DREDGE

fun and challenging game, and its about fishing

A great game, a good mystery, and a love letter to HP Lovecraft.

This little gem really nails it. What it really reminded me of was Legend of Zelda - The Wind Waker (well the sailing bits anyway). Perfect graphics, perfect mood, perfect amount of open world to discover, and perfect length for a game. Never overstays its' welcome, never feels like a grind and leaves you wanting just a little bit more. If you've seen the trailer, read a review/preview and think you might like this, you almost certainly will. My ONLY gripe is that it just needs a slightly longer upgrade and acquisition path, it feels like unless you're there for achievements, the fishing/trawling/crabbing/salvaging all becomes redundant for the last half of the game. Still, on my second play through now!

This game is many things. But for me it's primarily a story you can explore through gameplay. If you like things to discover, this is your game. If you seek challenge... maybe. But be prepared - the game's dangers can only be avoided, not undone. The game revolves around a sailor on his boat catching fish. This finances getting a better boat, to catch more fish, shellfish, and stuff you dredge from the sea. As you do so you get involved in a story of cosmic horror (i.e., a la Call of Cthulhu) and also have to navigate several island chains with different challenges, each uniquely themed. The story bits are served to you through a simple interface similar to dialogues in many games. The story parts also feature very interesting character art. The game itself gains its charm from seeing its world from the third person view of your boat, which immerses you quite a bit in it. There's a great variety of dangers on the sea and around the islands you have to face, and you have to either evade them, outrun them, or find a remedy to bypass them. Meanwhile you catch a great variety of regular and mutated fish, all of which are amazingly bizarre. Feel is everything in Dredge. The desire to be safely in port at night is high as the sea is dangerous, but even if you use the game's difficulty settings to bypass that danger, this feeling never changes. The game is accessible to boot if you need that to beat it, and it's not any less enjoyable that way. Just turn it on once in a while to see what the monsters really are like. In terms of bugs I encountered none, but since this is a 3D game, the camera can get in your way annoyingly when you navigate narrow passages. If you do that while also outrunning something... not fun. In general, however, the quality of this title was top-notch. It's interesting how the game tutorializes itself as you gradually grow into the full game over time. If you but it on sale, it's definitely a steal!

a slow burn mystery with a side of eldritch horrorthat creates a simultaneously relaxing and focused experience. wonderful rewarding gameplay loop that can tick away the hours easily.