As I and at least two of my colleagues have written before, Dredge is a lot of fun. Its latest DLC, The Iron Rig, is very much the same fun, but I can’t help but feel that, at least from a narrative perspective, it has the potential to offer a lot more than that.
As you may have gathered from the name, Steel Rig’s core premise is that an oil rig suddenly appears to the north of the game’s established island. So, just like you did in the snow-covered stretch of the Pale River, your job is to travel to this new landmark and see if it calls for the best aquatic creatures and abominations on land.
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When you arrive, you’ll learn from the rig’s foreman that, per tradition, something mysterious is going on. Ironhaven, the company that owned the rig, sent ships to provide workers with the supplies they needed to properly set up and drill the rig, but the ships sank for reasons that are vaguest of what no one knows. And so begins one of the DLC’s two central gameplay loops – you head out, dig out some crates belonging to the company, and bring them back to equip, in this case, unlocking it as a base camp.
Over the course of your time with the Iron Rig, moving and assembling crates will become not only a hobby but a full-time job, especially if you’re a perfectionist. You see, these boxes require both upgrading the rig – building it up incrementally through new mods like the Construction Factory, Foundry, and Tech Lab – and fashioning a number of ship and equipment upgrades, most of which are available with these mods in creation.
Meanwhile, once the rig’s rig is up and running, you’ll find that every time the crew drops it into the deep ocean, it triggers a giant rift toward one of the four locations that make up the base game’s archipelago, giving you another chance to experience these established areas all over again An excuse for great design and ambience. At the end of these large cracks, three or four patches of oily black liquid will appear in different areas around the island. In these locations, you’re tasked with following the lead of the gear’s scientists and catching the plethora of new fish added in the DLC, which will add to Dredge’s already impressive collection of weird, er, dank fish.
The new species that live in the depths are so interesting that the developers have apparently dug out some books on fossils for inspiration to create a bunch of creatures that generally look like they could survive a nuclear holocaust, or eat you whole, or It’s both. Of course, they also all have nightmare-fueled aberration evil twins. As you reel them in, you must avoid bursting sticky bubbles and additional creatures that become hazards in patches of dark liquid.
Catching these black liquid fish does require some new rods, but these are a bit disappointing as they’re the same rods you used for different depths in the base game with some Ironhaven tech strapped to them. In addition, black sludge itself is a valuable crafting resource that you need to collect through the new siphon net and bring back equipment.
Crate collection/rig upgrades and dark liquid fishing excursions go hand in hand at every stage of the expanded narrative, and as more drilling happens and quintessential corporate executives arrive, more emerge into the equation question. Iron Rig also gives the underdeveloped characters in the base game proper backstories, which is a nice touch.
However, to avoid spoilers I won’t reveal too many details, but I did find the way Iron Gear’s narrative arc ended to be a bit anticlimactic. What happens certainly doesn’t feel out of place with the rest of the game, but it’s so well constructed from the events that preceded it that it feels like it could have had a more impactful and memorable payoff – as does the ending to The base game is. In fact, it feels like the developers may have accidentally written themselves into a corner of the game’s plot, although I can also understand that this DLC is clearly meant to fit into the game’s established story – rather than overshadow it or offer any alternative story paths. thing.
Once it’s over, you’ll be faced with the task of upgrading your gear to reach its full potential. The many upgrades you can make from it – new hulls, improvements to abilities, new technology that improves your ship’s capture and movement efficiency – are designed to provide a few extra steps for those who already own one. puts together a pretty elite ship, and the various stat boosts they provide are enough to make them worth playing if you’re looking for something to do.
I definitely recommend adding some wire equipment as necessary crafting – these are nets and crab pots for collecting dredged material instead of fish and new types of bait. The former saves you from desperately searching for floaters while trying to upgrade your craft, while the latter – especially the exotic lures – allow you to catch any rare fish that might have escaped from the rest of the game. You’ve had it easier so far. Oh and it’s great that you can make tea to calm you down when things get weird at night
Overall, if you’re looking for more dredges, or a reason to delve into the game for the first time since The Pale Reach, The Iron Rig will likely provide you with at least one Weekend fun. Even in a similar spot it feels like it might be more than just another fish added to a good, spooky net.
Dredge: The Iron Rig will release on August 15th for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. It was reviewed using a PC key provided by the publisher.