This game surprised me. It’s very intentional in its design and everything flows together so well that I couldn’t stop playing or thinking about it. I haven’t had a game that enthralled me as much as Dredge has in a long time.

You are the new fisherman in town and you’re charged with providing fish for the small village. (I expected a hunger mechanic, but there isn’t one.) The story unfolds as you complete quests for different NPCs, giving lore to the world, but the main quest centers around the Collector. He wants a few specific artifacts that are spread throughout the world and you are tasked with finding them. He doesn’t give much information about his reasoning, but with small clues throughout the world, you can theoretically piece his endgame together. (I didn’t really see it coming, but as it started to unfold it made sense.) 

The game allows you to tackle the collection of these objects in any order, so your playthrough may be different than someone else’s. Personally, I focused on improving my ship to sail further and catch more fish, and after my first session, I had upgraded my hull twice. Initially you start with a little dingy and can’t sail very far past the shores of the small town. This is because when night falls the fog rolls in, and with it, the madness. If you’re out on the water during this time you will slowly go mad and see things that aren’t there. You may see strange ripples in the water, eyes in the distance or rocks that will spawn in front of you. I didn’t allow myself to go mad often (because it was scary), so I can’t speak to all the mechanics of it. One time though I was assaulted by crows and they stole a fish that I needed for a quest. I was very angry, but this punishment was my own fault because I didn’t manage my sanity.

Other than sanity management, you have to do a lot of inventory management as well. I enjoyed the puzzle of trying to fit certain crabs and fish together so as to not have to throw anything overboard. This also applies to parts like lights, motors, nets and rods. This keeps engagement going, which is something the game does well in all aspects. Fishing and dredging have minigames associated with them, so you’re not just sitting waiting. Even traveling the vast ocean keeps you on your toes as some larger creatures can find and chase you. You are mostly without defense, until you obtain the haste ability which allows you to boost your speed by holding a button, however this does heat up your engines, which will cause one to fail if you let it get too hot. This loops back into boar management. If you get assaulted by a fish or run into rocks, your ship will take damage. This damage is reflected in your inventory as it randomly makes tiles unusable and if an item or fish was in that spot, it’s lost forever. I had this happen to me with a quest actually. There was a castaway, marooned on an island and he politely asked for a lift to the nearest town. I obliged, but as soon as I picked him up and left, I ran into some rocks. I got a message that he went overboard, but when things go overboard they are lost forever… So I guess he drowned… I felt so bad. Anyway… If your rods or motors are damaged, they become disabled instead of being lost. This isn’t the end of the world but can be problematic, especially if you’re out at sea with no motor. You can still manipulate your movement a bit, but it’s really slow and stressful. All of these aspects together give so much weight to your actions and punishes players that try to move too quickly in certain scenarios. Panic in real life can cause catastrophic blunders in the game and calculated, cool-headed play rewards you. The balance Dredge strikes between a rewarding, yet challenging experience is perfect.

Fishing is mostly a way to obtain money, but some NPCs and environmental puzzles require specific fish. I completed a few of these and some of the rewards are definitely worth the effort. The solutions to some are obtuse and I didn’t figure them all out, but I didn’t really feel the need to. I fully upgraded my boat, just by fishing a lot and buying parts. There are plenty of upgrade parts in the environment, so you can focus on exploration and still end up with a fully realized vessel. This is great, as the world is really interesting to sail around. There are many areas that require certain rods to fish in and unlocking each one opens up different quest lines. Discovering all the different fish and their mutations was also very engaging. Did I mention there are eldritch-style mutations of fish and crabs? Well there are as well as other influences that I’ll let you discover. I will say that some of the mutations were so gross that my skin crawled and others were just really wacky. They aren’t just for show however as some quests call for these versions specifically, but you’ll most likely sell most of them for extra cash. Selling your fish has only slight variation per fish market. There are only two buyers in the game and one pays more if they’re bigger and the other bases their compensation on freshness. I generally didn’t pay attention to this difference and I made more than enough money. If there were more buyers (like someone who collected mutated fish) it may have made selling more complex and I’m not sure if that would have been a good thing or not.

While I think the ending was a bit abrupt, I still liked the subtleness of it and my jaw did drop, so it was effective. The stories told throughout though, were well done. I don’t want to get into the narrative of them all as their stories unfolding were integral to my enjoyment of the game. Though there is no voice acting, the art and sound design really conveyed the emotions of the game fully, so there was no need.

Dredge is an amazing little game. I finished the main story, and a few sidequests, in ten hours and none of that time I felt was wasted. I was constantly engaged in the world and its characters thanks to the game loop being so satisfying and rewarding. It’s been a while since a game has really captured my attention like this one did and if you haven’t played it yet, fair winds and following seas my friend.