I have an intense fear of water—a full-body, panic-attack-inducing fear of water too deep to stand up in. It has always been this way, at least as far back as my mind can go; one particularly bad memory is when I got caught under a surfboard and couldn’t get my head out from under the waves. I prefer the sea over the swimming pool, probably because just the smell of the pool makes me feel queasy. And the sea is easier to swim in, as long as it’s calm, the sun’s out, and I’m not too far from solid ground. More buoyant. All that salt.
In Dredge, there’s a lot more in the sea than salt. There are fish, big and small and mutant, lots of treasure, scrap, and… unspeakable horrors. I wouldn’t dare step anywhere near the sea in Dredge’s universe. Developed by Black Salt Games and published by Team 17, Dredge is a “single-player fishing adventure” with a “sinister undercurrent”, and while I only had access to around 50 percent of the game for this preview, I feel like I’ve been inducted into a hall of dusty old busts of long dead fishermen who fished too deep and paid the price. I entered the game with a fear of water, and left with a fear of water, but also a fear of giant monsters, relentless fog, and creepy lighthouse attendants.
Fishing isn’t something I’m inherently interested in real life (too much rain, too much sitting, too many strange folk wearing full camo gear—is it necessary? Do the fish see that far?) but in video games, you can’t really go wrong with fishing. Whether it’s in an MMO or survival game, fishing provides a moment of solace. The relatively simplistic fishing in Minecraft, for example, is probably one of my all-time favourite pastimes. That plinky-plonk music and the satisfying plop of the rod are up there with the most iconic atmospheres in modern video games.
A good fishing mechanic is one that is challenging, but not too challenging. If you’re playing Fishing Planet or some other fanatic fishing game, then you probably want something more complicated than pressing a button. If you’re playing a Zelda minigame, you probably want things kept simple. Getting it right is the make or break of the experience, especially in a game like Dredge, where the entire gameplay loop revolves around you fishing and, well, dredging the seafloor. I want to tell you that the fishing mechanic in Dredge is innovative, ground-breaking, delectably exciting, but it’s really just okay. You have to press a button at the right time. Different fish have different patterns. It does get harder, and maybe later in the game, beyond the reach of this preview, there are even more complex fishing mechanics, but from what I’ve seen, it’s pretty straightforward.
That’s not hook, line, and sinker for Dredge, though. The game propels you forward with a mix of a reliable gameplay loop (fish, sell your fish, fish some more, sell some more fish, upgrade your boat) and a narrative that builds steadily in its weirdness. You are a new fisherman who has arrived in a small archipelago dotted with equally small villages. The mayor tells you that the last fisherman disappeared, or whatever, and that they’re in desperate need of a new one to drive the economic growth of the town. Sure, fine, you say, and head out onto the waves. You’re largely a voiceless, faceless protagonist who’s washed up on these islands with little purpose.
Then you start fishing up some weird fish. Mutated little freaks. A creepy lighthouse attendant gives you eerie messages. The fishmonger exorcises a demon from a fish you’ve just delivered. There are creepy hooded figures, a smarmy collector who’s hunting for dead folks’ old treasure, and the building mystery of what happened to the others who dared take their boat into the fog. So much fog. And the lights at nighttime. Other boats in the distance. The twinkle of far off lights. Dredge has an impeccable atmosphere, one that lures you in like a big, fat, juicy worm.
As well as the narrative and fantastic atmosphere, there are some more gamey elements, like managing the health of your ship (small rocks will destroy your boat, shredding it to pieces), Tetris-like spatial inventory management, and good old-fashioned fetch quests. You are given relative freedom to explore the islands and seas, framed by quests that have you heading over there to grab that, and trawling over there to pick up this. You can upgrade your ship with various new attachments, like a sturdier hull, better nets, and faster engines. There are also special upgrades, like a speed boost, that become absolutely essential. I had the most fun attempting daring, late-night deep-sea fishing runs, when the fog begins to close in, and you’re not sure what’s about to gobble up your boat.
There’s quite a bit about Dredge that is best left unsaid, at least this far out from release. If you’re interested in the game, you should become the fisherman in the story. Dredge is relaxing and horrifying, which is a unique combination that makes for a unique experience. I wouldn’t want to spoil what lurks in the deep.
A PC Steam code was provided for this preview.