Dredge: The Pale Reach DLC
Developer: Black Salt Games
Publisher: Team17
Rrp: £5.99 (Gog.com and Steam) or £12.94 (Steam) and £12.99 (Gog.com) for the expansion bundle
Released: 16th November 2023
Available on: Gog.com and Steam
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Approximate game length: 2 Hours +
The Pale Reach is the first DLC that was released for Dredge (unless you count the Blackstone Key, which I don’t). This DLC introduces a new icy area to the south to explore and includes some new equipment that is pretty much only useful in this area.
What comes with a new biome? New creatures to catch with your fancy new equipment. Be aware though, not all is well in the Pale Reach, there’s a mystery to solve and a new entity to avoid.
I would say that this is an area that should be explored at around the early to mid game mark. If you’re in the late game you’ll likely power through the story in under an hour. However, I’m quite certain that people will stick around to catch all the fish and their variants which will add a fair whack of time.
Dredge: The Iron Rig DLC
Developer: Black Salt Games
Publisher: Team17
Rrp: £11.99 (Gog.com and Steam) or £12.94 (Steam) and £12.99 (Gog.com) for the expansion bundle
Released: 15th August 2024
Available on: Gog.com and Steam
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Approximate game length: 6 Hours +
The Iron Rig is the second and much larger of the two DLC’s. It introduces an offshore drilling platform that, like the lighthouse, can be seen from nearly anywhere in the game.
It seems the rig is having a lot of issues, in fact you may notice on your way to the rig that there are some crates floating in the ocean that you can dredge up. You can help with those various issues and in so doing establish the rig by constructing buildings, or rather providing the materials the workers need to do so, materials like those crates you find in the ocean.
Over the course of the DLC these buildings will allow you to purchase new equipment and upgrade existing equipment on your boat. Some of these upgrades are significant, for example if you upgrade the telescope you can now use it to mark fishing spots on your map, a feature I found immensely useful.
Along with these upgrades and equipment comes a lot of new sea life and of course some nasty entities.
The story in this DLC is much more involved compared to the first and has your travelling all around the world to find the new fish and solve the mystery of what is going on.
I really liked this DLC and truly don’t understand why either of them have been given a mixed rating on Steam. If you want more of the same with some extra features this DLC has you covered.
