Last year, Black Salt Games’ Dredge caused enough of a hubbub for me to finally download the game and give it a shot for myself. I’d held off because fishing games have never been my thing (If your open world RPG features a mandatory fishing tutorial, guess what? That’s my least-favorite part of your game), and resource management titles have also rarely kept me engaged (I have enough problems managing my own, real-life resources, thank you very much). But Dredge? Holy shit.
Steeped in Lovecraftian weirdness and positively overflowing with dread, Dredge turned out to be one of the best horror games I’d played in years. For whatever reason, all the bits and pieces that make up Black Salt Games’ title absolutely clicked for me, and I spent more time than you’d believe cruising around in my once-ramshackle-but-ultimately-mighty little boat, pulling bizarre creatures out of the diseased water around me and unraveling the game’s many mysteries. It’s an outstanding piece of work.
It is not, however, a game I ever expected to become a movie…which, according to Variety, is precisely what’s about to happen:
“Black Salt Games has partnered with production company Story Kitchen to create a live-action feature adaptation of the single-player Lovecraftian fishing adventure with a sinister undercurrent.”
In a joint statement, Black Salt Games’ Nadia Thorne, Joel Mason, Alex Ritchie and Michael Bastiaens had the following to say about their forthcoming venture:
“We are excited to partner with such an experienced studio team to bring the world we created to live action and ignite the imagination of audiences across the globe.”
Adapting Dredge for the big screen will be no easy feat. Much of the game’s success lies within its wildly addictive gameplay loop, something I imagine any adaptation will have trouble translating into a palatable film. Beyond that, Dredge manages to nail a very specific tone that underlines Lovecraft’s work: the sinister sensation that very bad things are happening behind the scenes, or just outside of the player’s view. Historically, nailing that tone has proven a very difficult needle to thread for big screen Lovecraft adaptations or Lovecraft-inspired tales (one that does it exceedingly well: John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness).
All of that said, we’re delighted to hear that someone’s gonna take a crack at it, and wish everyone at Black Salt Games and Story Kitchen the best of luck in sticking the landing. Nothing further to report on the Dredge adaptation at this time, but rest assured we’ll be keeping you informed as further updates roll in. Stay tuned.
