So, we all know that WX practically has no downsides at the moment. What, he takes a maximum of 13-ish damage per day if wet?
Here are some of my ideas to greater emphasize that WX is an electrical machine that can severely malfunction if wet.
Water, and more prominently the Wetness meter, is now gravely more important to manage as WX, as becoming too wet can severely impair you, or flat-out kill you if it gets too high.
In addition WX takes water damage equal to 15% of the current wetness meter. For example, at 10 wetness, WX takes 1.5 damage per "water damage tick". This caps at 5 damage per tick. Water damage is no longer reduced by having wetness-resistant items, as it is now tied to how high the wetness meter is.
Additional penalties apply to WX as his wetness meter rises:
25 Wetness: The outskirts of WX's HUD is obstructed by a glitchy overlay.
"WARNNING: OPTIC SENSOORS MALFUNCTIIONING"
50 Wetness: The Health, Hunger, and Sanity meters become hidden to WX.
"WARRNING: SYSTEM DIAGNOOSTICS NOT RESPONDING-DING"
75 Wetness: WX is forced into a constant "drowsy walk" state until he stops being above 75 wetness. In addition, the glitchy HUD overlay is extremely more severe.
"CRITICAL WARNING-WARNING: CIRCUITS COOOMPROMISED-ED. SHORT-CIRCUIT IMMINENT."
85 Wetness: WX dies from Short Circuit
"FATAL ERR- "
An electrical explosive sound would be played on WX's death, signaling a short circuit.
Additionally, if WX drowns in any way, he immediately dies of short-circuit instead of waking up on the shore. To add more "oomph" to this, during his drowning animation, a violent amount of sparks can fly around and electrify nearby water.
So there you go, a downside that is perilous if left unchecked, and deadly if you let it get out of hand.
The wetness effects are intended to be intrusive on the player, since, again, WX is an electrical machine.
Thoughts?