PLAY
Dredge
There’s never enough time in the day. All those fish to be caught and hauled back to shore before the price drops; a hole in your hull in need of patching; a shipwreck to be stripped of goodies to help pay for the hull repair. All standard concerns of the life sim, naturally, but Dredge provides extra incentives to get everything done before the sun dips below the horizon. At night, the madness starts to set in. At night, all the horrors come out.
Dredge draws a line between Animal Crossing’s punlaced fishing minigame and Lovecraft’s fondness for a seaside locale, and the two prove a surprisingly natural fit. There’s the mayor who greets you as a new arrival in town, arranging a small loan to get you going – not a fiscally crafty raccoon, just an old man with a faraway look in his eyes and stories that trail off before they reach the tragedy at the end. Your core pastime has a sinister side too, easily keyed into with populations that can be depleted through overfishing and catches that gradually rot in your hold. Not to mention the occasional catch that has mutated, down in the depths.