Skip to main content

Horror indie game hit Dredge is getting a surprise film adaptation

A boat sails through a passage in Dredge.
Team17

Black Salt Games and Story Kitchen announced their intention to make a movie based on the 2023 horror indie game hit Dredge.

Story Kitchen is one of the media production companies behind the recent push for film and TV adaptations of video games. The Sonic the Hedgehog movies and upcoming Netflix show Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft are its biggest successes in actually getting these adaptations made, but it also has multimedia projects in the works based on games like Streets of Rage, Toejam & Earl, It Takes Two, and Disco Elysium. It’s adding a horror movie based on Dredge to that list because Story Kitchen thinks the game has “a captivatingly eerie and profoundly rich story that had us completely hooked from the very beginning.”

If you’re unfamiliar with Dredge, it was one of 2023’s surprise indie hits, having sold over 1 million copies within its first year of release. The core gameplay loop of Dredge is that of a simple fishing and boating game, as players go out, catch fish, sell them for money, and use that money to upgrade their boats. The game’s Lovecraftian undercurrent doesn’t take long to expose itself, though; before long, you’ll be catching weird fish and seeing horrific things out at sea if you stay away from shore for too long. It’s a memorable experience and one of Digital Trends’ favorite indie games of last year.

This project does not appear to be in active production at any major studios, but Story Kitchen is hoping the following logline catches their attention: “Think The Sixth Sense on the water. A grounded atmospheric cosmic horror blend of HP Lovecraft and Ernest Hemingway.”

Editors' Recommendations

Tomas Franzese
Gaming Staff Writer
Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
Indie devs say they were offered ‘exposure’ (not cash) to port games to Tesla vehicles
Her Story

Elon Musk's car company, Tesla, once reached out to game designer Sam Barlow about possibly putting his game Her Story into its cars. According to Barlow, Tesla didn't offer money, but instead said it would be good exposure for the game.

Tesla has run video games within its cars before, most notably Cuphead. It can only be played while the car is parked. Tesla has also been working on Steam integration with its vehicles and a demo is apparently coming soon. Barlow suggests, though, that some developers weren't offered pay to partner with Tesla.

Read more
This indie about the horrors of social media is a perfect Halloween game
A series of social media app icons on a colorful smartphone screen.

Shorter indie games have become a recent favorite of mine, and with Halloween on the horizon, I’d been on the lookout for some different horror games that I hadn’t played yet beyond the classic titles that make the rounds every year. I stumbled across #influenced, a “slow-burn horror story in kinetic novel format,” in September -- and I was immediately sold. I always find myself enjoying games that incorporate social media in some way, whether that’s through making it an interactive play element or using the game’s story to dig a little into our own relationship to social media. And the added bonus of horror elements definitely doesn’t hurt!

The game offers a mix of both of these things through the lens of upcoming influencer Dolly Pearson’s story as she tries to make it big on Instapix, the in-game social media site. Little does she know that things are about to take a very unexpected turn in her influencer journey -- making her question just what she would do to make it big.

Read more
The first two Suikoden games are getting surprise remasters in 2023
Heroes in Suidoken stand in a canyon.

Konami just announced Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars, a package that will modernize two classic PlayStation RPGs. It will launch in 2023 for PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.

Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars Announcement Trailer

Read more