Dredge review: Fishing meets horror in one of 2023’s breakout hits

The coral grouper’s skin erodes like the living reefs it inhabits. These blue spots are found on bright orange skin and decaying to the bone. Dead-eyed and gaping, the fish, among others who’ve not yet festered, lurks in the shallow waters of Dredge’s Stellar Basin. The ocean may as well be an alien world, a place that’s entirely uninhabitable to humans — and yet, it’s covering the majority of our earth, holding more mysteries and horrors than most can imagine.

DredgeThese mysteries have begun to be revealed in ‘Black Salt Games’, Black Salt Games’ debut videogame. DredgeThe story begins when a fisherman arrives at Greater Marrow. This island is part of an archipelago which interrupts the vast expanse of wine-dark ocean. His ship was destroyed on the rocks that guard the coastline, so he’s quickly handed a new boat and some fishing line and sent on his way by the mayor; the people must have something to eat.

So he also fishes. Dredge is a fishing game, after all — albeit one that tugs on the IdeaIt’s more fun to fish than actually doing it. My role as a fisherman is to take to the waters and set my hook. The 12 hours of sun allow you to see the shadows and bubbles beneath the sea surface where fish will be swimming. When you cast off your line, a fish bites immediately; there’s no waiting patiently for a single nibble. To catch the fish, you must use simple timing tricks. This means that the button has to be pressed at exactly the right moment. You must make sure that the fish are sold later. Every catch involves rearranging your cargo hold. TetrisWith each fish. It is important to manage time and space. Dredge.

A boat coming into a harbor where the sun is setting on a forest of trees.

Image: Black Salt Games/Team17

More fish means more money, so you will need to upgrade your fishing gear, such as engines and nets. However, the problem is that your freshly caught fish takes up more space than new equipment. Fish for a few in-game hours and you’ll quickly realize that it may be easy to fill your vessel with mackerel, which take up two grid spaces, but MoreOrganising sharks and rays is difficult as they can quickly take over spaces in an unpredictable way. Through all this fishing, selling, and upgrading, you’ll find places to dock on other islands, one of which will set the fisherman off on a search for several artifacts that threaten to reveal more of the ocean’s secrets than, perhaps, he wants to see. It’s quickly understood that Dredge’s ocean has plenty of mysteries — many of which arise at night.

It’s not only mackerel and coral grouper that swim in Dredge’s seas; something’s rotting the fish and turning them into grotesque monsters. Fish for long enough at night, and they’ll reveal themselves more easily, bursting forth from the sea to tear your ship to shreds. These moments are priceless DredgeIt veers slightly towards horror. But it’s a soft psychological horror — almost gentle — that sneaks up on the fisherman in the dark and early hours of the morning. It’s one of those games whose meditative moments are all the more comforting for the shadows lurking around them; Dredge has a sharp edge, but it’s not holding it to my throat.

A screenshot showing off Dredge’s fishing mechanic. There’s a small minigame on the left, showing the fish you can catch and when you’ll need to time your button presses, and the grid-based cargo system on the right.

Image: Black Salt Games/Team17

There are many options. Dredge evokes developer Adam Robinson-Yu’s An Easy Hike. DredgeAs you like An Easy Hike, forces me to consider why I’m playing a game. It’s not to win or to get some payoff as quickly as possible, but to stop and do nothing — to pay meaningful attention to the little details of the world. It’s in the way Dredge’s sun hides behind the water as day turns to night, in the shocking horror of pulling out a fish that’s Just a collection of eyes, or the way you dredge up a bolt of soaking cloth justWhen you require it to build a new boat. It says so much about the environment Dredge’s world than any dialogue ever could. It’s a story composed of gentle nudges toward subtle pockets of beauty and terror.

Encyclopedia pages for blue mackerel and cod in Dredge, indicating how many you’ve caught, where you can catch them, and the horrific “aberrations” of each that you can find.

Image: Black Salt Games/Team17

It is encouraged to wander in DredgeIt is important to pull up the map and study it, as there are no waypoints. There’s no marker on screen guiding you toward the next quest; instead, you set out to the northwest, or far off to the east, looking for landmarks that match what you’ve seen on the map. And on the way, there’s certain to be some surprises: maybe the quiet Swishing A pod of dolphins will be right in front of your eyes.

Dredge These moments are a reward for exploration, but it doesn’t lose sight of its main conceits of fishing or discovering new species. The balance between these tones is also exceptionally well achieved. This is the kind of terror and dread that creeps in after too much sleep. It’s not a boiling terror and panic, but more of a simmer. There’s enough daylight for something of a reprieve, but it never sticks around for too long. Dredge It is a dark and cozy version of chess. Although it can sometimes be disturbing, the game never reaches too deep into the depths.

Dredge wasOn March 30, the game was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Steam Deck reviewed the game using a Team17 pre-release code. Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.

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