Finally. Another addition in the genre of games I call: I've just eaten a lot of food and I kinda just wanna sluggishly vibe for an hour. This is one of those games that really leans on simplicity. It's not gonna blow your socks off, but the fundamentals are there. Sail around the ocean, catch some fish, dodge some spooky sea ghouls and sell your findings to earn cash and upgrade your boat. Lean, mean and supremely easy to pick up and play.

But I think maybe the problem, from my perspective, is it's all somewhat forgettable. And I think the reason behind that is it never manages to alter the core formula of the game and evolve over time. There are new biomes to explore and travelling at night when enemies are roaming around ups the tension, but what you're doing in the first hour of Dredge is essentially the same as what you're doing in the final hour. Yeah, that gameplay loop is entertaining, but the loop is all it has. There's never a shift that redefines what you're doing or how you interact with this world.

And in a game that asks you to get into a repetitive cycle of looting, selling and upgrading your gear, I think something that keeps the stakes high and the grind fun is kind of key. Also loses a point for the asshole piranhas in the volcano area. I didn't even know there was a gameover screen until those little bastards entered the fray, and from then on, I saw it an almost embarrassing amount of times.