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Dredge is a weird game. Its a game that does so many things at an incredible level to the point that I forget its an indie game. But at the same time it also does some stuff at such a boring level that I genuinely wonder at times if I am enjoying the game. Its a game thats trying to be a cozy fishing game mixed with a horror exploration game, is it in the end worth your time? Lets get into it.
The good
The games ambiance is top tier. Every character interaction, every location you visit, the first like 7 hours of this game are truly magical. Leaving your little starting fishing town feels like a nightmare. You get sold on how horrible night time is, how everything is awful and you truly feel like an outsider lost in the middle of an ocean. When you look at your map you get this giant idea of all the places and things you are going to visit, a side quest ends and you wonder what is going to happen next for these characters. As someone that couldn't deal with Subnautica due to how scary it felt, this felt perfect. Its scary but its also very forgiving, and it also feels like the game is constantly motivating you to explore and see what is out there. The design on the fish are incredible, they look interesting and every special fish you catch is a huge motivator to see what kind of weird fish are out there in the wide world.
Besides the ambiance, the games gameplay loop is also really addicting at the start. You are constantly upgrading and getting access to new tools, every island you visit gives you new quests, and you feel like this is a huge game. It really feels like an open world game to the point I forgot it was an indie game.
The bad
After those 7 hours the game progressively gets more mediocre. Everything I said about ambiance just doesn't hit the same anymore. All the scary stuff just feels like fluff that gets in the way of you playing a cozy fishing game. Its not scary, its just an annoyance. The constant inventory management, the day and night cycle that forces you to find a random save point, the random horrors that try to attack you. All of it is kind of disappointing. In the end it just starts feeling like a cookie clicker game, go out to collect random resources and fish just so you can collect more resources and fish. The problem with that gameplay loop is that none of the extra upgrades start sounding interesting at some point. Here is a fishing rod that you HAVE to buy because you otherwise can't interact with the fishing hole you need for a quest. Here is an engine upgrade that gives you like 10 % more power over your previous engine. This lightbulb gives you more light but its barely noticable. Remember the exciting and interesting side quests and how you wonder what happens next? Like 85 % of the time nothing happens next, they just kind of fade into the background and repeat the end of quest line if you try to talk to them. Its disappointing.
After 1 or 2 areas it feels like you have seen everything the game has to offer, its cool to see what new horror or challenge the game will try to present. But all of that quickly fades away as its almost always just more of the same you have done for the last like 10 hours.
Conclusion
I may have sounded harsh but I think all of that is very valid criticism. None of it was bad enough for me to not recommend this game. But its relevant enough for me to mention it. Those annoyances built up to the point that I didn't even finish the encyclopedia, at some point the idea of getting more fish just stopped being exciting to me. I finished all the side and main quests and I had a fun enough time. I loved the story and characters. I even enjoyed the fishing at many different times, as basic as the mini game eventually becomes. But at the end of the day I keep being reminded that this is an indie game, and that huge scope I set out for myself at the start, just isn't realistic. Even towards the end of the main story and the dlc story, the parts I loved the most, it always feels like there is so much more that could be done.
Overall I was disappointed by Dredge, but that's because everything it does good it does at an extremely high level. I kept wanting more and more and when the game ended I kept asking myself, was that really it? Those 7 hours are magical enough that I will still recommend this game, and even when it becomes worse it never really becomes ''bad'' it just becomes ''acceptable''. In the end it never reached the 'depth' I expected from it.
Short DLC overview (Should you buy the complete edition?)
The dlcs for dredge consist in 3 parts.
1. Blackstone key: This is honestly a slap in the face, in the game there is a workshop that is closed, this dlc is the only way to open it. Thats literally all the dlc does, no story, no additions to gameplay. The reward is some very mediocre gear, this is the only DLC I honestly can't recommend.
2. The pale reach: This dlc feels like cut content. Its practically just an extra area with new fish and a short story that doesn't tie into the main game. The gear you get is good for the mid game and its worth buying and playing after doing 1 or 2 areas in the main game.
3. The iron rig: This is a late game DLC that adds a more expansive story that ties a bit more into the main game. It adds a bunch of gameplay loops that allow you to play dredge for much longer. I personally thought some of these new mechanics made the game worse, but overall you don't really have to interact with that bad stuff if you don't want to. Its still worth it because its story is fun and because it really allows you to explore dredge further if you are interested like I am.