Dredge is a 2023 fishing/survival/horror game and one of the best games of the year. It was developed by a small indie studio Black Salt Games from New Zealand and charmed its audience right out of the gate.
Its low-poly art style is gorgeous, it’s day-and-night cycle based game loop keeps you immersed and its psychological horror unsettling in the best possible way. In the beginning, the game feels just like a nice, cozy fishing game fit to its era of popular gaming trends but as you progress, you start to discover the horrors of the deep sea and once a big nasty fish has been after you, the build up to next scary moment happens way before any real danger starts to creep in.
In the game, you own a small fishing boat and you go to the open waters to fish and collect materials that you can then sell and use to upgrade your boat. Better engines, improved lights and better fishing rod form a very traditional gameplay loop.
What sets the game apart from others of its kind is the intriguing and well paced story and the player’s internal struggle between pushing their luck a little bit further to catch an optimal amount of fish to sell and escaping to the safety of a dock before the horrors of the night catch up.
The way this game plays with lighting and visibility is done masterfully. You don’t notice it until it’s too late in the day. Suddenly, you realise you can’t really see any of the landmarks you’ve grown to navigate with and suddenly you crash your boat into the rocks while desperately running away from… something.
The development team describes the game as
Our debut title Dredge will show you the sorts of games we want to be known for; high immersion, excellent execution and with a bit of a difference from anything you’ve played before.
and they are spot on in everything there.
This game shows that when you focus on the essential core elements of your design and don’t try to be a million things at once, you can make an incredible game.