Dredge Review

ign.com:

I didn’t know I needed a cosmic horror-fueled fishing game in my life – at least, not until I played Dredge. It’s not exactly a full-blown management sim ala Fishing Planet, but this 12-hour expedition through haunted open waters is both mysterious and compelling enough to tickle my brain and tug on all the right heartstrings. I felt possessed into flinging myself overboard with an unhinged smile cast across my lips, like one of its many macabre characters. …Figuratively speaking. Starting small and slow is a challenge, but upgrading my fishing boat led Dredge to spout forth a flurry of meaningful improvements to my fishing speed, inventory capacity, and my ability to scope out and evade the plethora of dangers that might rear their ugly heads at night.

Managing this fishing boat is no plank walk; five unique zones fit cozily within its relatively compact open world, hiding enough secrets, quests, and unique varieties of cartilaginous fish to fill its duration without overstaying its welcome.

All I know is that I’m a contract fisherman who’s rescued by the townsfolk of a remote island settlement called Greater Marrow. I’m given a new boat and… that’s all. But due to Dredge’s simple fishing and movement mechanics, this is pretty much all I need to know before I can begin my quest for fish on the open ocean, and it’s there that I’m immediately treated to a gorgeous sunrise stretching over the horizon. Leaving the bay of Greater Marrow for the first time and drinking in the sights and sounds is a treat.

It’s in its favor that it’s so simple to pick up, both because its mesmerizing low-poly art style is so centric to its story and because it doesn’t really need me to understand too much to enjoy it. There’s no combat to speak