DREDGE

About DREDGE

DREDGE is a single-player fishing adventure made by Black Salt Games and published by Team17. It came out on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch in March 2023, and on iPhone and Android in February 2025. You arrive in a remote archipelago as a new fisherman with a modest trawler, and you set about catching fish, selling your haul and upgrading your boat to reach deeper and stranger waters.

Most of the loop is calm. You steer from island to island, play a short timing minigame to land each catch, and fit fish and gear into a grid-shaped hold where every shape matters. The home islands are called The Marrows, and four more archipelagos lie around them, each with its own fish, quests and dangers. Parts you dredge up go into research, which unlocks new rods, engines, pots and nets, and reading books improves your abilities. The art is soft and low-poly, and by day the sea looks almost peaceful.

The horror arrives with the dark. Time passes as you sail and fish, and the night-time sea is cloaked in fog. Stay out too long after dark or go without sleep and a panic meter climbs; the higher it gets, the more often strange things happen. Rocks can appear in front of the boat, crows steal from your catch and large sea monsters start to chase you. Some of what you pull up is aberrant: mutated fish with extra eyes and other wrong features, which sell for more.

The story builds slowly through the odd people you meet and the things you haul up, and its makers describe its horror as Lovecraftian. The studio set out to avoid jump scares and aimed for a spooky, psychological feel instead. It is unsettling rather than gory: the ESRB rates it E10+, and PEGI 12, for fantasy violence, animated blood, mild language and tobacco use.

Three paid add-ons extend it. The Blackstone Key came with the digital edition, The Pale Reach (November 2023) adds a polar area with new fish, and The Iron Rig (August 2024) adds a rig you build up with its own story.

It suits players who like exploration, quiet management and slow-burn dread more than action, and it plays well in short sessions. HowLongToBeat puts the main story at about nine and a half hours.

How to play DREDGE

1. Sail your trawler between islands, cast where the water is disturbed and play the timing minigame to land each catch, then fit it into the grid of your hold.
2. Sell fish at the docks for money; fresher catches and aberrant fish sell for more. Spend it on engines, rods, nets, lights and more hold space to reach deeper waters.
3. Bring dredged parts to research to unlock new equipment, and read books to improve your abilities.
4. Watch the clock. Time passes as you sail and fish, and the night brings fog and a rising panic meter, so plan to be back at a dock or resting before it gets too late.

Tips

• Plan your route so you can reach harbour before dark; the higher your panic, the more often rocks, crows and sea monsters turn up.
• Lay out your hold like a puzzle. Fish and gear take different shapes, and space is tight early on.
• Upgrade your engine and lights early so you can cover more water and see further in the dark.
• Sleep when you can. Going without rest raises your panic as well, not just staying out late.
• Steer clear of sharp rocks and shallow reefs, which the Steam page warns about, and take care in the dark.

Questions