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Be Careful What you Fish For

I had written a review for a different game that shares some parallel themes, but I feel like Dredge needs a special mention. Occult Fishing Game? Sign me up.
There's a mystery brewing in the fishing hamlet of Greater Marrow, and all is not what it seems. You play a fisherman who wakes up in debt to the locals for “dredging” you up (don’t worry it’s literally the first part of the game). Your job is simple: Fish.
The core gameplay loop is great. You’re a fisherman and you’ll need money. You catch fish, strategically position them in your limited inventory, sell them (preferably fresh) when you dock, make repairs to your hull, or choose upgrades to make your ship better, undock and repeat.
You enter a strangely satisfying flow state as you play the game. Its amazing how much time passes when you’re just fishing. So much so that in-game hours pass and suddenly its night. This is where the game gets interesting. As time progresses, you’ll learn to both fear and brave the night. Characters in game tell you to avoid fishing after the sun falls (or when the fog rolls in). The problem is there are unique and exotic fish that sell for a pretty penny that only appear at night. Sounds good right? The more you fish at night, the more you see things that aren’t there, and you are more likely to get hurt. Was that a foghorn? Maybe I should honk back… Maybe those red wisps have something good to say… Maybe I’ll listen… Were those rocks really there? Is that a tornado?
You’ll have to balance your sanity with profit. If you aren’t careful, the voices will get louder, and more bad things begin to happen around your ship. Surely it isn’t a coincidence?
As you play, you’ll find pieces of upgrade materials, debris and treasure from other ships, and the game gives you the opportunity to drastically upgrade your vessel. You’ll begin unlocking more specialized equipment, more inventory slots, and the more equipment you unlock, the better your ship performs, the faster it becomes, and the world opens up. You can start catching more exotic fish in more unique biomes further away from Greater Marrow and explore the wider world more. You’ll see grand sights and the unique biomes all tell their own story.
Outside of the gameplay, the game really sells its design. This isn’t hard enough to run on any machine and its quite pretty. There are times when I just stopped my ship and watched what was happening around me. I wasn’t looking for high visual fidelity, just a picturesque fishing game. To me, if a game can make you appreciate nature in a way that makes you stop your ship in the middle of the ocean and just go “Wow”… that’s the mark of a good game. Slight spoilers, but click at your own risk it didn’t need to have whales and dolphins swimming and jumping around. No gameplay advantages, just a moment where you can say “Damn, nature is beautiful”. Dredge sells atmosphere, and I dig that.
Dredge not only does a great job with its visuals, but also in marrying the fishing loop with the occult. I didn’t speak much to the occult parts of the game because I want to you to experience that for yourself. Spoilers again: Let’s just say there are variants for each fish, and they progressively get more disturbing and exciting. That isn’t THE occult stuff, but it doesn’t end there as the occult does play into other aspects of your ship and certain powers you can get. Finish the ritual but be cautious. Is it worth it?Only the lighthouse keeper knows.
My cons for the game are fairly light and honestly nothing to concern yourself about. A bit of a personal issue, the side quests are interesting, but they don’t really tie into the overall story very well. Once they’re done, they’re done. I wish there was a little more cohesion with the quests. There’s literally a quest where you give a lady a rotten eel and that’s where it ends.
Another minor con that’s easily resolved as you play is the fact that you have a fishing boat, but you catch like 1 fish at a time. Dredge gives you different avenues to earn more money and catch more interesting fish as you play, but in the early game it did feel like you were wasting hours catching one Mackerel or cod. Your arsenal of fishing utilities solves that problem in no time when you unlock them, so it really is a me issue.
Finally, my last con is that this game is short. The more you unravel the occult mystery, the more you do feel the finality of the game. But regardless, Dredge is fun and worth your time. Even in the last stretch, I found myself enjoying the rest of the game.
So in conclusion, if you have hours to spend and you want to shut off your brain and fish, Dredge is the perfect occult fishing game for you. I can’t say there are a lot of occult themed fishing games out there so give the devs some love and try Dredge out.