I binged Dredge this past weekend, and it’s an excellent game with immaculate horror vibes. I would describe it as Wind Waker meets Majora’s Mask, and as it turns out, that’s an accurate description. But I’m not here to talk about marketing. I’m here to talk about fishing, sort of.
Dredge is a chill game, until it isn’t. You can spend your days exploring foggy mangroves and catching fish, crabs, and eels. But as soon as nighttime falls, everything changes. Eyes peer at you from the shadows, unspeakable horrors claw at your boat and infect your supplies, and your light starts to fail. You’ve gone from summertime fishing to an intense struggle for survival in the open sea, navigating while peering into the darkness. And let’s not forget the numerous holes in your boat!
I’m a self-professed scaredy-cat, so the lack of ‘proper’ horror that some reviewers lamented wasn’t a problem for me. Spooky vibes are scary enough. And what’s scarier than seeing your own fish transform into Lovecraftian creatures, while the cursed sea tears holes into your boat? If I were a fisherman, that would be the last thing I’d want! I’d want my boat to stay intact and my fish to stay… fishy.
This is the perfect game for the Steam Deck. That’s why I played the entirety of Dredge on my Steam Deck. The fishing mechanics and boat controls are made for a controller rather than a keyboard and mouse. The Steam Deck makes peering into the darkness even scarier, as your nose is pressed to the small screen when the abhorrent jaws of some abyssal creature emerge around your tiny tug. It doesn’t help that you’re probably playing on the lowest brightness setting, either.
The Steam Deck is great for playing games while sitting on the sofa as you can casually watch TV while playing. I was watching TV with my partner while playing Dredge, occasionally sharing my latest otherworldly escapade. Dredge’s stylized graphics and simple mechanics mean that you don’t have to pay complete attention all the time. You don’t need to sit at a desk with perfect reflexes like you would for CS:GO, and you don’t need to marvel at photorealistic graphics on your 4K TV like The Last of Us Part 1. Its mysterious tale is imparted through text-based conversations and an overwhelming atmosphere of dread, which works just as well on the small screen as it does on the big.
But, I mentioned earlier that I was playing Dredge on the lowest brightness setting. That’s because I faced the eternal Steam Deck struggle – managing its battery life. More difficult than any Souls boss, more annoying than any chatterbox companion, I stand by my opinion that the Steam Deck is not fit for purpose. It lasted about three hours each night when playing the indie fishing sim, which is hardly the most taxing of titles.
While this did accidentally help increase my immersion by forcing me to peer into the deepest corners of the screen as dusk set in, it’s simply not good enough for a portable device. I don’t think it can really be called portable at that rate. Hell, I’ve had baths that last longer than my Steam Deck, and playing Dredge in the bath is surely the most immersive you can get this side of training to be a fisherman and taking your Deck out on the deck of an actual trawler. Dredge is perfect for the Steam Deck, but sadly the Steam Deck is not good enough for Dredge.
If you’re looking for a game to play on a Steam deck, Dredge may be the answer. It’s perfect for this console, with excellent game mechanics that add to an immersive experience. You’ll find yourself on the edge of your seat as your boat rocks and creatures emerge from the dark waters. Just bring a charger and a strong heart to get through it all without the battery dying.