DREDGE

The concept is great, the artwork good, the athmosphere is sinister and brooding, with a feeling of imminent danger. I bought it immediately after watching MATN try it out. And for the first hours of playing, the game delivers on its promise. But. After a while, it becomes apparent that the "dangers" are merely "scares". I have had my boat damaged many times, but so far have only sunk once. The sea monsters as a rule don't hunt you; they make a warning attack on you, then let you escape. The progressive blindness once Panic sets in is scary at first, but then you realize that you never lose your map position or compass direction. Go slowly, use the map, you'll be just fine driving blind. Thus the sense of danger disappears, and with it, most of the sinister athmosphere. And we are left with a fishing game. As a fishing game, it is both too simple and too easy to be compelling to me. The boat does not handle like real boat. A real boat's rudder works if it has speed through the water. This boat can rotate while stopped, but can not make a curve using momentum and rudder as a real boat would. To change your direction of travel, you must apply thrust in the direction you want to go, like a rocket in a (very sticky) vacuum. Also, I would rather have had a machine telegraph style of throttle instead of hold forward for full speed ahead (only). Economics: Fish are worth too much, and there is no fuel cost to traveling across the map, so you get rich very quickly. Repairs are much too cheap, and never made a dent in my budget. To upgrade your boat, you need to dredge for materials. To upgrade fully, you need to dredge a lot, which is tedious. Why can't mundane materials be bought? I have tons of cash, after all. I want to mod this game. I want to love it, but I want the dangers to be dangerous (or at least costly), the boat to handle like a boat, and the economics to be more like Sunless Seas. Also, manual docking. Or maybe devs can add a hardcore mode?

The game has intriguing idea an is set in an archipelago you instantly want to explore. Contains some funy descriptions of fish warped by Dagon(?). The game would have benefited greatly if the dialogues were presented in a more immersive way. Sadly, after an hour or so, you realize that there are but two game mechanics - fishing (presented in three ways + dredging, but really the same one click mechanic) and halluzinations at night - and you have to finish all tasks in one predefined way. Replayability therefore is not high. Buy in a sale, if you want to enjoy one or two evenings of fishing, mild lovecraft references and reading.

I 100%'d this game as fast as I could. Every fish, every pole, and every discovery was going to be mine. As soon as I understood the game I loved it. 12 hours later, I realized I should've savored it. The gameplay loop of catch and discover was enthralling, but there's little difficulty. Finding new challenges and new biomes to catch fish drives your little boat across the map. You're guaranteed to catch any fish you find, and if you've ever been fishing (and found the right spot), you know catching a fish every cast can get boring. Finding new fish art is always rewarding and the aberrations mixing real aquatic species with fantasy mutant creatures is a brilliant way to spice things up. It only took me an extra hour or two to get every aberration. The story is a B+ and offers predictable Lovecraft and unpredictable discovery. It matches the A- art beautifully and creates a great world during the day and effective atmosphere during night. There's not much more to say beyond that. I'd wager the most polarizing part of the game is the inventory. Each fish has a different Tetris shape and your inventory is not only limited by number of squares but by shape of your boat and and type of squares you can place rods, lights, trawls etc. It creates a meta game where you can keep as many fish as you can sort. There were several times where I'd spend the extra 5 minutes rearranging my inventory to fit my latest catch and realize I could fit if I moved the 2x2 fish where the Tetris L-block is and rotate it to fit near my engine. I wouldn't expect everyone to love it, but I'm surprised there weren't different shaped boat hulls to accentuate this feature. Buy this game. Enjoy the adventure. After that, if you're like me and want this game to be your favorite of all time, join me in the "waiting for THAT update" camp.

"When seagulls follow the trawler it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea," Terrific game and worth all the praise it has received. I installed it this morning and have played virtually 11 hours straight :) It is unputdownable. I'm starting the last quest in the morning :) Lovely ambience and artwork. The UI and gameplay are brilliant. I turned the music off after a while as it was a bit repetetive and annoying each time I entered a port, but everything else in this game is pure class. Glad I paid full price - I hope the devs are working on some expansions ....

This is just fantastic - a lovely 15 hour-long jaunt on the high seas that reminded me pleasantly of Sunless Skies. It is not really anything like that game, however, except in its Lovecraftian 'horror on the high seas' vibe. The writing and story especially are de-emphasized compared to Sunless, in favor of the fishing and sailing gameplay. The story is evocative and satisfying - just not all that elaborate. Gameplaywise, Dredge straddles an interesting contradiction in that it is simultaneously a 'cozy' fishing game where you put-put around in your boat admiring the landscape catching fish via just-hard-enough minigames but also offers a more intense horror experience once the sun goes down and the seas start getting more threatening. What you think of this combo will depend largely on how attached you are to the horror aspect of the game, which is definitely not what's in the foreground here. While there are definitely some very tense moments once creatures of the deep start attacking your defenseless boat, the gameplay leans strongly towards coziness and probably by about the mid-way point you've upgraded your ship to the extent that nothing much will seriously threaten you. For my tastes, I think this would have been a little better with a more punishing economy and more challenge in the back end of the game - in other words, gameplay to better mirror its horror elements. If you're looking for a challenging game, this is probably not the right fit. Still, on its own terms, this is very hard to fault. It sets out to deliver a bite-sized voyage on the seas, with a mild horror vibe, and it delivers on this perfectly. A lovely morsel of a game that does not overstay its welcome - perfect for the holidays.