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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minutePlay DREDGE if you want fishing, catch management and boat upgrades to remain the center of play. Choose Sunless Sea for a much harsher, text-heavy seafaring RPG built around exploration, crew management and survival. Choose The Sinking City Remastered if what you really want is explicit Lovecraftian detective work, combat and psychological horror rather than a fishing simulator.
These games share a dark maritime mood, but they are not interchangeable. DREDGE is the approachable fishing-first adventure; Sunless Sea is the punishing systems-and-prose game; The Sinking City Remastered is the investigation-led action game.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
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DREDGE Complete Collector's Edition - Nintendo Switch | Buy on Amazon | |
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![Dredge [Deluxe Edition]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41+TEogLMwL._SL160_.jpg)
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Dredge [Deluxe Edition] | $34.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Quick verdict: which game fits you?
| If you want… | Play… | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The best fishing loop | DREDGE | Fishing, cargo decisions, selling catches, quests, research and boat upgrades are its central systems. |
| Dense stories and difficult sea survival | Sunless Sea | It combines exploration, trading, real-time combat, crew fear and sanity systems with more than 350,000 words of stories and secrets. |
| Direct Lovecraftian investigation | The Sinking City Remastered | You investigate cases in half-submerged Oakmont, with combat, multiple solutions, boat and diving exploration, and mental-health management. |
| The gentlest entry point | DREDGE | Its readable progression and fishing-first structure are less demanding than Sunless Sea’s survival systems and less action-focused than The Sinking City. |
| The broadest documented console support | DREDGE | It launched on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. |
“Best” depends on which part of the premise matters to you. If removing the fishing would ruin the concept, DREDGE is the clear choice. If fishing is only an excuse to explore a hostile, story-rich ocean, Sunless Sea offers greater narrative depth. If you want to walk through a city, gather evidence and confront overt Lovecraftian horror, The Sinking City Remastered belongs on your list instead.
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Black Salt Games and Team17 describe DREDGE as a “single-player fishing adventure with a sinister undercurrent.” That wording is useful: the game is first a fishing and boat-management adventure, then a horror game that steadily makes the familiar routine unsafe. The press kit classifies it as Adventure/Horror.
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- A special edition of DREDGE with of all the DLC included on the cart / disc (Blackstone Key, The Pale Reach and The Iron Rig). Also features exclusive artwork and a reversible inlay that depicts the cover of the Book of the Deep.
- A replica of the mysterious Sign of Ruin talisman. A symbol of the deep is carved into this unassuming rock. It's sure to draw the attention of those attuned to it. Approximately 10cm x 10cm x 10cm in size.
- A double-sided poster featuring the all-new Complete Collector’s Edition artwork on one side and the original DREDGE artwork on the other.
- A fold-out nautical chart to help you navigate your way around The Marrows and the surrounding archipelagos, along with a sticker set of map markers.
- A complete compendium of all fish and their aberrant variants in a hardback volume, message from the developer and metal doubloon coin.
You pilot a trawler, catch fish and curios, bring the haul to market, complete quests, research equipment and spend the proceeds improving the vessel. Cargo space, equipment choices and travel time make each outing a series of practical decisions rather than a simple fishing mini-game. The official DREDGE site says the game contains more than 125 deep-sea denizens; that figure is stated on the site’s 2026 page and may be presented differently by edition or update, so check the current version when comparing content lists.
Darkness changes the risk calculation. Remaining at sea after nightfall exposes the boat to more danger, turning “one more cast” into a meaningful choice. The tension comes from balancing a profitable haul against the cost of staying out too long, then using earnings and research to make future trips safer or more productive.
Why DREDGE is the fishing specialist
Neither alternative in this comparison puts catching, storing and selling fish at the center of its progression. DREDGE’s loop is easy to summarize but has several linked decisions:
- Find fishing spots and choose what to bring aboard.
- Fit catches and curios into limited cargo space.
- Decide when to return before darkness makes the route more dangerous.
- Sell the haul and use money, quests and research to improve the boat.
- Use better equipment to reach new catches and areas.
That structure makes DREDGE a strong recommendation for players who want a compact, repeatable routine with a visible upgrade path. It also explains why calling it a conventional Lovecraftian RPG would set the wrong expectation: the game communicates much of its unease through the sea, discoveries and escalating night danger rather than through long conversations or a case-file investigation.
What Sunless Sea changes
Failbetter Games describes Sunless Sea as a “Gothic Horror RPG with a focus on exploration, exquisite storytelling and frequent death.” The difference from DREDGE is not merely tone. Sunless Sea asks you to manage a vessel and its crew while navigating a dangerous world whose primary rewards are exploration, choices and written stories.
The official store description states that the game contains 350,000+ words of stories and secrets (Failbetter Games, 2015). That amount of text makes it the obvious choice for readers who want lore, branching encounters and prose to carry as much weight as movement or combat. The game’s systems include crew fear and sanity, real-time combat, trading and ship upgrades. Failure is part of the design rather than an occasional interruption.
Sunless Sea’s loop
- Navigate between ports and locations while managing supplies, fuel and the ship’s condition.
- Trade and pursue opportunities that can improve the vessel or finance the next voyage.
- Handle real-time combat when threats appear.
- Keep the crew functioning as fear and sanity pressures accumulate.
- Read and resolve story encounters, accepting that poor decisions or an unlucky voyage can end in death.
That loop is more demanding than DREDGE’s because several failure risks operate at once. A player who enjoys optimizing a catch and returning safely may find Sunless Sea’s resource pressure exciting; someone seeking a relaxed fishing rhythm may find it exhausting. Its “frequent death” description is a design warning, not marketing color.
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Is Sunless Sea harder than DREDGE?
Yes, in the sense relevant to most players: Sunless Sea is the more punishing and systems-heavy game. Its crew fear and sanity mechanics, real-time combat, trading and survival pressures create more ways for a voyage to go wrong, and the official description explicitly foregrounds frequent death. DREDGE still creates risk through darkness and hazardous travel, but its progression is more approachable and its central decisions are easier to read.
Difficulty here is not a simple combat ranking. Sunless Sea demands attention to several interlocking resources and asks you to accept losses as part of learning. DREDGE lets you concentrate on route planning, cargo and upgrades before its horror escalates. Choose Sunless Sea because you want pressure and consequence, not because you expect a larger version of DREDGE’s fishing mechanics.
What The Sinking City Remastered offers instead
Frogwares describes The Sinking City as an adventure and investigation game set in an open world inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s universe. The Remastered edition places you in the half-submerged city of Oakmont as a private investigator. Its structure is case-based rather than catch-based: you gather information, examine locations, fight enemies and make decisions that can lead to multiple solutions.
Boat and diving exploration let you move through Oakmont’s flooded environment, but those activities support investigation rather than a fishing economy. Mental-health management is part of the experience, and the horror is more direct: violence, psychological pressure and explicit Lovecraftian atmosphere are foregrounded instead of kept as a sinister layer beneath a colorful routine.
The Sinking City’s loop
- Take on an investigation and identify the people, places and evidence connected to it.
- Explore Oakmont on foot, by boat and through diving sections.
- Use investigative tools and observation to assemble what happened.
- Fight threats when investigation turns violent.
- Choose how to resolve cases, with the possibility of different outcomes.
- Manage the investigator’s mental state while confronting disturbing scenes and forces.
This is the right alternative when your question is “Which game gives me the most explicit Lovecraftian investigation?” It is the wrong purchase if you mainly want to cast lines, sort a hold full of fish and improve a trawler.
Core-loop comparison
| Game | Primary activity | Progression and management | How the sea functions |
|---|---|---|---|
| DREDGE | Fishing, collecting curios and completing quests | Sell catches; research equipment; upgrade the boat; manage cargo and travel timing | The workplace, route and source of escalating night danger |
| Sunless Sea | Navigation, exploration, trading, story encounters and real-time combat | Manage crew fear and sanity, supplies, trade income, ship condition and upgrades | A hostile survival space filled with stories, threats and possible death |
| The Sinking City Remastered | Open-world investigation, combat and environmental exploration | Follow cases, gather evidence, make choices and manage mental health | A flooded setting traversed on foot, by boat and underwater |
The comparison shows why genre labels can mislead. All three involve dark waters, but only DREDGE makes fishing the organizing principle. Sunless Sea uses a ship as the interface for an RPG and story engine. The Sinking City uses waterlogged geography to support detective work and action.
Narrative delivery: atmosphere, prose or investigation?
DREDGE: environmental discovery and quests
DREDGE reveals its strange world through what you find, where you travel and how ordinary fishing gradually becomes unsafe. Quests provide direction, while the contrast between a colorful surface and increasingly dangerous night conditions supplies much of the unease. Expect a game that lets the setting and routine carry the mood more than extended blocks of dialogue.
Sunless Sea: written stories and choices
Sunless Sea is the clear choice for readers who want a large body of text and story consequences. Its 350,000+ words of stories and secrets, cited by Failbetter Games in 2015, make reading and deciding central activities. Encounters can matter as much as navigation, and the possibility of death gives those choices practical weight.
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- DREDGE is a singleplayer fishing adventure with a sinister undernurent
- ERASE A MYGICE: Captain your fishing coach across a collection of remote islands, each with its own uninhabited to meet, wildlife to emerge, and stories about growing
- Drive depths: Scour the sea for hidden solutions and complete quests to provide access to new abilies
- Explore your craft: Research special equipment and upgrade your boat capabilities to provide access to rare fish and worthy deep-sea trips
The Sinking City Remastered: case construction
The Sinking City’s narrative is organized around investigations. You pursue leads, inspect evidence and decide how to resolve cases while the open world and mental-health systems reinforce the investigator fantasy. Its Lovecraftian identity is explicit in the premise and presentation, rather than implied through maritime routine.
How the horror feels in each game
| Game | Horror profile | Best for players who want… |
|---|---|---|
| DREDGE | A sinister undercurrent beneath a colorful fishing adventure; night increases danger | Gradual unease, discovery and tension without abandoning an approachable loop |
| Sunless Sea | Persistent gothic dread, crew fear, sanity pressure and frequent death | Relentless atmosphere, difficult survival and consequences for risky choices |
| The Sinking City Remastered | Direct Lovecraftian atmosphere, violence and psychological horror | Overt monsters, disturbing investigations and action-oriented encounters |
DREDGE can absolutely function as a horror game, but its horror is paced around the fishing routine. Sunless Sea sustains dread through systems that can kill a voyage and prose that keeps the world threatening. The Sinking City confronts you with horror while you investigate, fight and manage your mental state. None is a straight substitute for the others’ tone.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which game has the best fishing?
DREDGE wins by definition of focus. It is the only one of these three whose central loop is fishing, catch management and boat upgrades. You are repeatedly choosing what to catch, how to fit it into the hold, when to return and which improvements to fund.
Sunless Sea has maritime travel, trading and ship upgrades, but its documented systems do not make fishing the core activity. The Sinking City Remastered includes boat and diving traversal, yet those mechanics serve movement and investigation. If “fishing” means a detailed, repeatable activity that drives the economy and progression, choose DREDGE rather than treating the other two as fishing games.
Difficulty, commitment and pacing
| Consideration | DREDGE | Sunless Sea | The Sinking City Remastered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approachability | Highest; clear fishing-and-upgrade loop | Lowest; several survival systems and frequent death | Moderate; investigation and combat require attention |
| Main source of pressure | Darkness, hazardous travel and cargo decisions | Crew fear and sanity, resources, combat and voyage-ending failure | Combat, case decisions and mental-health management |
| Reading commitment | Quests and environmental discovery | Very high; 350,000+ words of stories and secrets are stated by the 2015 store description | Case evidence and investigation rather than a prose-heavy seafaring chronicle |
| Typical session mindset | Plan a trip, fill the hold, return and upgrade | Prepare for risk, read encounters and accept setbacks | Follow leads, inspect scenes and decide how to resolve a case |
Pick DREDGE when you want progress to feel legible and steady. Pick Sunless Sea when setbacks and learning through failure are part of the appeal. Pick The Sinking City Remastered when you would rather solve a case than optimize a voyage.
Platform availability
DREDGE released on 30 March 2023 for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, according to Black Salt Games and Team17. Availability can vary by country, storefront and edition, so confirm the listing for your region before buying.
The cited Sunless Sea listing covers Windows, macOS and Linux. The cited listing for The Sinking City Remastered is Windows-only. Those platform details describe the referenced listings, not a guarantee that every later storefront, edition or regional release is identical.
| Game | Documented platforms in the cited material | Platform takeaway |
|---|---|---|
| DREDGE | PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S | Broadest documented console coverage |
| Sunless Sea | Windows, macOS, Linux | Best fit here for desktop players who want the text-rich RPG |
| The Sinking City Remastered | Windows | Check the current regional listing before assuming console availability |
Should you buy DREDGE or The Sinking City?
Buy DREDGE if your imagined ideal session starts with taking a boat out, finding fish, deciding what fits in the hold and returning before darkness turns the trip dangerous. Its upgrades, research and quests all reinforce that rhythm.
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The choice is therefore about activity, not which game has the more authentic label. DREDGE is the fishing adventure with horror beneath it; The Sinking City Remastered is the investigation game with overt Lovecraftian horror.
What should you play after DREDGE?
Choose Sunless Sea for a deeper systems challenge
Move to Sunless Sea when DREDGE’s sea setting interests you more than its fishing. You will gain extensive written stories, crew fear and sanity mechanics, trading, real-time combat and a harsher failure model. Expect a slower, more demanding commitment and substantially more reading.
Choose The Sinking City Remastered for explicit investigation
Move to The Sinking City Remastered when you want the horror to become the case. Its open-world Oakmont setting, multiple investigation solutions, combat, boat and diving exploration, and mental-health management offer a different genre experience rather than a larger fishing loop.
Stay with DREDGE when the routine is the appeal
If the most satisfying part of DREDGE is planning a haul, arranging cargo and improving the trawler, neither alternative replaces it. Sunless Sea substitutes navigation and survival systems; The Sinking City substitutes detective work. A sequel, expansion or another fishing-focused game may be a better follow-up than either title if you want the same activity with a new setting.
A practical decision checklist
- Choose DREDGE if you want fishing to occupy most of your play time, prefer an approachable progression path, and enjoy horror that intensifies after dark.
- Choose Sunless Sea if you welcome frequent death, crew fear and sanity management, real-time combat, trading and a very large amount of written story.
- Choose The Sinking City Remastered if you want an investigator’s role, overt Lovecraftian themes, open-world cases, combat and psychological pressure.
- Check the platform first if you are not on PC: DREDGE has the broadest documented console release, while the cited listings for the alternatives are desktop-focused.
- Do not buy based on the word “fishing” alone: only DREDGE makes catching and managing fish the central progression loop.
Buying the physical Nintendo Switch edition
Official sources confirm that DREDGE released on Nintendo Switch and that physical versions exist. If you are looking specifically for a DREDGE Nintendo Switch game or a DREDGE physical edition, verify the current retailer listing, region, stock status and price at the time of purchase. Those details change, and no single price should be treated as permanent.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
