Your journey begins at dawn. The sun rises as you sail, its sparkling reflection dancing on the gentle waves of the bay. Abundant schools of fish can be seen through the glassy surface as you peer into the water below. It’s a beautiful day for fishing. And the townspeople are hungry.
Dredging starts with the sequence above, which will have you behind the wheel of your boat within the first minute of the game. The scene is picturesque. Our shiny, stylized water ripples against islands with their trees swaying in the wind. Soon sparse piano keys will join the cries of the seagulls overhead.
You’d be forgiven for thinking you’re in a lucky place.
The sun sets sharply at six o’clock and soon after, the fog settles. Any fishermen left on the water better have good lights or they’ll never make it to a safe haven again.
Cosmic horror fishing
Dredging initially presents itself as a fishing game, and the premise is deliberately simple: catch fish, sell fish, upgrade your equipment. You’ll want to invest in your boat, as it allows you to equip faster engines, better rods, and store more fish – all in a grid-based inventory that grows with your ship. Money may seem important, but perhaps your most essential resource is time. As you cruise around, a day-night cycle is in motion, and it’s something to behold.
While you’re more likely to catch valuable corrupted specimens in the dark, eldritch encounters are also more common, especially in deeper water. You’ll also encounter larger, hostile creatures that can outsmart (via skills) or outsmart (via a suitably upgraded ship) rather than outsmart. Dilapidated towns you encounter are home to quirky residents with even stranger requests.
We try to turn every feature that feels familiar into something unexpected, so you sense from the start that something ominous is lurking beneath the surface. It’s no coincidence that the name ‘Dredge’ borders on ‘dread’ – we’ve imbued every aspect of the game with an unsettling atmosphere. In this article, I’ll take a closer look at the ways we’ve achieved this and how each element contributes to the overall experience.
A hard aesthetic
The game’s visuals will instantly feel familiar to fans of typically fun-filled adventure and exploration games – and that’s where our subterfuge begins. What appear to be very low-poly models are deceptively detailed, with jagged edges and shapes cut out to accentuate false shadows. A dark and gloomy hue supports the world and offsets the warmth of the bright colors of the sun. It is crucial to visually remind players that something unexpected can happen at any moment, even if everything seems calm at the moment.
We added angular edges to the character portraits – reminiscent of paint applied with a palette knife – and left harsh patterns on their faces and sleeves to match their already spiky dialogue. This same geometry is reflected in the clouds; normally light and fuzzy things, here we made them sharp, and they shift between broken forms.
You don’t want this world here. It’s not made for you. But you will explore it anyway.
The weather can be as unpredictable as the people you meet. Overcast days can turn into thunderous storms, causing high waves to delay your return to port. In that respect, civilization itself is sparse and often dilapidated. It only makes sense that the others in this world suffer as much as you do, and have for many years. This bleak and unforgiving landscape only adds to the sense of isolation and desperation that permeates the game.
When you drop your line to catch some fish, we pull the camera above your boat so you can see the dark depths below. As we do this, we easily eliminate your peripheral vision. After all, you are focused on fishing. At night we bring the oppressive fog around you, leaving you with nothing but a small circle of vision to navigate over rocks and other hazards. The shapes you see through that fog may be imagined or real – I’m not sure which is worse.
You don’t want this world here. It’s not made for you. But you will explore it anyway.
No wasted words
In the world of Dredging, people are efficient and practical. That’s why we made sure that their spoken dialogue reflects this utilitarian mindset. Each rule tries to achieve at least two of the following goals:
- Give you an instruction.
- Add to the story of the world.
- Wear a sinister, suspicious or strange tone.
Despite the importance of dialogue in Dredging, we understand the value of brevity and don’t want to take you too long from the gameplay. So as not to overwhelm you, most conversations are optional and can be skipped if desired. The world itself should do most of the talking, and the people in it aren’t too keen on gossip anyway. These characters also don’t have names – they have roles, such as “The Fishmonger” and “The Mayor”. You wouldn’t want to make them too familiar. They’re not your friends.
The atmosphere also bleeds into item descriptions, especially in the fish. Weird, corrupted ones you drag on board can give you insight into where they came from and why.
Of course, our storytelling doesn’t stop at the boundaries of the game itself. The performance descriptions and titles of OST music tracks add another perspective or give names to things that were unknowable or unspeakable in the game itself.
Mix genres
Juxtaposition is one of my favorite words to use when describing Dredging. The juxtaposition of the ‘cosmic horror’ and ‘fishing’ genres is one of the things players love about it. We have combined many features, mechanics and concepts that would not normally exist together in the same game. We wanted to create something new, unexpected and unpredictable – and what better way to evoke the feeling of cosmic horror than by diving into the unknown?
DREDGE – Digital Deluxe Edition
Team17
$26.99
The ultimate package for your impending journey. The DREDGE Deluxe Edition contains everything you need to weather the seas and scour the depths for sinister secrets. Includes: DREDGE Blackstone Key in-game item Custom Rod (pre-purchase only)
BAGER
Team17