Dredge PS5 Review 8/10 "a wonderful, cosy fishing game with a slightly Lovecraftian horror twist" 🎣 @BlackSaltGames #IndieGames #GameDev

 

When it comes to games wherein you collect and sell things repetitively, I tend to only play them occasionally, but after seeing the trailer for Dredge, you could say I was ‘game’ to give it a go.

Dredge starts with your character - a fisherman, nonetheless - making his way through a foggy sea before he inevitably has a shipwreck. Waking up on a deck on a small fishing island called Greater Meadows...his journey begins.

After meeting with the village mayor, you set off with a boat that he lends you, on which you then set sail as part of an agreement to fish for the town in exchange for the boat's ownership and, eventually, upgrades for the boat.

After starting your journey on your day-to-day life filling your boat up, which you did pretty fast prior to the upgrades, you also have to make sure that you get back in time for when the sun goes down, this is when the panic begins to set in, and panic only increases whilst staying out at sea in the dark.

With creatures lurking in the darkness, for instance - a night angler, which appeared to be a ghost ship but then becomes an enormous ship-eating fish, which I should have seen coming. You even have things like crows that steal your goods, and infectious worms that latch onto the fish - causing you to throw your catch away.

The low-poly art style really brings out this comforting adventure with its beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Mixed with the sound of the ocean whilst you are on your journey, it makes Dredge feel beautiful. When entering docks you get this soft playing music whilst trading, then when out in the ocean you have the mixture of rain, wind, and the crashing of waves.

The mechanics of Dredge are fairly simple and smooth. The left analogue stick steers the boat and a single square button to cast your line for fish or dredging. Triangle brings up the inventory, and then from there, you have easy access to pursuits, maps, messages, and encyclopedias.

There is a mini-game which varies from fish to fish, but the objective is to time the button by pressing it when it reaches the coloured bar. If you miss the bar, you have a brief moment where you cannot do anything while it finishes a cycle. 

Unlike traditional fishing, dredging also involves an additional mini-game where you have to switch between two rings that spin in opposite directions and move between both to avoid gaps.

The rarer the trinket or relic, the faster the rings speed up, which for me was a little tricky at first, especially because as you start the dredging, it is already going at full speed and I found that this could sometimes make my eyes go weird! Luckily this can be changed in the settings (relaxed fishing) which takes a bit longer to catch things, but you do get them eventually.

There are many more settings that can be used in order to smooth out the game or make it easier for the player, such as colour for different types of text; emphasising important text; the speed of text; and changing camera smoothness in case the player suffers from sea sickness.

SUMMARY

To summarise, Dredge is a wonderful, cosy fishing game with a slightly Lovecraftian horror twist.

I believe that this is a game you should try,  even if it means waiting to catch it on sale. It's not overly long, and it’s suitable for those who only have a few minutes to themselves with its quick and fast-loading screens.

The controls for fishing and dredging are simple, and the art style of this game makes it look amazing. While it does have some flaws such as the story getting a bit slow towards the end and repetitiveness with gathering and trading, this is something that you might enjoy.

This is Black Salt Games’ debut and I think it's a good one, I’ll be looking forward to a follow-up.🎣