Dredge is an open-world, Lovecraftian fishing sim with a unique art style and tons of personality. It feels like a simplified version of something like Sunless Sea, but it carves its unique spot with an addictive gameplay loop and deceptively simple mechanics that make playing it a joy. Where the Sunless series can be overly oppressive and challenging, this deep-sea delving adventure is a more welcoming way to enjoy the mysteries of the sea and the terrors of the deep. While both titles are very different, Dredge stands on its own and, if anything, could serve as an introduction for players interested in this dense genre of Lovecraftian adventuring.

As a recently shipwrecked fisherman who has arrived in a small village, you owe the local Mayor a debt for lending out one of the town’s boats. You set out into the ocean to fish and pay off your ship, slowly venturing deeper and filling your hold. As you progress, the story sends you to the corners of the open world, looking for relics, and the terrors and challenges escalate. Nighttime brings untold horrors, and as you explore and push the limits of your sanity, the threats scale up. The more you spend out at night, the more you see that will send you screaming. The loop of fishing, collecting materials, and scavenging for relics always pushes you to stay out on the water just a little longer. Before you know it, you have been going back and forth for weeks (of in-game time), upgrading your ship, and exploring the incredible world.

The Good

Dredge nails every element of its core design. While trawling the ocean can feel painfully slow at first, it only takes a few trips and holds full of fish to upgrade your engines, and soon, you are trucking along the open ocean at a fine pace. Once you have a few upgrades under your belt, Dredge sings. Exploring is always rewarding, and the quick day/night cycle keeps you from losing too much progress if you decide to push your limits and come up empty-handed. The world is full of interesting characters and creatures, and the ocean always had surprises; even up until the final moments, I saw new and strange things lurking in the depths. The core gameplay loop is quick, simple, and addictive, and managing your inventory is a massive part of the game. You will constantly play inventory Tetris to squeeze in one more fish or upgrade material, and you will find yourself getting caught out at night with your pants down more than once while you scramble to dredge up one more treasure.

The Bad

Dredge wears a little thin just before the end. With a fully upgraded ship, the final area felt relatively trivial, and the game never truly challenged me past the first area, the Gale Cliffs. It may just be my personal experience, but the horror of the ocean becomes more of a nuisance in the final parts of the game, and riding around at night was as easy as anything else. I hope to see an added difficulty option or more challenging content if the developers see fit since Dredge would benefit from the increased tension a permadeath or hard mode might add.

What Surprised Me

Dredge is full of surprises until the end, and while the difficulty may fall off, the intrigue remains. Despite its simplicity, the other big surprise is how fun fishing remains in Dredge. At first, it can feel incredibly shallow. Still, as more minigames are introduced and the terror is ratcheted up, it feels appropriately stress-inducing, especially when a shark or monstrous tentacle is bearing down on you. You will constantly scramble for a rare fish or strange monster only to be assailed by some new threat.

What Was Predictable

Some story elements become predictable partway through the game. It may be my familiarity with Lovecraftian storytelling, but the genre’s tropes are fully displayed to the game’s benefit and detriment. I could quickly call the twists, but their delivery is nonetheless impactful, thanks to Dredge’s impeccable art and sound design.

Bottom Line

Dredge is an unmissable game for fans of Lovecraftian stories and procedural horror experiences. The open world is unique and memorable, the fishing and exploration are fun and intuitive, and the gameplay loop of risking your life and limb for another great catch is surprisingly addicting. Dredge is a light in the fog amongst a saturated genre; we need more dedicated horror fishing sims.

Visuals: 9

Dredge’s unique art style serves the game well in its open world. Areas feel unique, and nighttime is effectively foreboding. Some of the character art feels slightly incongruous with the rest of the world, but generally, Dredge delivers in spades regarding aesthetics.

Sound: 9

The peaceful daytime soundtrack is suitably relaxing, and nighttime is full of hushed whispers and rumbling deep-sea beasts. The audio sells Dredge on every level, with a fantastic soundtrack and pitch-perfect sound design from your ship to the sea.

Playability: 7

The boat can be cumbersome, especially with the default joystick-based throttle. I found myself bouncing off rocks and walls in ways that seemed out of my control, and even just backing out of a dock could end with a damaged hull. Otherwise, fishing is simple and fun, inventory management is addicting, and the game is generally very fair in punishing players.

Story: 7

Dredge is all about atmosphere; while it nails those elements, the story itself can feel a little cliché. Ultimately the little tales along the way sell the larger world, and it felt like the perfect little tale to encapsulate this lovely, if-terrifying, Lovecraftian fishing sim.

Replay Value: 5

Dredge is a pitch-perfect 12–15-hour game, but the loop wears thin towards the end. While there is a large variety of fish to catch, I completed nearly everything in the game within 14 hours. Without added difficulty options, there isn’t much to keep players coming back outside of repeat playthroughs, but it is the perfect length for a title like this.

Overall Grade: 7.5