DREDGE News

Hey anglers,

This update contains a handful of small bugfixes and performance improvements to the game. Check out the full patch notes below.

We’re hard at work on our next DLC, The Iron Rig, and are looking forward to sharing more about it in 2024!

[h2]Patch Notes:[/h2]
[h3]Adjustments[/h3]

• Various optimizations to reduce the game’s memory usage and improve load times.
  
• Reduced the volume of the Aurous Anchor’s portal idle SFX.

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

• The grids at the ice shards in The Pale Reach now only accept ice axes.
  
• Fixed an issue where some lines of text (at The Airman, and The Collector) would hang when run in some languages (Japanese, Chinese, Korean) with Text Speed set to “Fast”.
  • We’re aware of a few more instances of this occurring in some side quests, specifically when refusing to pick up quest items from NPCs. To avoid this, you can either:
  • Reload, and do not refuse the item.
    
  • Change your text speed to “Normal”.
• Added missing ambient audio to the shrine in The Pale Reach.
  
• Fixed a typo in the line that describes the dog vomiting.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1562430/DREDGE/

Alex will hate that we're doing this, but dang if the rest of us don't want this for him! We are unashamedly asking you to nominate DREDGE for Best Visuals in this year’s Steam Awards. This is why we think our amazing art director Alex Ritchie deserves such incredible recognition.

Being a team of only four people and with only a small budget, Alex has spent three years of his life compromising his ideal vision while still creating a visual world of incredible tone and depth. He's been able to mix 2D illustrations in a 3D world and make it feel right in this cosmic horror setting, not to mention has conjured up some pretty disturbing aberrant fish.



If you enjoyed your time in DREDGE and were able to immerse yourself in this lonely, forlorn world, please nominate us for Outstanding Visual Style in this year's Steam Awards and make Alex blush!

- Joel, Alex, Nadia & Mikey

It's the big one, and it feels a bit ridiculous to campaign for it but we keep being surprised at the astounding volume of support we receive so, let's go for it!

It's not an easy sell with so many incredible games released this year across the whole gamut of studios; tiny debut indies and triple-A's alike, but here's why we would love you to consider us alongside the other games you've enjoyed playing this year.



This game was crafted with players experience, enjoyment and comfort first and foremost. We knew we couldn't make a really long game with DREDGE without introducing artificial grinds, and we didn't want to do that, so hours were spent with our incredible playtesters making sure there was never a point where you didn't have anything to do, or felt you were being held back.

We also didn't know how many people might pick up DREDGE but we wanted every single one of them to enjoy their time if possible. We're really proud not just of the accessibility options we were able to implement, but in the core design itself allow players to choose how much of the spookier side of things they interacted with, by giving them agency over whether they ventured out at night or not.

If you have appreciated your time in DREDGE and think it's a game that many people could enjoy, please vote for us for Game of the Year in the 2023 Steam Awards.

- Joel, Alex, Nadia & Mikey

DREDGE is a game of contrasts, and our incredible composer David Mason elevated this to new levels in the audio design of DREDGE. The subtle use of soft instrumental stingers during the day and a sinister soundscape at night is intended to help amplify the feelings of loneliness and claustrophobia we wanted the open waters to evoke. Each area has its own distinct set of instruments, and each dock has its own theme within the world. For a quick refresher, check out the free version of our soundtrack:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We are so happy David decided to send us an e-mail completely out of the blue one day to see if we needed a composer for DREDGE, and that he was still keen a few months later when we realised we really did! We are all so proud of the combination of his music and our game world.

Please help us show our appreciation by nominating DREDGE for Best Soundtrack in this year’s Steam Awards.

- Joel, Alex, Nadia & Mikey