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Dredge - All my means are sane, my motive and my object mad!

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
Did you like Animal Crossing? Love the rural farming life that Stardew Valley afforded you? Do you enjoy the simulated act of fishing? Did you feel something was missing though? That despite the bucolic artificial life you had created something was missing? Perhaps buried underneath the bright pastel colors, the teeming, verdant fields of produce. A secret gnawing?

Good news! Dredge has what those games lacked, Lovecraftian horror! The game starts with you, a fisher, answering an ad, and then washing ashore on a tiny island archipelago. You start out merely fishing the waters during the day while townsfolk warn you about the dangers of night and the strange fog that rolls in with it.

And, you could just keep fishing and that'd be the end of it, except for the aberrant fishes, that are sometimes caught on your hook. Or the man who lives alone on an island asking you to collect some items for him that bestow upon you strange and dangerous "gifts" No, in order to understand what is going on in this world you'll have to venture into the night, and the fog, and the paranoid horror it brings.

I sunk about 5 hours into this game over the three day weekend and am absolutely loving it. The fishing mini games are fun, tugging around the islands is fun, the puzzle of fitting as much fish and gear into your boat's storage. You can find scrap to make your boat better, you can research upgrades to your equipment, which you absolutely have to do if you want to visit the further away islands and survive the night.

And the night, weird sounds in the foggy distance, strange lights that chase you, the blasphemous gigantic aquatic monstrosities that will chase you!

Is anyone else playing this?

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JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
Is anyone else playing this?
No, but I 100%ed it last month! I was very high on it initially, much like you (in fact, my initial TT Discord post is amusingly close to you: "I just started playing Dredge a couple of days ago, and now I'm 5 hours in. It's a GOAT."), and ultimately had a great time with it, but I probably shouldn't have bothered farming the couple of achievements that I was missing (getting enough upgrades parts to 100% the tech trees is a pain, as is catching all of the aberrant fish).

Anyway, this game is great, and utterly unique, but unfortunately its best moments are all spoilers, so I can't really talk about it! Suffice it to say that it engages in some A+ trolling not seen since the likes of Eternal Darkness for N64 (and no, I don't mean that it fucks with your save file, but rather just that it goes in some creative directions with its sanity mechanics). Also, it plays great on Steam deck!
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
I almost mentioned you in the opening post @JBear thinking it was a game that you might like! Turns out I am too late. I think I need to do some dredge farming to upgrade my boat some more. The night time is wrecking me good.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
I also did 100% of this when it came out and had a very good time. It isn't perfect, and it could use a couple more areas, but the vibes are great and it's really pleasant to cruise around in your little boat. There will apparently be some free add-ons in the fall, followed by a paid DLC, and I'm already planning on playing it a second time when that stuff hits.
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Looks like it has a demo on Switch. I'll have to check it out.
Oh nice, same.

I'm not a huge horror fan so wasn't too sure about this, but hearing all this praise made me intrigued. And it looks like it's rated E? Lovecraftian horror can mean so many things I think I expected something way more disturbing than an E rating.
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
It's definitely creating more of a vibe than going out of its way to terrify you.
Though if you spend too much time out at night and your character gets paranoid those phantom sharks that burst out of nowhere can get you the first time.

I've explored all the zones now. I've even got the last relic but am holding off on turning it in as I'm trying to complete my encyclopedia and finish off sidequests. I do wish there was a way to have your boat kitted out in such a way to be able to catch everything but that doesn't seem possible. There is no uber trawler... And you can't have the two lines you need and one of the larger trawlers out either.

I would be interested in seeing how other people kitted their boats out at the end. I also appreciate that all the fishing is a little different it's not the same minigame over and over, but its a mix of four or five, that little change keeps it from getting monotonous.

I spend hours just fishing yesterday while working. Helped the time pass when I'm just listening to legislative sessions.
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
I beat the game! I didn't get all the achievements but I did spend a great deal of time filling out the journal. I enjoyed it very much! And, it was probably the perfect length for a game. I wouldn't have minded if it was a bit longer but this was a good game.

There is a good twist there but as a reader of much existential horror I thought it might be the case pretty early on.
 

Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
This is on PS+ now, so I picked it up! I played through it in the last couple of days (I'm at the "Final part of the game!" warning, but haven't actually done it yet) - it's not very long, as mentioned above. I've been enjoying it! It's not nearly as spooky as I thought it was going to be, though; I could have used even a bit more spook, although I also tend not to push my sanity very hard and stay relatively rested, so that might be on me. But I've liked building out the tech tree and upgrading my engines and such, and catching the fishies in the different zones. Very neat little game.

It looks like there are three DLCs available now. Anyone played them? Are they worth it?
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
I really liked this when I played last year. I haven't finished the latest DLC, but I did the earlier one. (One is tiny, just an item or two I think; the ice and oil rig ones are the real deal). Like the other islands, the DLCs are basically self-contained (and unlike the other islands don't contribute toward the end of the game), so I think they'd work best if you have them in the game from the start and do them in between other base game areas. They are very much the "it's more of the game" style of DLC, so if you like it, you'll probably like them. Get some good equipment too.

And yeah if you stay rested you're not going to get that much spook out of it, but also there are only so many spook things, so it's fine really. It's a mildly atmospheric exploration and rhythm game, pretty much. I liked it a lot.
 
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