Dredge
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Critics Recommend
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Critic Reviews for Dredge
Dredge is a fantastically twisted fishing horror full of charm. It snags in parts but still successfully reeled me in from start to finish. A beautifully dreary bite-sized mystery.
Dredge's slow dive into Lovecraftian horror intermingles with its simple fishing and sailing mechanics to create an approachable boat management sim that's as unsettling as it is relaxing.
Blending fishing with Gothic horror and Lovecraft is a fine hook, but Dredge is too defined by simple loot-and-upgrade rhythms to reel you in.
Overall, Dredge is a nice, enjoyable fishing game with a low-fat horror coating. The mechanics, upgradability, and weird fish variety are enough to make for a lightweight and engaging time. But if your primary interest is in the narrative or atmosphere, you may find yourselves disappointed.
Dredge makes sure to weave in gentle horrors that ensure you can never fully relax
Dredge's engrossing gameplay loop and dark, Lovecraftian themes elevate a simple fishing game into something far more intricate and engrossing than its cheerful veneer may suggest.
With its encyclopaedia of over 125 fish, Dredge's bounty is a boundless as the sea, its action RPG upgrade compulsion loop as deep. That said, you get out what you put in – during the first couple of hours, anyway. Once you achieve the sweet spot of an upgraded boat, manageable difficulty and a story in full flow, it's magical. The excellent presentation of a terrifying ocean really hits home. The need to stretch the limits of safety to reach your next catch leads to edge-of-the-seat moments, while the slapping rain and eerie creaks of the sound design hardly help you to peace out. Interspersed with confidence-building angling in the sunshine and the fun of slotting oddly shaped creatures into your tight inventory, there's just enough encouragement to keep enjoying the horrors. A wonderful first effort from Black Salt, Dredge is absolutely the kind of game you mount over the mantelpiece rather than throw back into the water.
DREDGE blends relaxing fishing and Lovecraftian horror to create a compelling and truly unique game
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