About the Game

Quick Facts ✅

Title: Dredge

Genre: Fishing, Adventure, Lovecraftian

System(s): Steam, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, GoG

Developer | Publisher: Black Salt Games | Team17

Age Rating: Pegi 12

Price: $24.99

Release Date: Mar 30, 2023

Time to Play: Approximately 8-10 hours (mainline)

Website: https://www.dredge.game/

Steam Description: DREDGE is a single-player fishing adventure with a sinister undercurrent. Sell your catch, upgrade your boat, and dredge the depths for long-buried secrets. Explore a mysterious archipelago and discover why some things are best left forgotten.

Why Dredge?

💡 There are many factors I take into account when selecting the month’s title. Price, platforms, accessibility, narrative, and more. Here are some of the reasons for Dredge!

There’s a lot to enjoy about this blend of mundane tasks (fishing/selling your catch) and tense sense of dread.
Offer some interesting discussion and opportunities to learn about the topics of
- sleep deprivation / paranoia / what makes for good horror?
- how cozy and creepy are two sides of the same coin
- fishing minigames / games and their importance across the industry!
- what it’s like to take inspo from the eldritch horrors created by Lovecraft, today.

Watch the trailer reaction and official announcement video (complete with initial thoughts from Joel and Jenny) here:

Keep in Mind

Content Warnings

💡 I do my best to flag content that may impact your decision to play so you can go in as informed as possible (without spoiling the plot of the game) — if you think I’ve missed something, please let me know!

Thalassophobia (fear of deep, wide water)
Occult horror
Reference to (potential) suicide
Non-human body horror (occasionally with the ocean creatures and fish)

Timeline

💡 This game is a little bit different, as it’s quite open-ended, and very self-guided by personal exploration and goals! So, no strict timeline this month, but recommend spending approximately 2-3 hours a week to be able to finish by the end of the month, depending on how quickly you play through the main quests. To organize our discussion, we’ll focus much more on unifying questions/themes to guide our play!

Week 01 - What makes compelling horror?
Week 02 - Cozy & Scary: Two sides of the same coin?
Week 03 - Fishing Games & Mini-Games: Why do we love them so much?
Week 04 - Lovecraft & Creating Eldritch-Inspired Horror, Today

Save the Date: Monthly Discord Hangout & Game Chat on May 27th, 2023 at 3p PDT/6p EDT

Dredge: Playthrough Guide