Imagine washing up on the shore of an island… wait, this is starting to be a common trope in a video game. One of my favourite games from last year, Tunic, started the same way as well. But that’s perhaps the only similarity that the game has with indie developer Black Salt Games’ and publisher TEAM17 latest title, DREDGE.

In DREDGE, you play a nameless fisherman washing up on the island of Greater Marrow after wrecking your boat trying to navigate through an insidious fog. The first character that you meet is a Tom Nook-ish Mayor of the island, offering you a replacement boat to use so that you can catch and sell fish to repay your debt (sound familiar to you, Animal Crossing fans?).

You’ll pay up pretty quickly and soon you’ll be focusing on being a fisherman in this eerie place while helping some of the folks out by completing their tasks.

Sim Fisherman For The 21-st Century

Gamers from my era would remember the slew of simulator games before the turn of the century. There were titles such as SimAnt, SimEarth, SimTown, SimCopter, SimGolf, etc, and if you are one of those gamers, you might think that DREDGE is SimFisherman for the 21st-century. But remember the insidious fog that I mentioned earlier? DREDGE is SimFisherman with a Lovecraftian slant. Yup, there are horrors waiting out there in the night, and they’ll do more than just go “BUMP!”.

Fear the Fog

DREDGE features an in-game day/night and weather systems. While daybreaks looks amazing and hunky-dory, the fog starts rolling in around 6 p.m. and it gets really heavy later in the night. The fog envelopes the boat, limiting your view like a horse on blinkers, making it very difficult to avoid obstacles such as rocks until the very last second with only the lights on you boat lighting the path a few feet ahead.

There’s a feeling of constant dread that something is watching you and you’ll need to manage your “panic” in almost zero visibility. I was out in the open sea when a giant lantern fish-type creature suddenly appeared above and water attacked my boat as I was trying to make my way to the safety of a dock in one of the outlying islands.

I manage to make it to safety but not before the fish broke one of my lamps and one of my crab pots. I had to wait till daybreak before making it back to the main island to get the shipwright to fix up my boat. Speaking about the ship, the main island also has a drydock which enables upgrades to be made to the ship. What’s the source of funds that pay for repairs and upgrades? Fish!

Putting in the Work

Fishing is the main activity that I’m engaged in the game. There different species of fish, located in different types of locations in the game (e.g. the shallows, coastal waters, oceanic waters, mangrove, etc) and some may only appear during the day or night. You might also catch different aberrations of fish, for example a three-headed cod or a really ugly looking squid that would not look out of place from a H.P Lovecraft novel. The in-game encyclopedia tracks the species/type of fish that you’ve caught.

Fish that are caught can be sold to the town’s fishmonger for cold, hard cash. On some occasions, the fishmonger will pay extra to for special orders to be fulfilled and you’ll need to catch specific types of fish to complete those orders.

Dredging Up The Depths

Salvage is another activity that I find myself constantly doing once I’ve gotten a dredge installed on my fishing boat. One can either dredge the depths for parts such as scrap metal, wood and cloth that are used for ship upgrades, or look for trinkets that can be sold for money. After one-and-a-half hours of the game, I’ve now a faster boat with twin engines and on my way to gather more parts to upgrade to a much larger boat.

Completing tasks set out by the island folks can earn you research parts, which can lead to better equipment being sold by the shipwright. Things like multi-purpose fishing rods will take up less space compared to having 2 rods for either shallow or coastal water fishing. Better engines can be researched so that you can get to your destination quickly or hurry on back before strange creatures of the night can make driftwood out of your boat.

So, two hours after I’ve started the game, I’ve a much faster boat with twin engines and the ability to fish in the shallows, coastal and oceanic waters. I’m on my way to raise funds and collect parts to upgrade the hull of my ship. There are other groups of islands to explore on the four corners of the map which I’ll be looking forward to explore as well.

*UDPATES*: The End Game

So here’s an update on my progress on Dredge. After 20 hours+ invested in the game, it has become the first game that I’ve completed in 2023. For those who must know, the game has two endings, and while both endings do not end well for the nameless fisherman avatar of yours, one of it will have the town destroyed. For the rest of the details, finish the game!

The Verdict

The game looks amazing on the PC, and for those who have Valve’s portable console, yes, the game is “Verified” for the Steam Deck, and I’ve tested the game on the latter earlier today at the laundry. DREDGE can be best described as atmospheric fisherman adventure game which will take you for a quite a ride, just don’t get sea-sick. We rate the game at a 4.5 out of 5. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

*UPDATES*: New Updates From Developer

Black Salt Games’ released an important update to the game on the 11th of May, introducing quality-of-life improvements to the game, including adding markers to the now zoomable map, and making it easier to research upgrades for your fishing boats thanks to the daily availability of Research Parts.

DREDGE is now available on Steam, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.