I had never played Dredge before so I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked it up to play. The only description I had from friends was Eldritch horror fishing. It absolutely delivered and I ended up buying the whole game and both the DLC chapters The Pale Reach and The Iron Rig. First, let's dive in. I do like horror movies and games a lot. However, I'm a very big chicken and scare easily. I was delighted to find that in the accessibility settings Dredge had a setting known as peaceful that allowed me to turn off the scary, but still enjoy the macabre ambience of the the game. Basically I could see the creatures, but they wouldn't attack me and this also turned down the nighttime anxiety setting.
From the start I was hooked playing as the nameless fisherman who is taking up the job to be the local fisherman in a small coastal town known as Greater Marrow. Things take a turn and the fisherman crashes his boat somehow. The details are vague, but hey the mayor of the town is happy to loan you a boat and let you work to pay off the loan for the boat.
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| It begins! |
The game does a great job of getting you started right away on the fishing aspect. You have to make money to pay off that boat loan after all. It's very easy to follow with showing how the different fishing hooks work as well as showing where the local shipyard is so that you can make upgrades to your boat with things like a stronger hull, bigger crab pots, and my personal favorite a bigger cargo hold for all those fish. You need a variety of fishing rods for the different types of fish. For example one fishing rod is meant for shallow water fishing, while another is meant for deep ocean fishing to catch heavier sea life like sharks. There's a bit of a mini game for the fishing with moving a ball around in a circle dodging obstacles and the cargo hold completely reminded me of Tetris. You have to flip, move, and maneuver the fish and items you find to fit perfectly in that grid. I made many a fish Tetris joke while I did this.
Fishing isn't the only thing you can do because some of the townsfolk will ask you for favors such as finding a lost object or needing driftwood for a building project. You also need the wood as well as metals for increasing the strength of the hull on your boat. You have to find spots that sparkle indicating that this is a location where you can dredge for these items. This too has a bit of a mini game attached to it which is easy to follow. Since I was playing on the casual setting, it wasn't too frustrating if I messed up in a mini game which I appreciated.
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| Fish Tetris time! |
With the peaceful setting Dredge still manages to deliver a sense of wrongness and unsettling energy throughout the game and the storytelling. Seeing the abnormal fish, crabs, and some people clearly influenced by something not human, something other, and definitely not of this world creeped me out a lot and brought forth many questions like why did the people of the town insist on living in this area? You get a vibe right from the start that things are off and things are not as they appear to be.
This really shines through when the sun goes down. A weird fog rolls in at night and you start to see things out of the corner of your eye. The panic meter goes up a little slower on peaceful mode, but it goes up gradually making you question if you really saw that giant lamprey or if there really are all these eyes watching you. A few times I almost dashed my boat on rocks that seemed to come out of nowhere. It's details like this that really add to the disturbing aspects of the game's storytelling in the best ways. It kept me on edge every time I realized it was nighttime and that meant a heightened sense of danger.
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| I always feel like someone's watching me! |
I learned very quickly to not be out at night for too long and find the nearest port so I could rest until the morning. I did enjoy that there's an encyclopedia for all the fish you catch including the Eldritch horror fish. I spent a lot of time collecting all the different types of normal and abnormal fish and sea creatures. I also kept looking for clues about what could have possibly happened to cause all this. There are five different areas on the map to explore and as the story progressed I was curious and horrified at the same time. With each new reveal, each new secret, I was floored by how alarming it was and it absolutely fit the Lovecraftian horror genre perfectly.
The other side of that is for all the scary things, there were also some lovely moments of peace and beauty. The game does have photo mode which I always love in games especially with the fantastic art style of Dredge. I was sailing along during a rainy day in the game and a pod of dolphins happened to be swimming by. I thought that was very cool and took a screenshot of that immediately. Dolphins weren't the only creatures I saw. In one area I saw Orcas and another Humpback whales. It's a nice touch of normal and whimsy added to the game which I loved.
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| Dolphins swimming by. |
There are some puzzles in Dredge that are part of the story and while I'm not always the best at puzzles, these weren't too frustrating and I was able to figure a lot of them out without too much hassle. I became obsessed with finding out the secrets of the main story with the fisherman and the people of Greater Marrow. The elements of the story are subtle and as the mystery is uncovered a little at a time I was always on the edge of my seat excited to see what else I could discover.
Dredge does a great job with the overall storytelling and intermingling connecting side quests with it showing with great finesse how certain things are tied to each other. I was fascinated and invested until the very end and the story itself fully delivers. Not just that, it's fun to play. I took my time with it especially with the fishing because even the fishing itself was fun. I had a blast just exploring new places to see what they were and to see what new things I could find. I can't say enough good things about Dredge because it really is well done. It hit all the right notes for me in regards to a disturbing scary tale, while also mixing in some gorgeous art and fun side quests. I'm actually playing through it again getting any of the fish or creatures I might have missed for the encyclopedia. It's that great of a game and I'm glad I took the time to check it out.
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| What a gorgeous view! |
Dredge is available to play on the following platforms: Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Steam Deck, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Android, iOS, iPadOS, and MacOS
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