DREADMOOR Review: A Good Catch That Needs More Sea

What it is

DREADMOOR is a first-person fishing adventure from Dream Dock, published by Digital Vortex Entertainment. It entered Steam Early Access on 9 November 2026 and is PC-only and single-player. The setting is a flooded world after a catastrophe: you captain a trawler, fish for trade, cut open your catch for crafting materials and deal with mutated things on the water and on land. Everyone will compare it to Dredge, so let me get that out of the way. Dredge looks down at its boat from above. DREADMOOR puts you on the deck.

A note on method: this is an Early Access verdict, and it leans on the Steam release, hands-on previews of the playtest build and early player impressions rather than a complete playthrough of my own.

How it plays

You cast, wait for a bite and then fight the fish by steering against the direction it pulls until its energy is gone. Pull too hard and the line snaps. Fishing spots are marked by gulls and icons on the water. Fish can be sold to traders, ground into boat fuel or dissected for parts. A grapple gun drags floating debris and resources to the boat, and crafting happens physically on a workbench instead of in a menu. The trawler goes into a dry dock where you clean and repair the hull, blast off barnacles and bolt on armour plates.

The highs

- The world. Coral growths, shipwrecks, a leviathan skull full of glowing eggs. This is the reason to buy it. - Tactile everything. The workbench and the dry dock turn chores into the best part of the loop. I wish more survival games trusted players this much. - Players like it. Steam user reviews stood at 83 percent positive from 458 reviews as I wrote this, a solid start for a launch week. - Reasonable hardware demands. Minimum is a GTX 1060 or RX 580, with 7 GB of storage.

The lows

- One region. The developers say Early Access contains the full core loop, one major region and the original story. More areas, fish, fishing mechanics and boat upgrades are planned for a full release they expect in 6 to 12 months. - Repetitive reeling. GameWatcher's preview found that different species all fight the same way. That was a pre-launch build, but it is the complaint that matters most in a game about fishing. - Light on horror. The same preview sailed at night despite the warnings and saw little more than a tentacle or two. If you came for dread, the name promises more than the playtest delivered. - Rough edges. Unvoiced NPCs, clipping models and a slow default grapple were all noted before launch.

Price

On Steam it costs €20.49, with a 10 percent launch discount to €18.44 until 23 November. The developers say the price will go up at full release. German is among the 12 supported languages.

Verdict

DREADMOOR already has the hard part: a place I want to be in and a boat I want to look after. What it does not have yet is enough sea, enough variety on the line or enough menace after dark. At under twenty euros that is a fair Early Access deal for patient players who like the Dredge formula. If you want a finished horror game, wishlist it and come back next year.

Score: 7/10

Image: Jpbazard Jean-Pierre Bazard / CC BY-SA 3.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bateaux_de_p%C3%AAche_dans_le_Bassin_d%27_%C3%A9chouage_du_Port_de_La_Rochelle_(10).jpg