Dredge, My Strange Addiction: Nightmare Fuel Fishing Edition

So: I don’t like horror. Or spooky things. Or creepy crawlies.

And yet, here I am, for the second time this year – writing about a horror-adjacent game because the hype around some indie gem got me in the FOMO feels.

And surprise, surprise, the hype was justified yet again.

(ICYMI: the first time this happened to me this year was for Paranormasight so if you’re at all curious, I highly recommend checking that one out as well, another phenomenal indie game that’s flown a bit too far under the radar.)

But today’s topic of discussion is, as the title indicates: Dredge.

The best way I can describe Dredge is a simple, peaceful fishing sim by day, and a Lovecraftian horror cruise by night. Or in other words: a bunch of things I generally wouldn’t touch with a twenty-foot pole.

I’m a JRPG-er through and through. I don’t tend to play sim games, I don’t like horror or even horror-adjacent media, and on top of that, I’m afraid of fish and water I can’t see the bottom of (which is rather unfortunate for a Rhode Island native because, for those of you playing at home, RI is the… Ocean State. Whoops.).

But every review I’ve seen for Dredge and even a bunch of best indie game lists for the first half of the year kept hammering home just how special this game is – so despite my usual inclinations, I nabbed Dredge the second it saw even the slightest hint of a discount on the eShop.

Taking things from the top, Dredge is the debut title for New Zealand developer Black Salt Games, published by Team17 for PC, Switch, PS4/PS5 and the Xboxes back on March 30th.

You play as a fisherman who winds up in a mysterious archipelago for reasons and why not, so here’s a boat and go catch some fish. Just don’t stay out too late or you might get nommed on by a monster of the deep. Or harassed by (real?) (imaginary?) crows and other terrors your panicked mind might conjure.

(FYI I won’t really be discussing the story in this little not-quite-a-review because it’s really best experienced for yourself.)

The core gameplay loop is pretty simple. Catch the fish. Sell the fish. Use the profits to improve your boat so you can catch even MORE fish. And then do it again. In order to upgrade your boat or complete various other objectives, you’ll also need to “dredge” the waters for materials (hence the name of the game).

Managing your time between fishing and dredging will also beget some puzzling inventory management as you’ll have limited space to store things on your boat (and fish will go stale, rot, and eventually decay into a mushy, non-sellable mess) so it’s a sim gamer and puzzler’s dream. (NGL, rotating the different size and shape fish to pack my hull to the absolute max felt so, so good for my OCD.)

Along the way, a smattering of quirky and/or conspicuous and/or outright deranged NPCs will give you quests to complete or hint at where you can find treasures, rare creatures, and other goodies.

The rate at which you explore the map and uncover Dredge’s many hidden secrets is really up to how brave you are. You can only make it so far hopping island to island during the day, and certain fish you’ll need for quests or filling out your encyclopedia only appear at night, so therein lies the initial nudge for you to test the boundaries of the game’s risk/reward system.

Sailing at night may net you some juicy angling rewards and help you manage your time more efficiently, but visibility will take a nosedive (especially in foggy conditions) and can lead hasty pilots to crash into rocks and other hazards. Plus, your character will be increasingly subjected to panic, leading to higher spawn rates for monsters and all things paranormal.

You can outfit your boat with lights that will improve over time (lasting longer, shining brighter) but the easier it is for you to see the potential dangers of the night, the easier it is for them to see you too. Muahahaha.

To give you an idea of how I experienced the levels of risk/reward and progression in Dredge, here’s a brief narrative of my inner monologues:

Me at the start: Don’t go out at night. Ever. Period.

Me a couple hours in: I’m starting to figure out how to manage the night terrors. Maybe the next island is juuuust close enough…

Me several hours in: LOL is this all you got for me game? Come at me brah.

Me a few minutes later: The fuck is that? SHIT. WAIT NO WAIT. RUNNNNNN. Dammit I broke my ship. And lost my fish. And sold my soul to some stranger in a hooded cloak. Oh well, no regrets. LET’S GO AGAIN.

Dredge really is one of those games where I can think to myself, “sweet I can jump in for a quick session” to knock out an objective or grind for some cash or maybe just do some fishing and hopefully find a rare catch (fish will have “trophy” versions that are larger than usual or mutated aberrations that are probably totally edible… I think… eh it’s fine the townsfolk keep buying them and aren’t dead yet soooo).

But then I’ll look up from the screen and realize the sun’s gone because “twenty minutes” turned into two hours while I was “just one more thing”-ing.

And if that isn’t the hallmark of a great game, then I don’t know what is. I genuinely love the organic sense of exploration and finding new secrets. Whether it’s something I see or hear in the environment or some spot one of the local wackos pointed me towards, I love ferreting out each of Dredge’s secrets. All the while, I’m improving my ship, growing bolder, and getting better at facing the horrors of the deep (mostly) (until something sneaks up and humbles my cocky ass with a chomp and a big ole reality check).

My only gripe with the game is that I wish it was bigger and more secret-filled. But then again, it’s great when games don’t overstay their welcome with copy/paste repetitive bs and bloat for the sake of padding out the experience. Dredge is almost perfectly balanced in its content as a fun, if finite, addiction.

It’s also a game that you can take at your own pace. Wanna keep fishing before unraveling the ultimate mysteries of this deranged little world? Then keep fishing! Ain’t nothing stopping you (except maybe that glowing torpedo with teeth over ther- OH GOD HELP).

All in all, I’m having a blast with Dredge and I’m not ready to put it down quite yet. Also, I’ve somehow made it to the end of this write-up without even mentioning the fact that it’s one of those beautifully stylized games that I could just look at all day. So, I think that’s exactly what I’m gonna go do – see ya, happy sailing!