[The following is a guest review from DrXan.]
Release date: 2023
Version played: PC (via Steam) in 2023
Setting sail from New Zealand indie developer Black Salt Games, DREDGE is a fishing game, crossed with inventory management, crossed with swiftly developing thalassophobia. You play as the Fisherman, wrecked on the rocks near a lighthouse and tasked with fishing to feed the local town and pay off your debt for your new boat of course. From there the game only gets deeper with fishing, crabbing, trawling and creatures moving in the fog at night.
+ the hook of the game (pun intended) really is the fishing; sailing around dropping a line in the water wherever a school of fish appears and then fitting those fish into your limited inventory space all work together naturally to create the core gameplay loop of fish, sell, upgrade, fish more.
+ this game is gorgeous, and most of that is to do with the water; changing weather, lighting and waves all make the ocean feel alive and indifferent to your tiny trawler on the waves. Nights are properly dark, often navigating is only possible with a point of reference like the central lighthouse or the few tiny towns dotting the archipelago.
+ panic and creeping dread are key parts of both the story and the gameplay in DREDGE. Lack of sleep, using certain abilities and being out at night slowly effect the Fisherman mentally. These panic effect can range from shifting colours to ‘hazy’ lines all the way up to full visual hallucinations of rocks and whole islands that don’t exist. Of course some of the things you hallucinate are very much real.
+ the story draws heavily from H.P Lovecraft in the ‘small fishing town where everything is just a little off and the fish we catch are getting…weird’ way. It can at times be hard to follow but this is more down to people not wanting to tell you things. The few side quests and interactions with normal people are also tinged by this feeling that everything is slightly askew.
– the beginning of the game can feel very slow and repetitive; fishing for the same fish in the same area to save enough money for upgrades. The ‘mid game’ where you are risking exploring further is where is comes alive, only to lose most of the challenge as you max out your ship and unlock more abilities.
– pursuits (quests) can be very hard to find as they can be scattered all across the map. When cleaning up achievements I found that I had sailed past one quest at least a dozen times but due to the lack of a clear marker I had never thought to stop on that particular beach.
– RNG seems to be contained to the fishing part of the game, but given that is the core mechanic it can be very frustrating trying to catch certain fish using something like trawling or crab pots only to have the RNG go against you. Trawling, which is a passive ability that degrades over time, collects random fish as you travel. The fact you need specific fish to complete your encyclopedia means you could be sailing in circles for a long time.
> Achievements in DREDGE range from the usual completionist achievements all the way through to a very, very finicky one or two. I manager to 100% the game in 24 hours of playtime, taking things very slowly and using a guide for the final few.
> Development seems to be ongoing with upcoming updates around customisation and a photo mode being free, as well as a planned paid story DLC coming later this year.
> Finally, this game handles multiple endings so, so well; it gives you a pop up letting you know saving is disabled from that point on. It then gives another pop up saying ‘Are you super sure? Because saving will be disabled.’
Should you play this game: Yes. Play DREDGE, enjoy some fishing and accordion music, grow afraid of the sea, talk to weird characters, see shapes moving in the darkness and know they are coming for you, and go slowly mad. Yes you should definitely play DREDGE.
MoshFish Reviews 