DREDGE – Threats Guide

I hate horror games, and Dredge was pretty difficult for me to get through because I was so scared of all the creatures and encounters. I wrote up this lengthy guide during my playthrough so I could keep track of all the dangers in the game, but figured it might be helpful to somebody else who was in the same boat as me, so edited it to be more readable!

Guide to Threats

Note: Credit goes to crunchy

Intro

I hate horror games, and Dredge was pretty difficult for me to get through because I was so scared of all the creatures and encounters. I wrote up this lengthy guide during my playthrough so I could keep track of all the dangers in the game, but figured it might be helpful to somebody else who was in the same boat as me, so edited it to be more readable!

I’ve included all of the information I’ve managed to figure out first-hand, or have learned from others and then tested in-game. I’ve tried to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but I have to list the creatures and their locations in order to make the guide usable, so please be cautious if that’s something you’re worried about!

The intention of this guide is to make the game more accessible to people like me who struggle with the scarier stuff but still want to enjoy the game, or people who just want to know what the creatures mechanics are! If this guide doesn’t apply to you or help you, I’m sorry!

Night Angler

The ‘ghost ship’ you will see on the water at night. It seems to spawn around midnight, at some distance from your current location, so it’s pretty easy to avoid if you’re careful (Sometimes when sleeping at Greater Marrow or Steel Point, you can see it spawn on the horizon – I assume it spawns a set distance from your location, regardless of where you are, but I have no way to confirm this).

If it catches sight/starts pursuing you, it’ll make a very distinct blaring foghorn noise. Sneaking around it isn’t much use, but’s not especially fast, so it’s possible to outrun it if you want to. It can be easy to get lost in the fog while being chased, so it’s safest to try and keep an idea of your nearest dock’s location if you’re out late at night.

If it catches up to you, it will attack you once (causing hull damage similar to crashing into an object) and then swim away. I assume it despawns at this point, as I haven’t been attacked by it more than once in the same night.

The Serpent

The large, eel-like creature that lives inside the cliff caves at Gale Cliffs. It first appeared for me upon entering the cliff caves for the first time, from the large ‘archway’ nearest the village dock. It seems to always cross across the ‘path’ between the cliffs in the same spot, rising out of the water once to attack you before swimming away. Once you know this spot, it’s easy to just wait for it to swim by and avoid the hit entirely.

After a time (it may be following completion of some story quests in the area) the creature will begin to swim around the bay at Gale Cliffs regardless of time of day/night. It’s quite slow, so you can avoid it if you like, but it does make it hard to get to fishing/dredging spots, and it will attack you even if you’re idling (ie., not passing time by sailing).

Like the Anglerfish, it will attack once, doing hull damage similar to crashing into an object, and then swim away. After this, it seems to despawn for a few in-game hours. Letting it attack you so you can explore the area more freely is a valid option, especially since navigating the tight areas can be a bit of a pain.

The Kraken

The giant octopus at Stellar Basin. It lives inside the deep pit at the centre of the ring of islands. The spot is easily identifiable as it’s surrounded by glowing blue plants/coral during the day, and bright pink jellyfish at night. The Kraken has large, harmless tentacles that rest around the edge of the pit, and several smaller, moving tentacles within.

It doesn’t leave the pit at any time, and will not attack you if you don’t stray into the water above the pit. If you do approach it, it will make a rumbling sound for a few seconds, and then quickly hit you with a tentacle. This attack, like the others, causes hull damage similar to crashing into an object. This creature is probably the easiest to avoid, as it doesn’t pursue or seek you out in any way, and is only a danger if you deliberately cross above it.

At a certain point in the story, you will gain access to the ability to activate a device that a character claims will either scare the Kraken off for a while, or enrage it. The device will always scare it off, and you’ll be safe to explore the entire area for as long as the device is running (which seems to be significantly long enough to check all the fishing/dredging spots you might need to.) When the device turns off, you will get a few seconds of warning as the Kraken climbs back up into the pit (via a rumbling sound).

Mind Suckers

These are (relatively) small, worm-like creatures that hide in the water at set locations within Twisted Strand. They are easy to see if you’re vigilant, as they have bright yellow glowing orbs/eyes on their heads. They are initially invisible under the surface, but will slowly peer out of the water as you approach, giving you time to spot them, before emerging fully.

Mind Suckers are sensitive to movement, so when you see one emerge, just hold completely still for a few seconds until it sinks into the water again. In my experience, once they’ve disappeared into the water, they won’t respawn for a while, similar to the other creatures. (Note that there are several of these creatures, and having one despawn won’t despawn the rest of them – you’ll need to repeat for each one.)

They’re very easy to avoid if you’re cautious, but if one does spot you moving, its yellow eyes will turn red and it will begin pursuing you. They’re not especially fast or nimble, so you can outrun them, but the tight spaces can make it difficult to navigate, so the ‘Banish’ spell is a pretty safe way to get rid of them.

If they get within range of you, they will begin to cause the fisherman significant panic, similar to the whispering fog that spawns late at night. After a few seconds of this, they will lash out with a set of small tentacles, which I believe can cause hull damage (I managed to avoid being hit by/crashing into these tentacles, so I’m not 100% sure).

As the story progresses, you will gain access to traps that can permanently remove the Mind Suckers from at least three key locations – I didn’t explore enough following this to know if it removes all of them from the area, but I doubt it.

Fire Fish and Mama Fish

Fire Fish are small, orange/red fish that live in small groups around the ruins in Devil’s Spine. They’re pretty harmless on their own – they have a fairly small detection radius and will begin to chase you if you get too close. If they reach your boat, they’ll begin making a lot of noise, but won’t do any damage. They will, however, slow down your boat, which is very noticable if you have a large crowd on you. They’re nimble, but not particularly fast, so you should be able to outrun them if you have a decently upgraded boat.

They’re easy to see due to their bright colours, but they can look similar to the lava veins that also occur in the area. You can fairly easily avoid them by being very cautious and vigilant, so as to avoid getting too close to them.

The area has lots of barriers that you can destroy with bombs in order to reach places without disturbing the Fire Fish, but banish is also quite effective. They’re also afraid of the hot vents scattered around the area, and will flee if you cross over one, so try to plan your routes if need-be.

Mama Fish is a much larger, paler version of the Fire Fish. She’s still relatively small (about half the size of your boat.) She slowly patrols the area, and won’t pay much attention to your comings and goings. You can hear her from pretty much anywhere in the Devil’s Spines, and her ‘roars’ will get deeper and louder the closer she is (and be especially loud when she is actively chasing you – see below.)

Mama Fish is blind, so relies on the sound of her babies (Fire Fish) to target you. If her babies reach your boat and start making noise, Mama will start to head towards you. She’s pretty slow and easy to avoid, so out-running her is a good solution. Banish will also cause the Fire Fish to disappear, and Mama will lose interest in you and back away.

I haven’t been attacked by Mama, so I don’t know exactly what she does, but I assume it’s similar to every other creature (ie., hull damage.).

Fire Fish & Mama were the most frustrating enemy for me to get used to, but they’re fairly easy to deal with if you’re cautious!

Miasma/Whispering Fog

Not a creature so much, but it can pose a threat. This is the red/pink/purple patches of fog that appear late at night. They will pursue you and cause significant panic, but don’t damage your boat at all. They’re fairly easy to avoid, but you can run into them if you’re already fleeing from another creature, like the Night Angler. They can be despawned with the Banish spell.

The wiki states that if you turn your ship’s lights off, the Miasma will become harmless, but I haven’t tested this.

They’re more of an annoyance than a real danger, imo!

Birds

Not something I have encountered in game personally, but the wiki states that these are enemies that will attack during the day if the player has high panic.

They will steal fish and aberrations from the player’s cargo, but can be scared off using the ship’s horn.

Phantom Shark

Again, not something I have encountered in game personally. The wiki states that this is an enemy that appears in the Gale Cliffs and Stellar Basin when the player has high panic.

The wiki states that it is much faster than the player and is therefore difficult to avoid, but it is vulnerable to the Banish spell.

Other

Water rumbles

The deep, roaring noises that you’ll sometimes hear when crossing the ocean. Almost always completely harmless – just audio design that makes you nervous. The one exception I know of below.

Spined leviathan

A large creature that will occasionally spawn following a ‘water rumble’ in the deep water nearby Twisted Strand. I’ve only seen it once, and it didn’t attack me, but other players report being attacked (and instakilled) by it. This could be a result of lingering nearby for too long (I immediately moved away from it ’til I reached a dock) or a result of high panic levels.

If you spot it, just keep moving and you should be fine.

Note: this is the same creature you’ll see if you stray too far out-of-bounds from the edge of the map, as well as one other story-related appearance!

Shipwreck crabs

Giant crabs that disguise themselves as regular shipwrecks in set positions around the map. I found three of them during regular play. They will look exactly like a normal shoreline shipwreck, even having scrap dredging spots nearby, but will become active when you approach. They’ll quickly stand up and lash out with their claws, but won’t pursue you, and are easy to avoid as long as you don’t get too close. If you do get hit, they do minor hull damage.

Bonus: dolphins and whales

Completely harmless! They can bump your boat a little but won’t cause damage and won’t actively pursue you in any way. They’re just normal little guys.