Dredge, the 2023 indie game that was part fishing sim, part cosmic horror, is getting the adaptation treatment. Developer Black Salt games will be partnering with production company Story Kitchen on a live-action film based on the game’s world. Dredge is just the latest in the ever-growing trend of video game adaptations, but it is still a surprise (albeit a welcome one) considering its indie status and rather unique tone. The upcoming film has been described as “The Sixth Sense but on water” in a statement released today.
Story Kitchen behind a plethora of new video game adaptation projects currently in development. In addition to Dredge, the company is also working on adaptations of Sifu and Vampire Survivors. It was founded in 2022 by a group that includes Dmitri M. Johnson, a film producer whose credits include the Sonic movies. “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,” said Black Salt Games’ Nadia Thorne, Joel Mason, Alex Ritchie and Michael Bastiaens in the joint statement reported by Variety.
Dredge puts players in the shoes of a fisherman who traverses the waters surrounding a collection of remote islands. Each island has its own towns and citizens, all of whom seem slightly off upon talking to them. Players must explore the waters and catch fish in order to make a living. What starts as a fairly run-of-the-mill fishing simulator quickly becomes more sinister as the player ventures out to the ocean’s depths at night and encounters fish tainted by some cosmic entity. The rest of the game is spent balancing your time fishing to survive and unraveling the mysteries of the islands and their residents.
Dredge pulls off the genre mashup of delightful fishing simulator with anxiety-inducing Lovecraftian horror effortlessly. It’s a slower and more methodic story that I wouldn’t have guessed would get a live-action adaptation, but if Hollywood is going all in on the adaptation trend, then I’m happy it is giving us weirder projects based on indie gems like Dredge and not just prestige titles like HBO’s The Last of Us.