Steam Deal: Save 50% on DREDGE on Steam
DREDGE is a single-player fishing adventure with a sinister undercurrent. Sell your catch, upgrade your boat, and dredge the depths for long-buried secrets. Explore a mysterious archipelago and discover why some things are best left forgotten.
As a reminder, this was given away on Epic Games in recent months, as well as to Amazon Prime subscribers via Amazon Gaming.
My opinion: A fun game that I completed and enjoyed, but lacking in depth.
If the trailers were to be believed, you'd think this was a world steeped in eldritch horror, with rich character interactions, where dread lurks around every corner.
The reality is that conversations are few and far between, linear, and isolated. Threads don't weave together, and almost everything just ends up being a fetch quest.
Even the danger - which feels very real right at the start of the game when you are slow and vulnerable - very quickly disappears. As soon as you get a couple of engine upgrades for your boat you can outrun any problem and are just about invulnerable.
The actual fun of this game comes from filling out your fishing encyclopaedia, finding materials and blueprints to upgrade your boat, and the pure fun of skillfully piloting your nippy and manoeuvrable little craft through obstacles, and between the quite pretty little islands that make up the game map.
If a zoomy boat driving collectathon sounds fun to you it's a good game, but if you are expecting Disco Elysium at sea, look elsewhere.
Lovely little game, recommended!