Dredge – Review

I’ve played a fair amount of simulation games, but if someone told me one of the best indie games of early 2023 was all about Fishing, I’m not sure I would have believed them, until I jumped on my small boat in Dredge, and then it all fell into place, warts and all.

When you first start Dredge, you’re introduced to our unnamed protagonist who’s got lost in thick fog and wound up hitting some rocks, you awaken the next morning on the nearby docks in Greater Marrow, where the Mayor greets you and offers you a small basic boat to continue your fishing journey.
There’s obviously the small matter of repaying him for the boat and feeding the locals, so you’ll soon be out on the water to catch some scaled supper with the warning to try and get back before sunset to avoid another unfortunate accident.

You venture to your first fishing spot, easily recognised by the bubbles on the surfaces and fish swimming nearby, and there’s a simple mini-game to stop the marker in the green areas to speed up reeling in your next snack.
Once you’ve caught a few, you can head back to Greater Marrow where you’ll be able to sell your catch to the local fishmonger, and soon be introduced to the shipyard where you’ll eventually be able to start upgrading your seafaring vessel to catch more fish, sail quicker and improve the light so you have a little more warning of nearby rocks when you do inevitably get caught out in the dark.

It’s all adorably straight-forward and before you know it, you’ll be upgrading your rod, so rather than being limited to only shallow fishing spots, you’ll soon have access to coastal spots where you’ll find a greater variety of fish, which will help bring in a little more money too.

The initial gameplay loop is to keep upgrading your equipment to catch better fish which funds further upgrades, but beneath the surface, Dredge offers so much more than a few squid and salmon.
By this point, you’ll undoubtedly realise things aren’t always as fresh as the first catch might seem, and you’ll soon find a many-eyed mackerel or three-headed cod on the end of your line.

It’s believed that thick fog that dawns every evening adds to the horrors of the deep and when you’re inevitably caught out beyond dark, you’ll see an eye icon, pop up at the top of the screen.
Initially calm and blue, but the longer you’re out at night the closer to red this becomes, darting around as your panic increases and the mystery of the darkness starts to make you see things in the fog, which you’re generally going to want to avoid.

There are other ports nearby, which will introduce you to new people such as the trader at Little Marrow who will buy any trinkets you find and the collector at Blackstone Isle who tasks you with finding collectable relics for him.
Before you know it, those basic fishing lines are a thing of the past and once you unlock dredging, you’ll be able to find trinkets for the trader as well as wood, cotton and scrap metal which can be used to improve your boat and increase storage, and which spots can be used to add bigger lines and nets as well as more engines and lights.

With a faster boat that can see a little better in the dark, you’ll start to venture further afield and as well as the central Marrows, you’ll find Gale Cliffs, Stellar Basin, Twisted Strand and Devil’s Spine.
You can visit any of these at any point, but certain aspects of the story are locked behind certain milestones, such as obtaining explosives from the Whaler at Gale Cliffs and the ultimate fishing rods from a researcher at Stellar Basin.

With your ships storage holding a decent amount you’ll always be able to head out and fish or dredge to earn more money and resources, and while there’s the management of space allowing you to rotate odd shaped fish to utilise as much storage space as possible, the main benefit was adding fishing rod and net spaces, to allow for more extravagant fishing solutions which would cover a wider range of habitats, especially useful when you head to Twisted Strand and Devil’s Spine and you’ll need rods that can fish Mangrove and Volcanic fishing spots and eventually Hadal and Abyssal which is where the rarest fishes can be found.

By this later section of the game, you’ve probably ventured away from just catching fish after the central grind of picking up research units to help with unlocking more advanced rods, engines, crab pots and nets, but there’s always plenty of options to keep the money rolling in.

Crab pots and Nets allow for more exploration, place down a few crab pots, leave the net trawling behind your ship and you’ll find far more time for exploring.
Certain species can only be found with a net, pot or rod, and in the final stages of the game, I found myself starting to look much more at the encyclopedia and trying to catch a few more species I’d not yet picked up, but you’ll also find quite a range of “Pursuits” (side-quests) to keep you occupied in the handful of areas where the story seems to slow-down as you’re left searching for something without the means to collect.

This has to be one of the weak-points of Dredge as on more than one occasion, I was looking for something specific to progress the story, but didn’t know how to unlock the Abyssal fishing spots I needed, but it was one of the pursuits that helped me stumble across the right place and person to keep things moving.
In total there’s 128 species to collect and along with the final few research unlocks and a pretty good selection of side-quest pursuits, these are likely to take you around 20-25 hours before you reach 100% completion.
For me it was 28 hours and 4 minutes when I hit 1000 Gamerscore, but I know I threw away probably 4-5 hours searching for a stone tablet I’d sailed passed probably a dozen times.
For general story completion and the easier to achieve ending, it’s a little more difficult to judge, as I spent quite a lot of time floating away from the main storyline to follow those pursuits, but I think most gamers are going to find themselves “hooked” for at least 10-12 hours.

The overall presentation of Dredge is fantastic, with a cartoon-indie style, that keeps things feeling calm and placid, but enough intrigue from species such as the decaying black mouth, shattered wreckfish, and the bursting anglerfish, to keep you on your toes when you start to encounter larger threats in the darkest areas,
It’s horror-survival, without being “scary” and it’s at a level where it’s going to appeal to everyone from its 12+ age rating up to even the most experienced mature gamers.
Zero slowdown, no graphical issues and a clear presentation of every item and fish you collect make it appealing for far more than just the core storyline.

Audio isn’t quite as strong, with a bit of a thin selection of background music and repetitive splashing sounds, there’s also no voice acting which is a shame, as shown in games like Transport Fever 2, sometimes adding voice acting where it might not be usually expected can make a big difference.

The real appeal of Dredge however isn’t just in the gameplay, the story or the presentation, it’s the overall mixture of each to provide an engaging game that’s going to please most who look beyond the less mainstream “fishing” label.

With a wide collection of games at my disposal not many last beyond story completion, but Dredge managed to keep my attention far beyond the standard playthrough and has become one of few games I’ve got 1000 Gamerscore from – and believe me, it wasn’t “close” I had to set aside some extra time for filling the fish encyclopedia and completing pursuits, but Dredge made even this extended time, thoroughly enjoyable.

Dredge is a fantastic indie offering that’s unique, inviting and engrossing. it never truly excels in graphics, sound or delivery but the combination of those at a great value price gives us a package that’s very easy to recommend.

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