Dredge Is One of the Best Winter Games

5 days ago 47

Slower gaming months like December and January are prime time for revisiting older games. Likewise, the winter season is also perfect for catching up on a backlog, due to things like weather keeping people inside and getting time off for holidays. This year, one of my winter games ended up being a return to Dredge to catch up on DLC I missed, and I found it to be one of the best possible games to play during this time of year.

As a quick refresher, Dredge is a fishing game with horror elements. You are a lone fisherman out on isolated seas. As you explore, you’ll encounter fish and phenomenon you just can’t explain. This ramps up if you dare to head out into the oceans at night. It’s all about the atmosphere and quite engrossing, even if you turn off threats to turn it into a slightly more relaxing experience.

Part of Dredge being great to play during the winter months has to do with the general nature of the game. It’s a very isolated adventure. You’re in an often quiet place. You fish and search the seas. Given how solemn December and January can be, it is soothing to soak up that ambiance while bundled up in clothing and huddling in warm rooms. Especially if you’re in an area that just experienced major snowstorms or freezing rain. All you want to do is hunker in and stay still, and it accommodates that. 

Dredge Is One of the Best Winter Games DLC
Images via Black Salt Games

There’s also the fact that Dredge has what really feels like a piece of winter DLC. The first add-on, called The Pale Reach, sends you to the arctic. That means needed to break through the ice and investigate a new mystery. Also, there are new fish and a means of better preserving ones you’ve already caught. I only just started that storyline over the holiday break in December, and it really felt so well-suited to things being so dreary and cold outside.

Speaking of which, it honestly felt like slower months like December and January were when I could catch up with Dredge and its DLC. I didn’t get to The Iron Rig when it released back in August 2024. With the way both it and The Pale Reach are handled, I feel it’s almost like having three full “games,” rather one experience with additional adventures. Yes, the new mechanics, abilities, and fish are great for the main game, but going back to over after so much time away felt more like returning for a sequel due to the time and effort put into these. Especially with The Iron Rig’s Ironhaven Corporations and the work we can do to build up their reach in the seas and see where that supernatural story leads. 

Given the cold and solitude that accompanies winter months, I can’t help but feel like Dredge is an ideal game to return to. (Or play for the first time.) Especially given the themes behind one of its DLC, and the fact that both add-ons are substantial enough to feel like solid extra adventures in their own right. It’s one of those titles that never stops feeling appropriate for certain situations.

Dredge is available for the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, and it is in development for mobile devices.


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