- Black Salt Video games’ port of their eldritch fishing sim is an ideal match for cellular
- Dredge’s numerous components mix to make one thing really particular
- Just a few minor quibbles do not damage an in any other case glorious sport
When you’re a daily reader of Pocket Gamer, you will know that Dredge’s cellular port was one in every of my most-anticipated releases for 2025. I first performed it in the beginning of final 12 months on PS5, being somewhat late to the occasion however completely adoring it nonetheless and placing within the effort to get the Platinum trophy. Having since beat its two DLCs, I discovered myself searching for one other excuse to hop into my little boat and fish up eldritch aberrations from the murky depths, and what higher purpose than testing the cellular port?
On the floor, Dredge has at all times suited cellular. Whereas the risks that lurk within the fog that rolls in when the solar goes down require some dexterity to keep away from, for essentially the most half, it is not overly tough, nor does it demand speedy reactions. So, a strong port would supply the identical largely enjoyable, generally unsettling expertise. And I am pleased to report that, by and huge, it does.
What are the principle variations?
With the console model, the fishing mini-game was at all times pretty beneficiant timing-wise and on cellular – it is simply as easy, solely requiring you to faucet the display screen on the proper second.
The stock system, in the meantime, is even simpler. You’ll be able to merely faucet, drag and plop your fish, scrap metallic or helpful trinket the place you need it to go, and that is it. No extra messing about repeatedly tapping or clicking the analogue sticks right here. The assorted icons that pop up as you bob about are additionally pleasantly sized, which means there is not any hazard of annoying missclicks.
On the extra technical aspect, the efficiency is excellent. I did not encounter any main drops in body charge all through my time with Dredge, and the staff hasn’t compromised on the aesthetics to realize this. That beautiful low poly artwork model seems as incredible on my Infinix GT 20 Professional as on the PS5.
Whereas that may not be stunning because you would not consider Dredge as extremely demanding, numerous comparable cellular ports do miss the mark right here, so kudos to Black Salt for delaying the discharge to get all the things spot on. That additional month or two within the oven appears to have labored wonders.
My solely – teeny tiny – gripe with the Dredge port comes in the event you determine to plug in a controller, particularly my Razer Kishi V2. Every part labored flawlessly aside from the LT and RT buttons. With out them, I could not discard undesirable objects or enter Restore Mode with out resorting to the touch controls. It is likely to be an remoted incident, and it is hardly an enormous deal having to faucet the display screen every now and then, significantly since these two capabilities are not often used in comparison with all the things else. Nonetheless, it is price stating.
What’s a Dredge anyway?
Stellar efficiency apart, you is likely to be questioning what Dredge really is. Given it is a veritable indie darling, my opening preamble assumed you are studying this overview to learn how properly it runs on cellular. As established, the reply is splendid. However in the event you’re new to Dredge and questioning what this delightful-looking fishing sim-meets-Lovecraft is about, marvel no extra.
It opens with you waking up after unceremoniously crashing your boat into the rocks. The city mayor is seemingly unconcerned about your security but is pleased that Larger Marrow lastly has a fisherman after the final one vanished. He then units you up with a brand new vessel and allows you to get to work, ensuring you are conscious the boat must be paid for finally.
From there, you are handled to Dredge’s painterly magnificence. The solar glistens off the water as your boat bobs alongside the floor, and all the things appears peaceable. And as long as you solely enterprise away from the relative security of Larger Marrow in the course of the day and get again earlier than evening, it is extremely enjoyable. Day fishing in Dredge is genuinely cathartic. Floating over to an space of water teeming with fish and reeling them in is surprisingly compulsive.
It isn’t too sophisticated
It isn’t overly sophisticated, however nonetheless concerned sufficient to deliver a way of satisfaction whereas squeezing your fish into the remaining space for storing pleases the puzzle-loving a part of the mind. After that, you drift again to the dock and promote your day’s catch to the fisherman, the little coin-dropping sound as you promote all the things offering a pleasant full cease to a tough day’s work.
Truthfully, if Dredge had been merely a comfy fishing sim for its roughly 8-10-hour length, I would not have complained. Nonetheless, its underlying horror tones elevate it to one thing particular that is snuck into my checklist of all-time favourites.
Worry of the darkish
You see, after the solar goes down, an nearly impenetrable fog rolls in and the once-beautiful world takes a flip for the sinister. Stick round in it for too lengthy and your Panic stage will rise, inflicting nightmarish creatures from the deep to rear their ugly heads and assault your ship, damaging your hull and probably inflicting it to interrupt solely.
Not all the things you see is harmful. Not less than in a roundabout way. Demon birds would possibly merely swoop down from above and steal your hard-earned fish whereas some rambunctious presence would possibly change off your boat’s mild. Or, you would possibly crash right into a rock that positively wasn’t there earlier than, which means making a determined cost in the direction of the security of the dock is ill-advised. It is all brilliantly executed, efficiently instilling a way of paranoia that might solely come from hours of isolation on the water and an unrelenting eldritch presence.
Cosy turns into creepy when the solar goes down
I really felt relieved after I noticed a dock within the distance, the solar peeping out from the sting of the horizon as my boat limped its solution to security. At this level, you will hear a soothing piano monitor play that is as comforting as one may hope after an evening at sea with Lovecraft’s best. It completely captures the weariness you’d really feel coupled with the perceived consolation and safety the solar brings.
So early on, you will in all probability keep on with fishing in the course of the day, solely venturing out to go to one in every of Dredge’s 4 different major islands while you’re assured you will make it throughout the treacherous waters in a single piece. Nonetheless, that does not imply bizarre issues cannot occur when the solar’s up.
Whereas merrily fishing, you would possibly hook an aberration, a mutated model of a fish that may have additional eyes, an pointless variety of enamel or disconcerting, glowing pustules. Their arrival in your deck is accompanied by a brief piano trill that sends a shiver down your backbone as you gaze upon the abomination earlier than you. It sells for extra, although, so seems aren’t all the things.
Through the day, your concern goes away
When in the course of the day you set sail modifications, although. Alongside fishing, you possibly can, properly, dredge up objects from deep inside the ocean equivalent to wooden, paper and scrap metallic. These assets are used to equipment out your boat, becoming it with extra space for higher rods, engines, and lights. As soon as your erstwhile companion is upgraded sufficiently, you will really feel extra assured crusing out into the evening to search for fish that do not swim about in the course of the day.
However as the man Lovecraft-inspired Darkest Dungeon states, “Overconfidence is a sluggish and insidious killer” and all it takes is on your highly effective new engine to get broken, leaving you adrift at sea on the mercy of Cthulhu’s shark cousin.
Nonetheless, in the event you’re following the principle quest – a seemingly easy process of gathering 5 relics for the mysterious collector – you’ll purchase some powers that can assist you out of those robust spots. Haste imbues your boat’s engine with what I can solely assume is occult magic, offering a burst of velocity that makes the world flip crimson and smoke billow viciously out of your vessel’s funnel. It is nice for avoiding Kraken tentacles, however abusing it too lengthy will injury your engine.
In the meantime, Manifest sees your ship splinter into driftwood earlier than reassembling exterior the collector’s island. It is Dredge’s solely methodology of quick journey that immediately makes your Panic meter rocket up. Understandably, after all – you’ve got simply been disassembled and reassembled. I really like the animation for this specific means and used it excess of needed.
And that is a typical thread in Dredge. The little particulars are all the things and play an enormous function in making it such a delight. As I’ve nodded to already, the music and sound results are glorious, doing precisely sufficient to instil a way of aid or unease, relying on what’s required.
The assorted animations and blurring of the world, as issues get extra intense, are incredible and at all times pair expertly with the sound. Positively be sure to play this one with headphones.
The world can also be crafted superbly. Every character you run into wears the exhaustion of people who’ve confronted the fog’s horrors greater than sufficient of their lives. Their dialogue is usually quick, to the purpose and refreshingly down-to-earth. Whether or not that is dredging up the possessions of a misplaced beloved one to deliver a person peace or reuniting two cussed brothers who fell out over a long-forgotten dispute, you need to assist them.
Elsewhere, the thriller surrounding the collector is an intriguing one whereas all the descriptions of the mutated fish are extremely visceral, with some as spine-tingling because the creature’s look.
My solely actual difficulty with Dredge is the fourth and fifth islands aren’t as compelling as the primary three. Discovering new fish and their aberration counterparts stays a pleasure. That sense of discovery isn’t misplaced.
Nonetheless, the Twisted Strand, particularly, is a labyrinthine island that feels overly laborious due to vines often snaking their approach throughout routes, leaving me to attend for them to maneuver again so I can keep it up. It is solely a minor irritation, in reality, nevertheless it does barely blemish an in any other case excellent sport.
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