Xbox Game Pass is more than I'll ever need, but it is nice to have access to so many games even if just to download them and check them out a little before saying "naaah". Sometimes, though, one finds a gem that grabs them and gets them interested enough to finish. While looking for a casual game I found Dredge, and it definitely is a bit of a gem for me.
One plays as a fisherman in a small open area with five island sections, moving only the boat around the waters, fishing, stopping at docks to visit towns or other points of interest and talking to people, and of course dredging for treasure. The boat moves smoothly and must avoid collision with the shore or rocks. Damage taken during these hits will appear in the cargo menu, where slots represent open cargo spaces, but also spaces taken up by the engine, fishing gear, dredging gear, and other essential boat parts.
One fishes in designated spots that appear as bubbles on the waves, and the fishing minigame is a pretty standard button-timing mechanism, varying a little bit as the game progresses. The dredging minigame is similar, and neither the fishing nor dredging minigames ever get particularly difficult. The dredging unlocks a little bit into the game as the story progresses.
At docks, one sells fish, repairs their ship, gets upgrades, and talks to various NPCs that sometimes have quests. Most quests involve getting fish for people. The player can organize their storage, research more upgrades to engines and fishing equipment there as well, and most importantly sleep until dawn. Dredge has a fast day-night cycle and the main story involves the creepy horror elements occurring at night.
There might be unique fish to be had after dark, but there's also a strange fog that surrounds the player's boat and eventually attacks in the form of weird waterspouts and angry, large sea creatures. Talking to the NPCs at various towns and other places unfolds the story bit by bit, but the thrust of it all is that it's dangerous to be out on the water at night.
At least, it is at the beginning of the game. Later upgrades to the boat had me pretty confident running around at night for the most part, but in the early game it was risky. The main story that unfolds has the fisher collecting five relics, one in each smaller island chain section of the map, and return them to the guy who sets you on the quest. There are several other side-quests and fishing collection quests as well.
Each relic after the first usually has its own set of requirements to retrieve and its own locals around the island chain to help, so the story progresses nicely. Exploration of all of these areas, along with fishing and dredging in every spot, reduces any grind. I did find that using crab traps in one area was very profitable, so I did grind money that way a bit to finance upgrades. Dredging nets raw materials for ship upgrades as well as trinkets and treasures to sell.
Dredge was just the kind of casual fun I was looking for and played like a dream. It had lots of exploration, pleasant sound and graphics, and a cool horror theme going on in the story. At the end of the campaign, I made sure to experience both the good and bad endings. There were some side quests that I did not finish and extra DLC available, but the main campaign was satisfying enough. I am glad I was able to dredge Dredge up from the sea of games available on XBox Game Pass and have a good time playing it.
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