Nautical travel and fishing mini-games have been featured time and time again in video games, allowing players to take to the open seas, cast out a line, and wait for their supper to hop onto their hook. I’ve caught every fish in Stardew Valley, filled the museum in Animal Crossing, and also caught my fair share of fish as Link in Ocarina of Time back in the day.
So I know what makes a fishing mechanic great. However, much like the vast majority of indie lovers out there, I was absolutely blown away by the sheer brilliance of Dredge, a game that doesn’t just throw in a token fishing mini-game, but instead forges an entire game around fishing, to great effect.
By day, Dredge is a calm and serene fishing adventure that has you manage resources, catch a variety of fish, sell them to turn a profit, and in doing so, you can upgrade your boat. Which allows you to travel further, go faster and catch more fish. Simple, right?
However, by night, the game is a sinister and unnerving Lovecraftian horror where everything is not as it seems, sea monsters lurk in the dreaded fog, and as you travel into the darkness, your Mania only grows stronger.
It probably doesn’t help that the main plot sees you help a strange collector find lost relics in return for otherworldly abilities, which only further wrap you up in the madness. But hey, where’s the fun without a little bit of terror and madness?
Well, today I want to talk a little more in-depth about these abilities that the weird Collector bestows upon the player, for you see, even though he is perhaps not to be trusted, the spells he casts can be of great use to you when on the open water.
At the very least, they may be enough to keep your thalassophobia at bay long enough to reach a nearby pontoon. So join me as I give you the lowdown on each of the spells available in this fishing epic. This is Indie Game Culture’s Dredge Spells Guide!
Dredge is a gripping, post-apocalyptic survival adventure that challenges you to navigate a desolate world filled with danger and despair. With its immersive atmosphere and intense gameplay, forge alliances, scavenge for resources, and fight for survival against the relentless horrors that lurk in the shadows.
Heading to Blackstone Isle
Before we get into the spells/abilities on offer, we need to give some context. I mean, how is a lowly fisherman casting spells on the water with careless abandon? Well, you first need to acquire these spells, and they can only be acquired by completing the main quest. A quest that is given to you by the Collector on Blackstone Isle.
In the early stages of the game, he will request that you travel out to see him on his remote island, and he will task you with finding five lost relics, while also giving the player dredging equipment to recover items from nearby shipwrecks. A little morbid, but needs must. There is a cost of living crisis, people.
He will ask you to collect the following relics:
- Ornate Key
- Music Box
- Jewel Encrusted Band
- Shimmering Necklace
- Pocket Watch
As you collect each of these relics for him, he will cast a spell that will give you access to a nifty new powerup. You will acquire each of the spells in the same order regardless of which relics you track down first. Although, the order they are listed above is likely the order you will attain them in.
Sun, Sea, and Sorcery
Okay, so you now know how to go about collecting these spells to help you navigate the archipelago, but you don’t know what sort of abilities are on offer. Each of these spells provides a unique skill that could help you navigate the map faster, cheat death at the hands of the sea, or help you catch fish with ease. So without further delay, here is a rundown of all the spells on offer in Dredge:
Haste
- How to Unlock: Hand in one relic to the Collector
- Ability: Allows the player to move faster
- Cost: Raises panic and can damage the engine
Firstly, we have Haste, which is the first skill you will acquire, and one that will really help you push onto new islands in the early game. Haste is a skill that allows the player to essentially engage engine speed two and practically double their natural speed. However, this does come with a cost.
As the player uses this spell, their panic will rise. This isn’t so much of an issue in daylight, where no horrifying creatures are lurking in the shadows. However, if you do this at night, this can lead to further problems up ahead. So consider whether you could make it to shore without a boost when night falls.
Also, as you use this boost, a bar on the left corner of the screen will fill. You will want to keep an eye on that, because if you let it fill up, your engine will combust, meaning you will be forced to push on at a much lower natural speed. Overall, a pretty useful spell to use in the daytime, but a risky move if you find yourself navigating the fog.
Manifest
- How to Unlock: Hand in two relics to the Collector
- Ability: Allows the player to immediately teleport to Blackstone Isle
- Cost: Raises Mania slightly
Next, we have Manifest, which is a great skill for players who are starting to make their way out to the more distant islands on the map. This spell allows you to instantly teleport back to Blackstone Isle any time you like. This can be a real lifesaver when being attacked by sea nasties at night, and it can also be a real time-saver when you need to turn in other relics. As with all of these skills, there is a downside, but it’s the most manageable of all the spells listed. If you return to Blackstone Isle, your Mania will rise slightly. Meaning that you will essentially need to sleep for an hour or two before undocking again.
The main benefit of this spell is that you can transport to an area that is very close to both Greater Marrow and Little Marrow, which allows you to offload fish, fix up your ship, and sell any trinkets you might have acquired in one fell swoop.
It’s also worth noting that there is a small cooldown on this skill, but chances are that you will probably never need to use this skill in quick succession.
Banish
- How to Unlock: Hand in three relics to the Collector
- Ability: Gives the player the power to banish/dispel any evil entities nearby
- Cost: N/A
As you can tell by the first two spells given to the player, the early game in Dredge is largely centered around navigation and pushing out further from Greater Marrow with each passing day. Something that, with careful planning, you can probably do without ever sailing at night.
However, as the game progresses, the game will force you to travel when night falls, and face your fears head-on. However, Dredge does give you a spell that will help ward off a lot of the monsters of the deep, and that is the Banish spell. This spell can be triggered to stop any incoming attacks from the many creatures that appear when your Mania is at its peak.Â
To give you a shortlist of perils to look out for, here are some of the monsters you can use Banish on effectively:Â
- Crows
- Jellyfish
- Red Tornados
- Mind Suckers
- Piranhas
- Angler Fish
- Cliff SerpentÂ
- Boat Crabs
- Tentacle Monster
Basically, if it’s scary and comes after you, do yourself a favor and use this spell.Â
Atrophy
- How to Unlock: Hand in four relics to the Collector
- Ability: Gives the player the ability to completely deplete a fishing spot, gaining a few fish in the process
- Cost: Depletion of fishing spots
Then lastly, when you have all but one of the relics, you will be given the Atrophy spell. This is arguably the best spell in the game, and one that will be super important if you want to catch all the fish species and Aberations in the game. This skill allows you to choose a particular fishing spot within the game and completely deplete its school of fish, which will grant you a couple of fish in the process.
The upside to this is that you instantly gain fish without the need to spend time fishing, and you can catch fish you don’t have the necessary equipment to reel in. However, the downside is that, if you were to fish, you could catch a lot more. Not to mention that when you deplete a spot, it takes quite a while to refill.Â
This is the ultimate end-game skill that will allow you to fast-track your way to catching all the different species and Aberations in the sea, without the need to play fishing mini-games every time. This can also be combined with Special Bait obtained in Twisted Strand to catch multiple species of fish from one fishing spot.Â
Magical AchievementsÂ
As an avid achievement hunter, I would be remiss if I didn’t offer some clarity on the achievements linked to each of these spells listed above. None of these are all that tough, but if you aren’t paying attention, you might miss them, and I can’t allow that. Check them out below:Â
- Cruel Heat: To earn this trophy, you must use Haste and run the engine at 50% capacity for over ten seconds.Â
- Dimensional Bypass: To earn this trophy, you will need to use Manifest to travel a long distance. Any of the areas in the corners of the map should suffice.
- Banisher: To earn this trophy, use Banish to get rid of ten threats when sailing. These do not need to be unique enemy types.Â
- Unsustainable Fishing: To earn this trophy, you must use Atrophy on a fishing spot that is a good distance away from the player.Â
FAQ SectionÂ
Question: Who Do You Play As In Dredge?
Answer: You play as a fisherman responding to a job vacancy in Greater Marrow. However, your ship is destroyed upon arrival, and you must pay off your debt for the ship you must borrow. Then as the story progresses, you get wrapped up in the mysterious and downright terrifying affairs of this cursed archipelago.Â
Question: What’s The Best Spell in Dredge?
Answer: It comes down to preference and how you approach the game, because the game allows you to do just about anything you like to make progress. However, I would say that Banish and Atrophy are the spells that you will probably use the most throughout your playthrough.Â
Question: Where is Blackstone Isle?
Answer: Blackstone Isle is a little island North East as you undock from Greater Marrow. Once you take off your training wheels and leave the stretch, which contains Greater Marrow and Little Marrow, then chances are that this will be the next place that you dock.Â
A Blessing or A Curse?
As you can see, while these spells might be seen as an otherworldly form of black magic, they are pretty damn useful if you want to make it as a fisherman in Dredge. With the help of these four spells, you should be able to zoom around the map, keep terrifying monsters at bay, and fish without so much as a line or bait.Sure, most of these skills come with their drawbacks, but in most cases, it’s worth it. We hope that this guide allows you to make sense of the spells that The Collector has bestowed on you, and as always, thank you for reading Indie Game Culture!
Dredge is a gripping, post-apocalyptic survival adventure that challenges you to navigate a desolate world filled with danger and despair. With its immersive atmosphere and intense gameplay, forge alliances, scavenge for resources, and fight for survival against the relentless horrors that lurk in the shadows.
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