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Sources

Primary (developer)

  • Joel Mason — "Deep Dive: The surprising depth of spatial inventories in Dredge", Game Developer, 2022-03-02. The definitive Dredge - Spatial Inventory source: grid anatomy, inventory-as-health, quest-item rules, UX pitfalls, Tarkov contrast. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/deep-dive-the-surprising-depth-of-spatial-inventories-in-dredge
  • Chris Kerr — "Trawling in the deep: How Black Salt Games made... Dredge", Game Developer, 2023-04-27. Postmortem interview: fuel→time decision, wave physics, four-corner map planning, harpoon cut, minigame pillars, scope discipline. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/trawling-in-the-deep-how-black-salt-games-made-spooky-fishing-rpg-i-dredge-i-

  • Black Salt Games — launch team interview, blacksaltgames.com, 2023. Tutorial hindsight, camera-angle change. https://www.blacksaltgames.com/dredge-launch-interview-with-development-team/

  • Boiling Steam — BitSummit 2023 interview (Nadia Thorne, Mikey Bastiaens): fuel-mechanic player requests vs playtest data, studio origins. https://boilingsteam.com/interview-with-the-developers-of-dredge-black-salt-games-at-the-bitsummit-2023/

  • Boiling Steam — TGS 2023 interview (Joel Mason, Alex Ritchie): art influences (Disco Elysium, Dishonored), cozy-horror framing. https://boilingsteam.com/interview-with-dredge-developers-at-the-tgs2023/

Data references

  • dredge.wiki.gg — Panic and Fish/Aberrations pages: panic triggers/effects, freshness stages (12h/level), trophy +25%, night +3% aberration chance, 84/151 aberration count, trawl-net freshness freeze. https://dredge.wiki.gg/wiki/Panic · https://dredge.wiki.gg/wiki/Fish · https://dredge.wiki.gg/wiki/Aberrations
  • StrategyWiki — DREDGE/Fish: infected fish at 35% value, infection spread rules. https://strategywiki.org/wiki/DREDGE/Fish
  • Steam guide — "Aberrant Chance + Other Stats" (datamined values): Atrophy condition values, rod aberration bonuses. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2964533476

Reception & business

  • GamesHub / Game Developer (PAX Aus 2023): 1M+ copies sold by late 2023; 100k first-year target hit in 24 hours. https://www.gameshub.com/news/news/dredge-sells-over-1-million-copies-2630917/
  • OpenCritic — The Iron Rig reviews: endgame-revival praise alongside repetition criticism — evidence for Dredge - Late-game Problems & Fixes. https://opencritic.com/game/17054/dredge-the-iron-rig
  • Wikipedia — Dredge: release dates, platforms, team roles, Team17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dredge_(video_game)

Caveat

Wiki-sourced numbers (multipliers, percentages) are community-datamined and may drift across patches; dev-interview claims are as-stated by the team in 2022–2023.