--- key: mechanic/game-mechanics--gm-drinking-to-heal type: mechanic id: game-mechanics--gm-drinking-to-heal lang: en title: Drinking to heal summary: >- Drinking restores the character’s health. A water source or drink supply determines where and for how long recovery is possible. updatedAt: '2026-10-22' status: active url: >- https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/game-mechanics--gm-drinking-to-heal/ jsonUrl: >- https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/game-mechanics--gm-drinking-to-heal.json markdownUrl: >- https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/game-mechanics--gm-drinking-to-heal.md aliases: - Drink to heal tags: - Game design techniques - Health - Damage sourceIds: - source-026340864ebab21b - source-aaf1f3a341769a1b - source-0d82910588f3544f sources: - id: source-026340864ebab21b title: 'Game Mechanics: Drinking to heal' url: 'https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/drinking-to-heal' verifiedAt: null - id: source-aaf1f3a341769a1b title: Duke Nukem 3D (1996) url: 'https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/drinking-to-heal/game/duke-nukem-3d' verifiedAt: null - id: source-0d82910588f3544f title: 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003)' url: >- https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/drinking-to-heal/game/prince-of-persia-the-sands-of-time verifiedAt: null relations: [] placements: - catalogId: game-mechanics id: gm-drinking-to-heal title: Game design techniques url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/game-mechanics/#gm-drinking-to-heal' categoryIds: - gm-category-health - gm-category-damage supersededBy: [] attributes: preview: updatedAt: '2026-10-22' title: Drink to heal description: >- Drinking restores the character’s health. A water source or drink supply determines where and for how long recovery is possible. image: src: images/mechanics/combat-drinking-to-heal.webp width: 598 height: 332 game: Duke Nukem 3D (1996) sourceUrl: 'https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/drinking-to-heal' originalUrl: 'https://cdn.gamemechanics.org/webm/duke_nukem_3d_drink_water.webm' sourceFrameSeconds: 6.5 credit: 3D Realms; frame from clip via GameMechanics.org rights: >- Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Source host: GameMechanics.org. All rights reserved; excluded from the portal’s MIT and CC BY 4.0 licenses. caption: Water from a broken hydrant alt: >- Water sprays from a hydrant ahead of the player in Duke Nukem 3D, with health displayed below. markers: - x: 45 'y': 32 label: A water stream to drink from - x: 12 'y': 92 label: Health on the status panel tips: - Communicate whether a source heals gradually or in one use. - Account for repeated use of accessible sources. examples: - title: Duke Nukem 3D (1996) url: 'https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/drinking-to-heal' endsAt: null provenance: >- Editorial reference index based on the 199 public Game Mechanics pattern pages checked on 2026-10-20. Original concise RU/EN definitions by gamemechanics.pro; pattern names, category associations and game-reference URLs retained from gamemechanics.org. The source gallery includes a film analogy. Linked materials retain their original rights; references are upstream attributions, not independent verification. license: CC-BY-4.0 codeLicense: MIT attribution: gamemechanics.pro contributors catalogKey: catalog/game-mechanics --- # Drinking to heal id: game-mechanics--gm-drinking-to-heal type: mechanic key: mechanic/game-mechanics--gm-drinking-to-heal lang: en status: active url: https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/game-mechanics--gm-drinking-to-heal/ Drinking restores the character’s health. A water source or drink supply determines where and for how long recovery is possible. ## At a glance ![Water sprays from a hydrant ahead of the player in Duke Nukem 3D, with health displayed below.](https://gamemechanics.pro/images/mechanics/combat-drinking-to-heal.webp) [Duke Nukem 3D (1996)](https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/drinking-to-heal) · Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Source host: GameMechanics.org. All rights reserved; excluded from the portal’s MIT and CC BY 4.0 licenses. [Source recording](https://cdn.gamemechanics.org/webm/duke_nukem_3d_drink_water.webm), 6.5 s 1. A water stream to drink from 2. Health on the status panel - Communicate whether a source heals gradually or in one use. - Account for repeated use of accessible sources. - [Duke Nukem 3D (1996)](https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/drinking-to-heal) ## How it works Consuming a liquid restores character health. ## Variants ### How the technique works - Consuming a liquid restores character health. ## Context and limits All 199 Game Mechanics entries at the check date: player actions, systems, presentation techniques and contested patterns. Entries are grouped by their first source-card category; all categories appear in their descriptions. Definitions use original wording. References link to game-specific galleries; images and videos remain at the source. ## Connected materials ## Sources and provenance Editorial reference index based on the 199 public Game Mechanics pattern pages checked on 2026-10-20. Original concise RU/EN definitions by gamemechanics.pro; pattern names, category associations and game-reference URLs retained from gamemechanics.org. The source gallery includes a film analogy. Linked materials retain their original rights; references are upstream attributions, not independent verification. - [Game Mechanics: Drinking to heal](https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/drinking-to-heal) (id: source-026340864ebab21b) - [Duke Nukem 3D (1996)](https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/drinking-to-heal/game/duke-nukem-3d) (id: source-aaf1f3a341769a1b) - [Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003)](https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/drinking-to-heal/game/prince-of-persia-the-sands-of-time) (id: source-0d82910588f3544f) CC-BY-4.0 · gamemechanics.pro contributors