.
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