On the surface, Dredge appears to be a solely a fishing game. And technically, it meets that criteria. In Dredge you pilot a boat, cast lines, haul in strange fish, and upgrade your gear. However, when we look deeper, it has more to offer: a masterclass in blending tension, pacing, and atmosphere to provide players an unforgettable experience.
What makes Dredge so quietly impressive is how much it respects your time. It offers open ended exploration in bite-sized sessions. Say you finally got the kids to bed, cleaned up the house and you have some available time before bed? Dredge has you covered. You can fish, explore and take a nerve racking journey into the fog after night fall, all within 30 minutes. There are no overwhelming quest logs, no sprawling skill trees. Just you, your boat, and the creeping sense that you’re always being watched.
Each decision in Dredge matters:
Do you head out to catch that rare fish on the other side of the map?
Do you push your luck and make one more stop before nighttime?
Do you upgrade your boat now, or save and wait?
The game doesn’t shout at you and push you in a direction. Instead, it whispers opportunities to you. There is also the whisper of encroaching night, eerie distant lights, and subtle shifting shapes for players to contend with. It is within these whispers that creates more tension for the player. It keeps you alert, cautious, but still curious. However, players shouldn’t be afraid of something going wrong out on high seas. But they should be concerned about making the right call before it is too late out there.
Even the inventory system contributes to the tension building experience. It’s not just about inventory space, it’s an organizational game within a game, and your survival depends on your success at it. Every item you carry is a trade-off. A few extra fish means less room for engine parts. A dredged relic might not make the cut because you are hauling other precious cargo. Every run is a puzzle of risk optimization, providing a low-level pressure that keeps you engaged minute by minute, whether sailing during day or night.
In addition, each region in the game has its own biome, hazards, and personality, but the core loop never changes. Explore, gather, return to port. Players must learn the waters, upgrade, and push a little further each day. And it works because Dredge understands that pacing is power. And that power, rests in the player’s hands.
Modern games often try to be everything all at once, crafting, combat, co-op, cosmetics, but Dredge succeeds by owning what it is, and it does so in beautiful fashion. It makes exploration feel tense, meaningful, with just the right amount of eerie atmosphere and danger.
There’s no combat. No dialogue wheel. No XP grind. But somehow, every trip out to sea feels like a voyage that matters. And every return to port feels like a sense of relief.
That’s the art of Dredge. It gives you the ocean, and then makes you question if you’re really ready to face it.
🌊Now, what about you? Have you ever felt that push/pull between your curiosity and caution? I’d love to hear from you, whether it is a moment from Dredge, another game, or real life memory. Feel free to share below. No pressure, this is just a quiet place for reflection.🌊
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Disclaimer:
This post contains commentary on Dredge, a game developed by Black Salt Games and published by Team17. This newsletter is not affiliated with or endorsed by Black Salt Games or Team17. All trademarks and game content referenced are the property of their respective owners. This article reflects personal commentary and analysis, and is transformative, and in alignment with fair use/fair dealing copyright laws guidelines. Image created using DALL·E by OpenAI (2025). Not affiliated with or representative of any official game assets. I do not claim any copyright ownership of the game’s content.