Dredge – They fished too deep
I’ve never been much of a fan of horror, but occasionally I can be tempted by content with a Lovecraftian vibe. Boardgames like Arkham Horror, or stories where the entities from the Dungeon Dimensions lurk just beneath the surface. Dredge, a videogame about fishing with a demonic undercurrent, fitted very neatly into this mould. It sets the familiar mechanics of a resource gathering and adventure game in a world of quaint fishing villages that are clearly haunted by a dreadful event from their past. It is up you, an amnesiac fisherman, to piece the puzzle together and uncover what dreaded horror plagues this world. At about 10 hours of gameplay Dredge is a neat little game built on a solid gameplay loop and an intriguing setting. Nonetheless, as I progressed, I found it became more tedious than I had expected given its setup, the charm of its mystery rather diminished by its unwillingness to let me engage with the central mystery in any meaningful way.