Dredge - Lovecraftian Fishing Sim

[baelthazar]

I had been seeing some buzz on Rock, Paper, Shotgun, and other site about Dredge, which is a lite fishing sim with an Eldritch Horror subtext and so, being both a lover of things nautical and a lover of Cthulhu, I had to get it. I got some hours in last night and... it's definitely something strange and wonderful. The immediate gameplay loop reminds me a little of the old NES Jaws game mixed with Stardew Valley's fishing minigame. You take your boat around some islands, go to places where fishes are splashing, then reel them in. You have limited cargo space so you play a little inventory Tetris to get the fish into your boat then you go sell them. Money allows you to get better gear, upgrade the boat, etc. Simple, right?

Except when night falls, the fog rolls in. As that happens, you get a "panic" meter. The more panic you get, the more things get... off. Rocks that are familiar suddenly move to new locations or mirage rocks trick you into hitting real rocks. Weird noises start playing. Something I thought was another boat turned out to decidedly NOT be another boat (no spoilers but it wasn't great). The fish at night are worth more.

As I was fishing, the fish also started to get... weird. Corrupted. Very sinister. The people in town vacillate between melancholy malaise and hidden, unhealthy, desires. But money is money. I started finding some gear that... well... seems problematic. Best not to use it, I decided... but how long will I hold out? Another quest gave me a power to use, it's good, sometimes necessary. But the power comes at a cost.

My initial foray is pretty good. I am not sure how big the world it, because it punishes early and unprepared exploration. The longer you play the more you begin to see things are definitely not right in the world.

There are some frustrations. The inventory management is (I am sure intentionally), fiddly. I got a catastrophic bit of damage to my engines and the limp back home to repair was PAINFULLY slow (again, to up the tension, but it also made me very frustrated). The game can be a bit obtuse, but I think that is also intentional to encourage experimentation and risk taking. Still, it's a great time waster that is both relaxing and terrifying in turns.

[hepcat]

Love it! I just added it to my wish list for the next sale. Thanks for the heads up!

[Isgrimnur]

The rest here.

[Smoove_B]

Seriously - thanks. I think it's hilarious someone thought, "Hey, what hasn't been done yet with a Lovecraftian theme? Fishing!"

Looking forward to Innsmouth Power Washer and Arkham Asylum Lawn Mower simulator.

[Isgrimnur]

[baelthazar]

Whatever you do, do NOT read the Kotaku story/review. I don’t know what they were thinking but it is rife with spoilers. This game is best jumped into cold.

[Lordnine]

I've got a little more than an hour into this and I am enjoying it. It ticks a lot of the same boxes for me as something like Stardew Valley. It's mostly relaxing, easy core gameplay loop with tons of upgrades for steady progression. A charming art style and a Lovecraftian theme gives it the little extra boost.

[coopasonic]

So simple yet so cool.

[coopasonic]

So simple yet so cool.

I finished it this morning. 11.5 hours and I said simple before but that is not quite the right word. It's not crazy complicated but there is some cleverness to it. I'm glad I decided to check it out.

[Lordnine]

I finished it tonight and got both endings. It’s enjoyable from start to finish and doesn’t overstay its welcome. My total playtime was 10.4 hours. It also manages to pack more authentic Lovecraftian flavor into a relatively story lite game than most games that go heavy on narrative.

[Dramatist]

This looks fun. I’ll have to remember to watch for sales.


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[Holman]

Glad I picked this one up.

[dfs]

I seem to be the slow poke here. I put 22 hours in and very much enjoyed the diversion.
It left me wishing for more and that's a good thing.

[Lordnine]

Wow! Is that a full completion run? There were a number of NPCs and side quests that I never figured out what needed to be done with. I think I only completed one of the fish shrines.

[Lagom Lite]

Fantastic game but much too short. I took my time with it, finished almost every quest, got all the ship upgrades and it only took me about 15 hours total. I have an itch to go back and play again, but there's just nothing more to really explore. I hope they add DLCs in the future, this game could need some more content.

As an aside, this is how you make a truly Lovecraftian game. Don't jam everything from Lovecraft's novels into one game (I'm looking at you Sunken City). Instead, write an cosmic horror original story, set in the 1920's, with a protagonist who we learn has dark secrets:

Spoiler:

The Collector is actually you. He's your reflection in the porthole, and in a mirror in the house on Blackstone Island. The woman that we pick up messages in bottles about, which you/he is trying to bring back through the book is your/his wife.

[Kurth]

Damn. This looks really good!

[GreenGoo]

Wishlisted but I find their pricing unacceptably high for a 15 hour game that looks indy to me.

I mean, good on them if they can meet their sales targets, but wow, that's not even close to my price point for it.

[baelthazar]

Wishlisted but I find their pricing unacceptably high for a 15 hour game that looks indy to me.

I mean, $60 Call of Duty games tend to have run times of 6-7 hours, so I guess this is relative.

I got my money's worth and loved the game at both endings. I also can go and explore and just fish, if I want to.

[GreenGoo]

I mean, $60 Call of Duty games tend to have run times of 6-7 hours, so I guess this is relative.

I got my money's worth and loved the game at both endings. I also can go and explore and just fish, if I want to.

I'm sure some people buy call of duty for the campaign. Probably not most though.

In any case, we all value things differently. I'm glad you loved this game and it was worth it to you! It probably wouldn't be on my wishlist if it wasn't.

[Lordnine]

I mean, everyone’s financial situation is different, but I look at it as time to make the money vs hours of enjoyment. $25 is what, 1, maybe 2 hours of work and it buys you 10 hours of enjoyment? It beats the heck out of going to a theater, going out to a restaurant, or what, that’s like 4-5 coffees for most people.

[Unagi]

I agree.
And for me, honestly, the game-development industry is the one place I don't mind just being maybe a little generous. Most especially with successful endeavors like this by indie crews.

[GreenGoo]

Depends.

[Freyland]

Well, for the Depends industry, I don't give much now but I'm sure that will change as I get older.

[coopasonic]

I kind of laugh at myself when I insist on waiting for a deal for a game. In theory saving $5 or $10 makes a difference, but I will never notice. Maybe in retirement?

[Kurth]

I kind of laugh at myself when I insist on waiting for a deal for a game. In theory saving $5 or $10 makes a difference, but I will never notice. Maybe in retirement?

Yep. I feel the same. Especially when you measure that $5-10 over the hours spent in a decent game and the time I devote to trying to find a better deal or going out of my way to drive to a GameStop to use my Gamer Pro monthly $5 off coupon.

Time value of money and all . . . Easy concept to grasp. Tough one to master.

[baelthazar]

I mean I have a lot of games that take 50-100 hours (or more) to finish and with only 2 or so hours a day to play games, that becomes easily daunting. So it was nice to have one that I could play and finish within a few dedicated nights. I think I got my $2.50 per hour enjoyment out of it. And I could have easily gotten more hours out of it, but I sort of sped through without unlocking everything.

It's a nice change of pace to have a game I can finish reasonably. It took my daughter and I MONTHS to beat Pokemon Arceus Legends, in comparison.

[hepcat]

Well, for the Depends industry, I don't give much now but I'm sure that will change as I get older.

[GreenGoo]

Son bought this. It was on my wishlist but I wasn't happy about the price, but now I can borrow it.

I love it. Easy to learn, easy to play, interesting mechanics, interesting mysterious happenings. Son has already 100% it, so it's short, but very, very fun during that time.

[Dramatist]

Bought this on sale yesterday and I’m loving it so far. Can’t wait to spend more time with it.


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[Dramatist]

So I finished this after 17 hours played. I loved it and I want more. I wonder how good the dlc is?


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[GreenGoo]

I kind of laugh at myself when I insist on waiting for a deal for a game. In theory saving $5 or $10 makes a difference, but I will never notice. Maybe in retirement?

Same. But it does a few things besides monetary savings. Well not a few things, I guess. It all boils down to removing any hesitancy or guilt associated with treating myself to an entertainment expense. It makes it easier for me to do something nice for myself instead of saving that money for future family expenses/presents/stuff.

Now my backlog is so huge that I won't ever get through it, probably. So I've stopped buying even very good deals, unless it's a triple-A title for a surprising savings.

In the end I would still buy games if they never went on sale, but I'm already barely buying anything new, so that would be reduced in further.