Dredge (2023)

DREDGE is a vibrant example of what can be achieved when a great idea is developed with love, passion and expertise beyond available means. The New Zealand team Black Salt Games debuts on the video game scene with a gem of rare beauty, dredged up from the deep sea fraught with unnamable dangers and pitfalls. Halfway between fishing simulator and Lovecraftian horror, DREDGE surprises and disorients with the magnetism of a ludic loop in which progression and sense of wonder constantly accompany the player. It doesn't matter if you are a sea dog or an inexperienced hubby: hoist anchor and venture into the fog.

17 Apr, 2024

Dredge is a totally innovative and creative take on the survival horror genre and manages to tell a compelling story without long-winded cutscenes or spoon-feeding it. The minor metroidvania elements to its adventuring also give players a lot of freedom to play at their own pace.

15 Apr, 2024

Dredge is a great mix of moody atmospheric horror storytelling mixed in with fishing and sailing. The DLC that just came out, The Pale Reach, adds a ton more to an already-packed 10-hour base game, adding 11 new fishes/crabs to catch, a new ice-floe-filled landscape, and new dangers. So really, now's a good time as any to go fish.

23 Nov, 2023

Ultimately Dredge is a charming, atmospheric game with excellent exploration gameplay and clever puzzles punctuated by tense moments of fear and dread of what lurks in the dark. I just wish it leaned more into being the game it pretended to be with a larger focus on its simulation gameplay. Because in the end, Dredge makes you think you’re getting a fishing sim with horror elements when what you’re really getting is an enjoyable adventure puzzle game with tacked-on simulation elements.

22 Nov, 2023

DREDGE may not go down as a landmark title, but it's definitely one to try to be very, very pleasantly surprised.

26 Oct, 2023