Dreadmoor PC Review
Out Now
Version tested: PC (Steam Early Access)
If you spent any time playing Dredge and thought to yourself, “Man, I wish I was knee-deep in murky, Lovecraftian water from a first-person perspective, elbow-deep in fuel grease and screaming fish,” then you probably need to play Dreadmoor. This dark first-person fishing adventure drops you squarely into a flooded world rotting from past catastrophe.
It’s an intriguing pitch. But as it hits Steam Early Access, does Dreadmoor manage to reel us in, or does it sink straight to the bottom of the ocean? Let’s take a look.
Welcome to the Submerged Lands
Dreadmoor sets its grim stage in a coastal region swallowed by the ocean following a catastrophic human-made disaster. You play as Malcolm, whose journey kicks off with a rather explosive trip toward a burning church as the surrounding waters turn to blood. Infected during these opening horrors, you’re slapped with a ticking clock—or rather, a recurring medical bill—forcing you to constantly hunt down expensive medication from local traders just to stave off a painful bodily transformation.
The atmosphere here is genuinely thick. Traversing “The Slooh”—a drowned wetland defined by amber lighting, murky waters, colossal animal bones, and decaying architecture—cultivates a brilliant sense of dread. It leans heavily into environmental storytelling rather than cheap jump scares, and when night falls and visibility drops to almost nothing while heavy shapes glide beneath your tiny vessel, the tension hits all the right notes.
Gameplay & Trowler Maintenance
At its core, Dreadmoor splits its gameplay loop between nautical survival, active boat maintenance, and first-person exploration.
Fishing isn’t just a matter of pressing a button; standard catches require managing line tension by steering against the fish’s movement, while predatory species demand specific lure speeds. Pull too fast and they lose chase; pull too slow and they lose interest altogether. Storage logistics add an extra layer of panic—keep carnivorous catches in your trawler’s hold too long, and they’ll actively start devouring your other fish before you make it back to port.
Where the game really separates itself from conventional survival titles, however, is its commitment to tactile, hands-on vessel care:
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Manual Refuelling: Physically handling jerry cans and operating fuel pumps instead of clicking through a menu.
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Hull Cleaning: Pressure-washing accumulated grime and patching structural damage by hand.
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Upgrades: Installing beefed-up engines, propellers, hull plating, and spotlights to push further into dangerous waters.
When you aren’t on the water, you’re hopping off onto abandoned ruins, sunken shipwrecks, and flooded caves to scavenge scrap metal, blueprints, and bug slime to feed back into workstation crafting.
The Rough Edges
Of course, because Dreadmoor is currently in Early Access, it isn’t going to be all smooth sailing.
While the art style hits a brilliant balance of creepy and fable-like and the soundscape is wonderfully immersive, some technical hurdles pull you out of the experience. The voice acting and sound design can occasionally feel a bit disjointed, with some dialogue lines sounding like a random voice note recorded in a Discord server. Furthermore, players have run into frustrating bugs, such as localised tooltip text errors and quest logs failing to update cleanly.
Verdict:
Dreadmoor is an ambitious, atmospheric twist on the sub-genre that Dredge popularised, bringing a visceral first-person perspective and tactile boat maintenance to the table. It suffers from some typical early-access growing pains, rough writing in places, and minor bugs that need ironing out, but the core maritime loop is undeniably addictive. If you love eerie worlds and don’t mind weathering a few storms while the developers polish the build, it’s well worth dropping anchor for.
Score:
7.8/10
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The code was provided free of charge for my honest and unbiased review.
Pros
- Brilliant, oppressive atmosphere with stellar lighting and creepy art direction.
- Addictive nautical survival loop combined with satisfying, hands-on boat maintenance.
- Deep tactical fishing mechanics that require active engagement rather than passive clicking.
- Solid performance on PC with plenty of room for expansion during Early Access.
Cons
- Uneven voice acting and occasional audio glitches.
- Early access bugs like minor quest tracker issues and UI text errors.
- The ticking-clock medical mechanic can feel a bit punishing early on.
