In the roughly year that I have been writing for the Gamer Social Club, I’ve been exposed to so many new in-game mechanics. That being said, I’m always appreciative when there’s a new mechanism that turns a game on its side. Take, for example, Hank: Drowning on Dry Land.

I had the absolute pleasure to not only demo this title at PAX East 2025, but to meet the lead developer at My Next Games, Kuba Lisi?ski. And what I tried was truly an experience that I had never tried before. Hank: Drowning on Dry Land officially launched on January 13th to Steam. We were able to get our hands on an early access code of the game, courtesy of TILT Games. And given that this game made my top five from last year’s PAX East, your boy was excited!

The World & The Story

The World

So, the world of Hank: Drowning on Dry Land. A world that is very reminiscent of places like Gotham City or other dark comic universes. A world where there are heroes, there are villains…and there are “heroes” like Hank.

The Story

Hank, our titular hero and protagonist, has the unique ability to be able to travel through time and create multiple iterations of himself. He also…enjoys drinking. A lot. One rainy evening, while at a bar, he finds himself on the receiving end of a poisoned drink. What ensues is a journey into Hank’s mind and a face-off against the mysterious Unraveler. Hank must use his wits (or what little he has left) and his powers to free himself from The Unraveler’s trap.

The story, itself, is very brief. Like…you can finish a run of the game within ten minutes. The sense that I am getting is that we’ll be seeing these games as episodic/volume releases (much like comic books).

The Gameplay

As I noted in my opening, Hank: Drowning on Dry Land provides a very unique game mechanic – time travel. Now, this game is not the first game to tackle time travel. BUT – it is the only game I’ve encountered thus far that allows immense control over the time within the game itself. This is something that I actually discussed with Kuba at PAX East. Hank: Drowning on Dry Land allows for the player to rewind and fast-forward time to their heart’s content.

Now – why does this matter? Well, The Unraveler has given us two minutes to disarm a bomb that an unknown individual has been strapped to. Simply hit three buttons on the map and you’ll be right as rain. Here’s the problem though – it is not nearly enough time. Thus, we use time travel.

Here’s the fun thing about time travel, though. There are these things called paradoxes. For example – running into yourself while time travelling – PARADOX. So…take care not to run into one of the iterations of Hank that might be stumbling around the map, lest we unravel reality. You’ll also need to use Hank’s power to also avoid Gilgamesh. The Unraveler’s canine companion who REALLY does not seem to like Hank.

Once Hank solves the “riddle” laid before him, things take an even more interesting twist. In the form of a…roller coaster? Just roll with it. Is the coaster an analogy for Hank’s mind? Maybe. Does it provide us with a bop of a song? Absolutely!

The Good

Visual Aesthetics

Right away, the design and ambience that the artstyle of Hank: Drowning on Dry Land hooked me right away. It’s dark, with amazing little pops of bright colors here and there. It truly captures the dark nature of this universe where Hank resides and sets the tone for a surreal little journey into the mind of a drunk.

Music Design

The music is great – need I say more? While it is somewhat minimal during the first segment of gameplay, it truly picks up within the second half in the coaster sequence. Honest truth – I was not expecting such a track to be sitting in this indie title.

Time-Travel Puzzles

I have played games before where there is a time-travel mechanic when it comes to solving puzzles. From Braid to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, I’m no stranger to these game mechanics. That being said though, this title does provide a unique twist on this mechanic with the ability to REALLY manipulate time. And here’s the added perk – you get a scoring based on how quickly you resolve The Unraveler’s trap. So, the replay value is 100% there.

The Bad

Lack of Customization/Settings

I rarely, if ever, note this as a hiccup in a game. But Hank: Drowning on Dry Land has zero options for game settings, outside of what language the game plays in. No volume adjustments. No window size settings. Nada. There needs to be something in the equation of game settings. My hope is that this is addressed later on with possible updates/patches.

Game Length & Replayability

This is something that I noted earlier. Hank: Drowning on Dry Land is very short, once you know your pathway for the puzzles. Let’s put it this way. I needed to re-run through the game for some screenshots for this review (I had initially played the game on my Steam Deck). Start to credits – about 10-15 minutes. While there is the replayability to “beat” prior scores, there is not much else beyond this. And given that the second half of the game is metaphorically (and literally) on rails, your options become even more limited.

I do have to note, sadly, my disappointment around one thing. The game that I played…was plus/minus the same exact thing that played at PAX East, with some more polish. I don’t know – it just feels…disheartening that what I saw almost a year ago is what I got today.

Technical Hiccups

Not a massive point against the game, but tabbing in and out of the game itself (at least on my PC) seemed to break the game. All ability to interact with the game was gone upon reentering that window and forced at least one hard reset of the game on my end. Games have hiccups, I get it, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t note it.

The Overall

Hank: Drowning on Dry Land provided a very unique take on the time-travel puzzle genre and managed to couch it in its own unique world that is ripe for expansion. But does the game have extensive replayability? Not really. It’ll be a game that you play once, maybe twice, and will more than likely never revisit. This is not to belittle the work that went into this project – it’s just my honest take-away. That being said, though, at a price point of $2.99, and what I laid out interests you, give it a shot! My sincere hope is that we eventually see more of these titles released as part of a series. I think, to my dismay though, that it will be some time until we see this.

Gamer Social Club was provided an early-access code by TILT Games for the purposes of this review. This review was played on PC (Steam/Steam Deck).

Hank: Drowning on Dry Land released on 13 January 2026 on Steam