Dredge review – horrors lurk in the deep in this eldritch fishing game

PC, Xbox, PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch; Black Salt Games/Team17
Plumbing the depths of our fear of the ocean, this clever and compelling video game will suck you in for hours at a time

Heading out as the sun rises in a battered old fishing boat, everything seems peaceful. The vessel can't go far, but there are mackerel and cod within easy reach of the port and its lighthouse; I'm warned not to stay out after dark as the rocks can be treacherous, looming suddenly out of the dark and crashing against the hull. After a couple of days, though, I catch something that's ... wrong, a mess of scales curled around a repulsively enormous single eye. The fishmonger's face betrays a disturbing glee when I hand it over to him, then falls as he holds the oceanic aberration to his ear to hear its whispers. He shoves me from his shop before barring the door.

Dredge plumbs the depths of our instinctive fear of the ocean and the unseen things that waft around down there in the dark. It's a clever, compelling fishing adventure game with an eldritch twist; you upgrade your boat, nets and rods, venture out further to catch different fish and encounter creatures in the night that make you want to drop the controller in disgust. Sometimes the overarching horror story feels barely there, as you go about your business selling your catch and saving for a hull expansion; other times, when you're caught out in the dark miles from a dock and starting to see things, it feels oppressively present.