Video Game Review - Dredge

 What lurks in the deep? 

It’s been a long day out at see and the sun is fading in the sky. My little fishing boat is laden with fish, and I’m heading back to the friendly town that’s now my home. As I rock up to the friendly fish monger, he tells me stories of mutant fish that have been found lurking in the deep. I then sell my cargo and head off to rest. The next day I head back out into the blue beyond and continue to fish. During my latest haul I manage to pick up a mackerel that’s so hideously mutated it doesn’t resemble a fish…maybe that old cook was right! As I’m still reeling from this revelation, something much larger emerges from the deep! 

Dredge is best described as an Eldrich horror that’s been entwined with a very addictive fishing roguelike. It’s a game that captures you within its net, and does let go until you’ve seen the credits roll. It’s both relaxing, and nightmare inducing, and it just so happens to be the best game I’ve played this year. 

So, how has this game just appeared out of nowhere? And what makes it so good? We’ll come with me as we venture out into the deep (insert Vincent Price voice over). 

The game opens to your character - an unnamed fisherman - arriving at the sleepy islands of Marrow. No sooner have you charted a course to the nearest island, a blanket of thick fog suddenly envelopes your vessel. Crashing into the rocks, you black out and that’s that. Waking up on dry land, you’re soon introduced to the locals who happened to fish you out of the water. With the town lacking its local fisherman, the mayor offers to loan you a boat and money to get yourself back on your feet. However, the catch is that you have to wipe away the debt by selling your fish to the town. Agreeing to the terms, you’re then given a much smaller and basic vessel, with the means to fish the local waters. 

Taking place via a third person viewpoint, the main gameplay loop is heading out into the world and fishing in the various spots around the islands. Once your hold is full, you then return to land, sell your load, and then buy upgrades for your boat. At first you’ll only be able to work between the two local islands, but once you’ve unlocked a few upgrades you’ll then be able to explore the wider world. It’s also here where Dredge gets a little more supernatural. You’ll soon learn of various shipwrecks across the archipelago that contain various artefacts, that are of interest to the local mad scientist. Teaming up with this fellow, you’ll soon be dredging the deeps for this treasure, while helping out the locals, and surviving the terror that’s slowly unfolding.  

Aside from simply fishing, and trawling the depths, Dredge mixes things up with a few reaction based mini games. Every time you cast your rods, or dredging equipment, you’ll have to complete a mini-game in order to be successful. This often requires either pressing a button at a certain time, or avoiding blocked paths in a chain. While you can’t necessarily fail these min-games the tension comes from the time it takes you to complete the task. In Dredge, night is your enemy. Every action in game, wether it be moving your boat, or fishing costs time. As night rolls in, strange things start to happens. Flocks of crows surround your boat, fog rolls in, and larger boats stalk the darkness. The only reprieve is to flee back to a friendly port, and await sunrise. Wether it’s madness, or something supernatural is up for debate, but I wouldn’t risk it…

As you progress through the upgrade path, you’ll get faster equipment, that’ll drastically speed up your fishing, and overall performance of the boat. This then means you’ll be able to survive longer when night comes calling. If you do meet a watery end, death isn’t the end of the journey and Dredge has a very generous checkpoint system that auto saves every time you dock. While there’s plenty of these safe havens, only a few of them offer ways to sell your stock, and make repairs to your vessel. Quite a few of them are a means to progress the overall story, or offer various side quests. Seeking out these extra stories are a worthy endeavour as each normally offers upgrade points, and gives more explanation to this strange world. 

Upgrade points naturally tie into how you’ll improve your skills and equipment. As such you’ll be able to spend these to unlock various rods, nets, engines, and lights at the local dry dock. These can then be brought using the credits that you earn by fishing, and salvaging wrecks. However, it’s not simple being a fisherman and you’ll also have to contend with the amount of space you have allocated on your boat for all the equipment. This then opens up a whole new game as you’ll have to juggle hold space for your precious cargo, while maintaining room for fancy equipment, and other survival items. 

Much like the equipment case in Resident Evil 4, each item in Dredge has its own shape and size. Your boats general layout is symbolised by a grid of equal sized squares that represents the space you have available. This then means that each trip out to sea is a puzzle game in itself as you have to juggle for space to cram as much into your hold as possible. As such you’ll need to pump upgrades points into expanding your inventory as quickly as possible. To stop you from simply farming the same fishing spot - or salvage pool - Dredge only allows you to farm for a certain time before the area becomes dry. This then forces you to spread yourself out to other areas while the stock of these pools replenishes itself. As mentioned above, the seas in Dredge are quite dangerous. While succumbing to the deep doesn’t necessarily mean the end, your boat isn’t indestructible. Crashing into the scenery, or duelling with the local wildlife does take its toll on your boat. Thankfully the friendly harbour engineer can repair these hit points - they do come at quite the cost. 

When it comes to presentation, Dredge utilises it’s simplistic design to great effect. The simple visuals work well to highlight a cheery facade that hides a dark horror beneath its surface. This is then reflected more in the games writing. Aside from a few general noises, there’s no voice acting. This then means that the vast atmosphere is built upon the text interactions between the cast. This mood is then built via plenty of interactions that start off quite humorous, to then go to some shadowy places the next. It all comes together in a way that makes you wonder just what part your playing in this fishing opera, and wether you’re simply going mad. 

Away from the story, the world also enjoys plenty of gorgeous effects. Vast storms gather on the horizon before they rumble into your path, and the water effects are simply stunning. There were plenty of times during my playthrough when I’d simply stop and pan the camera around, just to take it all in. Wether it’s the warm sunrises, or the encroaching darkness of night, Dredge  certainly is captivating. 

While I could sing about Dredge until the end of time, it’s time to wrap up this review. 

Put simply - Dredge is a game that I’d highly recommend to anyone. It’s simple gameplay offers a rich and rewarding experience that not only offers a slow fishing adventure, but a chaotic horror-fest too. At no point are you forced to progress the story which means that anyone can simply pick up the controller and play at their own pace. It’s a gorgeous looking game, that bursts with the atmosphere provided by a great narrative, and a perfect orchestral ensemble. 

Rating 10/10

Dredge is available now and can be purchased via the Xbox Store. 

A code was kindly provided by the publisher for this review. 

Liked this review and want to support the blog further? Please head on over to: Ko-Fi.com/GeekCultureRev. Thank you for your time!

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow us on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev, and TikTok @Geekculturereviews.