When I notice a new game one of two things happens: either my inner hamster takes the helm and I handily black out only to awaken as the unwitting owner of a new title; or its concept appeals to me but something about it holds me back from committing to a purchase. With Dredge – the 2023 spooky, Lovecraftian fishing game – it was the latter.

I liked the mechanics and their similarity to, say, Privateer (odd association, I know, but – bear with me) – only without weapons and everything out to eat you. I liked the art direction and its conflation of a "brush held by a shaky (unhinged?) hand" painterly UI treatment and clean vector graphics. And, most of all, I liked the premise: the idea that, if you so chose, you could ignore the otherworldly plot, plop crab traps to your heart's content and take pictures of whale sharks till the sea cows came home.

But Dredge didn't have a proper save system (game only quicksaves when you dock or quit), which smacked of a rogue-like, and I thought it would either be too limited in scope or too extensive by virtue of pointless filler and, anyway, how much fun could a fishing game be?

Tons, as it turns out. A trawler net's worth. A disproportionate amount.

The thing that finally cinched it for me was the fact Team 17 published this little New Zealand indie — the same Team 17 that's been around for 33 years and, before becoming a publisher, made Body Blows, Alien Breed and, oh yeah, Worms. What better way to hook a pig into fishing?

In the game, you play an anonymous fisher who saunters into a wee coastal town to, you guessed it, supply it with fish. And, so long as you fish during the day, the job is fairly uneventful. Using simple mini-games you can fish via rod and reel, trawler net or crab pot for any of the 128 (!) varieties swimming about the archipelago...

Venture out after dark, however, and fishing becomes a completely different proposition.

All is not as it seems in the world of Dredge, you see, and the impenetrable fog, hallucinations, aberrations you reel in at night, strange ooze that can infect your catch, ghost ships that appear in the twilight and sea monsters and giant tentacles that try to smash your boat to bits are all an unsubtle hint that the fisher you were hired to replace may not have left of his own volition.

While you try to unravel the mysteries of the archipelago, you're free to help out the locals with pursuits (Dredge-lingo for quests) which can offer rewards beyond the monetary. You can research new equipment to fish more efficiently or catch varieties of sea life you could not otherwise reach. You can paint and upgrade your boat, hoist any of the myriad flags you discover (I opted for the classic — you just can't top a Jolly Roger); and, indeed, dredge for resources and sunken treasure.

To round out an already impressive amount of gameplay for such a little game, Dredge comes with two available DLCs: The Pale Reach, where you mount an arctic expedition to discover the fate of a ship that went missing among the ice; and The Iron Rig, which sees you aid a corporate drilling platform.

Of the two, The Iron Rig is the more extensive – providing a manufacturing center for many fishing and boat upgrades that can be expanded as you progress through the plot (most notably, the fifth and final boat hull upgrade that sees your dinky little vessel transform into a commercial trawler). The DLC also introduces a new mechanic in the form of patches of black ooze that appear throughout the archipelago like an oil spill. The ooze can be cleaned up using a new "net" called the Siphon Trawler and – packed into canisters – becomes a new crafting resource.

Pale Reach, on the other hand, while very atmospheric is also quite brief (probably about two hours or so); but does reward you with some useful items in the end (including an ice breaker attachment, an ice machine that slows the decay of caught fish and, quite possibly, the best trawler net in the game).

Though fairly simple and very repetitive (sail here, catch that, sell, upgrade and repeat), Dredge is a well-rounded production that offers you the freedom to play as you like within the confines of its premise. The plot is intriguing enough to keep you going, the world map just large and varied enough to be interesting to explore and the basic gameplay loop fun enough to tie it all together.

Whether you are helping a crashed airman get revenge for his lost squadron against mind-controlling sea serpents, trying to piece together bits of a treasure map, collecting resources for a cargo upgrade or finding a home for a stray dog, it's enjoyable to putter around and watch the weather shift, the sea roil, a pod of dolphins pop up out of nowhere or a thunderstorm clear up come sunrise.

For as eerie as Dredge can be, its game world is also quite pretty — a fact that gets a nod from Black Salt Games (the dev) via the 'Passive Mode' that can be enabled to stop monster attacks and scary things from occurring so you can just chill, explore and fish if you so desire.

As a reviewer, I don't feel comfortable reading other people's opinions of a game I myself might end up critiquing: I'm not so clever a pig that I could swear not to be influenced by what I read. So anytime I'm on the fence about a particular game, it basically comes down to a coin toss (which, statistically speaking, I call correctly only about 30% of the time)... What I'm trying to say is picking up a new game based solely on first impressions is hard for me and I seldom take the risk.

But, in this instance, I'm glad I did.

While simple, gameplay wise, Dredge turned out to be a charming, engaging little title that I'm happy to sink (damn you, giant hermit crab pretending to be a wreck, damn you!); about 20 hours into to complete.

If you enjoy the sea and boats, exploration, fun research and upgrade mechanics or simply good, engaging gameplay, give this little sea beastie a poke. It might not be as deep as its setting would imply, but it's also not as scary as it looks and much more fun than fishing has a right to be.

Pig Recommends

• -not giving the Collector everything he wants; before you do, at least try to find the Old Mayor (he hangs out at the abandoned camp sites – if he's at one, the fire will be burning); and, afterwards, have a chat with the Lighthouse Keeper; it might just give you some leeway once it comes time to end the game;

Pig Pontificates

• -I mentioned Privateer earlier because – but for a change of setting – Dredge is the perfect example of how a space sim could be made fun without the use of guns and shooting; the game's core mechanics may be simple, but they are also compelling enough to be engaging so that the gameplay loop keeps a player interested even though they spend all their time gathering resources, trading and exploring; substitute the fishing boat for a Tarsus, the archipelago for an asteroid belt and (space) pirates for the monsters and you wouldn't even have to leave the z-axis to have a rollicking good time;