During its production, the famous horror writer H. P. Lovecraft He looked again and again at the marine world and its unfathomable, unknown and deeply strange depths. At the beginning of the 900th century, discoveries of fish, sharks and other inhabitants of the abyss with strange shapes, completely different from those present on the surface, intensified; The idea was established that incomprehensible forces were hiding under the sea, events that were the protagonists, among others, of the story The Shadow Over Innsmouth (XNUMX).
With Dredge, it's as if the developers of Black Salt Games -a New Zealand team made up of four people, here in their first work- had wanted to reverse the perspective of Lovecraft who, while contemplating the mysteries of the sea, remained anchored on land with his protagonist visiting Innsmouth. On the contrary, in Dredge you are always at sea, except for the moments in which you talk with the merchants, the mayors of the different towns of the archipelago or with the enigmatic characters that we will meet during our fishing trips. As you may have already guessed from these first lines of the Dredging review, this game is not a simple ocean fishing simulator: it is much, much more, and within the meshes of its network it hides fascinating narrative ideas and a plot capable of keeping the player's attention high during the approximately ten hours necessary to reach to the final credits.
A new beginning
"Dredge" in English means "starter", that is, digging at the bottom of the sea to recover shipwrecks or other objects that, in some cases, would perhaps be better left intact and buried where they are. The title of the video game developed by Black Salt Games, however, hides a brilliant play on words: the sound of the word "dredge" is reminiscent of the term "dread", which means "terror". It is the dominant emotion in the heart of the fisherman who arrives in the town of Midolla Maggiore after a disastrous shipwreck and, welcomed by the mayor, is forced to pay off the debt for the purchase of a new boat. It is a pity that it is immediately noticeable that the sea is not what it seems: the magnificent colors of the day are replaced by the shadows of the night, often populated by a mysterious purple fog, apparitions and sea monsters that threaten the safety of our lives. at all times.small boat.
In fact, the inhabitants of Midolla Maggiore immediately recommend that we return to the mainland before sunset, before it gets dark. Except that the most sought-after fish on the market appears, coincidentally, precisely at night, not to mention that human curiosity knows no limits - this is known - and those distant lights that appear in the west when the moon is high in the sky They are an irresistible stimulus to investigate. We soon learn that the fisherman who previously worked in the archipelago has encountered one mysterious ending: in the sea it is possible to find messages in bottles that will shed light on the story, told in a non-linear way and in depth also thanks to the encounter, during our travels, with strange cultists, gruff former whalers and vagabonds. merchants who make up an interesting and varied cast. In this sense, the design of the merchant who repairs and improves our boat in Midolla Maggiore is emblematic: a woman with a somber look, marked by the sea wind, her muscles visible under her work overalls, outlined with almost angry brush strokes that . She on several occasions reminded us of the style adopted by ZA/UM on their Disco Elysium.
Throughout Dredge, its narrative flows like a karst river, guiding the player only so far. A collector in search of lost trinkets will give us some suggestions to delve into the different corners of thearchipelago, all brilliantly characterized and differentiated: from the dangerous Storm Cliffs, always on the verge of collapsing and crossed by a majestic marine being, to the Star Basin, a magnificent atoll that hides in its center a cumbersome secret, passing through the waters themselves. hot spots of the Devil's Thorn, marked by the enormous volcanic activity that occurs underwater.
There are also several side quests, of varying depth, but all well written and capable of keeping the player's attention and interest high, pushing him to do the most important thing in Dredge: explore, trying to keep the horrors around him under control. hide in the endless nights of the archipelago. one remains great basic freedom, that is, to wander and fish as we please, without the pressure of deadlines or an imminent end. In short, our job is that of a fisherman.
Fishing for aberrations
Il sinister charm of Dredge's plot does not imply that the gameplay has been overshadowed by Black Salt Games. The editor Team 17 saw the future: the New Zealand team was able to move forward, with coherence and attention also to the technical part of the game, based on a simple but effective basic idea. While we cross the ocean in our small boat, we will notice some splashes that indicate the fishing areas: this sighting is nothing more than the beginning of a game loop that, with a simple mini-game to catch fish, sharks and much more, will take us to an endless series of trips to the sea, under the leitmotif "one more day of fishing and then I'll stop...".
You also have to pay attention to the management of space on the boat: like in a game of Tetris, we will have to sort the catches, organizing them in the most efficient way possible, and sell them on time at the nearest point of sale. market. The fresher the fish, the more the fishmonger will pay us... Unless you have "particular" tastes, of course. There time management, in Dredge, is a fundamental aspect: minutes pass only when we move the boat, fish or drag objects from the seabed and we must take into account that the species of fish available vary not only depending on the area of the archipelago, but also over time. Therefore, although the nights at sea are full of horrors and dangers, the call of the ocean will be very strong even in these moments.
Black Salt Games has paid attention to creating a wide variety of situations that we can find in the open sea, as well as a series of skills that we can acquire to be able to ward off the indescribable beings that populate the dark waters. It is essential to maintain control of the fisherman's panic indicator, represented by an eye that opens at night and becomes more and more agitated as the violet fog throws its horrors at us: in order not to go crazy, we will have to stay close to a light. source or rest in the nearest settlement to regain strength. We don't want to tell you more: just know that Dredge's nocturnal mysteries surprise you and keep you alert even many hours after the start of the adventure.
Knowledge is everything for a fisherman. Here, then, is a very useful encyclopedia that compiles the more than one hundred and twenty species of marine creatures that populate the archipelago, all brilliantly drawn and described with clear and intriguing texts. By the way, a round of applause forexcellent translation into spanish from Dredge, the best we have seen in a video game in a long time, capable of maximizing both the dialogues of the curious characters we will meet, as well as the descriptions of the fish and sea abominations that we will collect on our trip. Yes, because along with the real animals (sharks, cod, horseshoe crabs and even the elusive coelacanth), the virtual ocean of Black Salt Games is also crossed by aberrations caused by a mysterious force, central to the entire Dredge narrative.
As long as the ship continues...
The true protagonist of the game is one and only one: ours. Barça. Initially small and slow - in the first hours of the game, simply leaving the bay of Midolla Maggiore seems like an epic undertaking - she will become a bombastic queen of the seas investing money and resources to improve herself in the dry docks that we will find. found in the different settlements of the archipelago. The materials (pieces of metal, wood, fabrics) can be looted from the numerous wrecks crashed on the islets or dredged from the seabed; To develop new types of lights, pots, nets and fishing rods we will have to find research components that allow us to deepen our knowledge in the field.
The development of the boat and the increase in the space available in the hold are essential to continue exploring the archipelago, capable of offering increasingly difficult challenges to our fisherman, who will have to demonstrate nerve and a firm hand at the helm, especially when the sea becomes agitated and populated with creatures that seem straight out of the worst nightmares born from the mind of the providential writer. Dredge puts players in very intriguing situations and pushes you to continue searching for sea animals (and abominations) even after the credits, allowing you to resume the game immediately before the final phase. Flawless from a technical point of view in our test, Dredge is also adorned with a very high level sound sector: piano, string instruments and wind come together to accompany the performer with painful and melancholic notes during the day and increase the panic in the most exciting phases of night navigation, when those violet eyes do not want to stop looking at us, and the scream The diurnal sound of seagulls is replaced by the sounds emitted by presences of very different types.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam Price 24,99 € Holygamerz.com 9.0 Readers (33) 8.1 your voteDredge is the very happy synthesis of a simple basic idea, that of a fishing simulator based on a quick minigame and inventory space management as schematic as a Tetris game, with the addition of the mysteries and horrors of a sea . full of secrets, aberrations and forgotten stories. Black Salt Games makes a sensational debut capable of keeping players hooked even after the credits: traveling through the virtual archipelago is a relaxing experience during the day and full of tension at night, even when our ship is equipped with special abilities and a respectable weapon. . Between curiosity and fear, Dredge lets himself live at the pace the player desires, without rushing, with the awareness that the ocean, with its wonders and its Lovecraftian nightmares, is always there waiting for us.
PRO
- Simple but effective fishing mechanisms.
- Enigmatic and thick narrative
- Great variety of environments, situations and sea creatures.
- First-level Spanish translation
AGAINST
- Some plot elements would have needed more closure and in-depth analysis.
