A game that is not like all the MMORPG games like Elden Ring, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, etc. It is something the gaming community has not seen for quite some time. But for a change, Black Salt Studios has introduced something new for gamers. Even though we have had games like Fishing Planet, Fishing: North Atlantic, and many AAA games have had fishing like Farcry 1, Farcry 4, and Farcry 5, etc.
- Release Date: 30th March 2023
- Available on: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and PC
- Genre: Role-playing, Adventure, Horror
PlayStation players can play Dredge on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. It is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S and is also there for Nintendo Switch. PC players who are interested in playing can buy Dredge from Steam. To play on PC without facing any hiccups and have a smooth experience, do check the minimum required specifications given below.
- OS: Windows 10 (Latest Service Pack)
- Processor: Intel Core i3-2100 or AMD Phenom II X4 965
- Memory: 4GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia 8800 GT 512 MB or Radeon HD 6570 1GB
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 2GB Available Space
As you can see, the game is not a very graphics and processor-demanding game, making it work with even computers that have lower specifications.
In Dredge, there are subtitles but no audio of someone speaking. But lucky for you as developers of Dredge support interface and subtitles in the following languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish – Spain, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Portuguese – Brazil.
Storyline
This is the story of a fisherman who has been sailing to a small town. While sailing, he sights a group of islands. The town he was sailing to was situated in this group of islands where he was going to take up a job.
While on his way to these islands, nothing had happened out of the ordinary, and everything seemed normal until all of a sudden, there was mist surrounding him. He started seeing rocks that were not there before appear in front of him.
As he is still on the way to the islands, he starts noticing that there are messages in bottles that are floating. He picks up these bottles and sees that these are messages by a newlywed. It said that when they first got there to the islands with her husband.
Everything that is mentioned was what the wife named, J.J. had experienced. She saw that there was a mysterious casket that came from the sea floor, and even though she had asked him multiple times not to open it, he continued to do so.
After opening it, they could feel something out of the ordinary being released from this casket which came out from the sea of the floor. He eventually went to this group of islands and continued with his life fishing away from his wife, and his wife, Mrs. J, went crazy from being alone and eventually drowned herself.
Well, the fisherman you will be playing meets a person named the Collector. This man gives the fisherman new tasks in exploring the different parts of the group of islands. The Collector is said to have some sort of magical powers and gives it to the Fisherman when he goes for his expedition.
The Collector lives in an isolated mansion on a very remote island. So, he sends the Fisherman to all these islands to collect relics for him. He is supposed to collect the relics and return it back to the Collector. Now, depending on what the Fisherman does with the relics is the basis of the ending of the game.
Ending 1
If the Fisherman decides not to hand over the relics and decides to keep them with him, then the Fisherman decides to confront the Collector. When doing this, he realizes that there is nobody called the Collector, and it is his own guilt that drives him to do all of the crazy things.
He was the one responsible for J’s husband’s death, and due to this, he caused J’s death, too, which was caused indirectly because of what he had done to her husband. He thought that he could escape his fate by throwing away the relics deep into the ocean.
He takes his boat and goes deep into the sea, and when he tries to throw the relics away. All of a sudden, a beast from the beds of the ocean emerges. This sea monster not only swallows him but also swallows his little boat.
Ending 2
In this scenario, the Fisherman can give away all the collected relics to the Collector. You can do this as you get all the relics, or you can do it by giving all the relics at the same time. Once all the relics are handed over to the Collector, he reveals the biggest plot twist.
You will find out that the Collector was J’s husband, and he needed the Fisherman to retrieve all those relics, which were actually things that belonged to Mrs. J. He needed all those items or relics for a ritual.
The Collector takes the Fisherman to the place where Mrs. J had drowned herself. The Collector and the Fisherman try to do the ritual, which indeed does bring Mrs. J back to life, but there is a price to pay.
Once she has come back to life, the Collector and his wife barely get to talk when something terrible happens. Right after the ritual is performed, something ghostly arises and destroys everything around it. It looks like a sea monster and ends up destroying the entire world from what it looks like.
With all the different kinds of ending, it makes you really wonder which was the happier ending. Would you rather choose one person dying over the entire world or the entire world over a couple’s love? But most likely, even the couple ends up dying in the second ending.
Gameplay
This is the game that you do not really expect to be about horror, but yet it is. From the way the story is told, the story is shown, and the music, it will literally give you chills. Not one thing about the game speaks. It is normal, and that is the general theme of the game.
The game is slow-paced, and that is okay as committing to the game really does pay you off. There are many side missions that you must first complete to continue with the main story.
The side missions help you upgrade your boat. When doing the side missions, one general theme that goes on is that there is a creature that has either taken someone from their family or sunk their ships. The creature they speak. Of can be seen by you at the end of the game.
It would have been bad if the game did not let you go fishing, but fortunately, the developers do let you fish, and to do that, you have to press a few buttons in a sequence which helps. Selling fish also helps you upgrade your boat.
The proper way to play this game is that you must be very careful. During the daytime, you can go fishing anywhere, but as soon as it is sundown, you must dock your boat and go to sleep. If failed to comply with that, then you will see some hallucinations.
These hallucinations are very risky as not only does it make you see things, but also, there are rocks that appear out of nowhere. This makes you really wonder if it is even worth going out at night to fish for that one fish that only comes out at night.
Honest Opinions
This game gives an amazing experience with a whole balance of horror and adventure. Even though the game is a bit too slow-paced, many do not mind it, as the story is greatly rewarding. There are so many plot twists, and the two different endings really do make you wonder.
There are a few bugs, like when fishing on a console, it is very slow and laggy, but on the PC, it happens quickly. Do remember this while playing on the console.
This game is more of a survival and inventory management-based game. For a game that is basically an inventory management game, the inventory menu is really hard to navigate, and it is also hard to understand.
Our Verdict
I would personally enjoy this game as it might be slow-paced, but also, at the same time, the game does have a soothing effect on its player. This game has almost every element and makes sure that it keeps the players interested at every turn of the game.
Our Rating: ⭐ (4.3/5).
Also read: All the Games in Crysis Franchise Ranked.
