Black Salt Games
Dredge is a 2023 fishing video game developed by Black Salt Games and published by Team17. A survival and horror game, it follows a fisherman who faces progressively Lovecraftian creatures as they explore an open world of archipelagos. The player's main activities include exploring the area and catching fish. They can upgrade their fishing equipment and venture out to other archipelagos. It follows a day–night cycle; the day is serene, while the game's horror parts occur at night.
Black Salt Games conceived Dredge as a top-down turn-based game; that notion was scrapped during the game's prototype phase. The company did not want Dredge to be a jump scare horror game, so they created a psychological thriller atmosphere. Five archipelagos were designed for the game, four of which are based on geological formations. After development was completed, they approached various publishers before settling on Team17. Dredge was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on March 30, 2023. Android and iOS versions were published on February 27, 2025. Two downloadable contents (DLCs), The Pale Reach and The Iron Rig, were released in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
Critics gave Dredge a positive reception. Its gameplay, presentation, inventory management system, progression system, and exploration received positive feedback, while some complained about the fishing portions being repetitive. The game's story, horror elements, thriller undertones, art style, and soundtrack were also praised. Its DLCs were well received by critics. It was deemed one of the top video games of 2023 by several news outlets and was nominated for numerous awards.
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