Dreadmoor Resurfaces With New Publisher
- The horror fishing game returns with new publisher Digital Vortex, but still no gameplay footage.
- Gamers question its originality and legitimacy after the developer fails to deliver on promised updates.
- Run by ex-MY.GAMES and Wargaming staff, Digital Vortex plans a Q4 2026 release for Dreadmoor.
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Dredge By Any Other Name
Dreadmoor, the controversial fishing horror first debuted by Dream Dock in April this year, has resurfaced with new social media accounts and a new publisher, Digital Vortex. However, although the announcement does come with a projected release date, it doesn’t come with any new game footage.
Dreadmoor tasks players with exploring and surviving in a post-apocalyptic world, primarily by sailing around and catching fish. Dream Dock is a new studio that was initially reported as being based in Poland, but its CEO has since clarified it’s based in Russia, with a lot of remote staff. This lack of information on the company, combined with a lack of gameplay videos, has still got gamers wary about the legitimacy of Dreadmoor.
Even so, Digital Vortex has signed on as publisher. In a recent statement posted on LinkedIn, the company said: “We’re excited to announce a partnership with Dream Dock on DREADMOOR, a dark first-person horror fishing adventure set in a flooded, post-apocalyptic world. Digital Vortex will support production, go-to-market, and community growth while safeguarding the team’s creative direction.”
Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery
There’s a strong weird fiction influence in Dreadmoor and, to the developers’ credit, Dream Dock haven’t been shy about games it’s inspired by that also owe a debt to the work of H.P. Lovecraft:
“Dreadmoor is a first-person Dredge with a land-based adventure in the vein of Resident Evil, Metro Exodus,” the studio said in a press release. “You can also say that it is the quintessence of Dredge and Pacific Drive, Fallout.”
However, when it was first revealed, and during a subsequent Reddit AMA, a lot of gamers jumped on the similarities – and lack of actual gameplay in the trailer – to accuse Dream Dock of being plagiarists with a scam game. The devs didn’t help themselves by claiming that the official website would be updated soon with more info, as well as news on a forthcoming demo, neither of which have materialized.
Existing social channels for the game have also been all but scrubbed – the Discord channel still exists but has had all messages and content from before Oct. 30 removed, for example. Combined with no new info on the game itself, players are still skeptical, as evidenced by a comment under the refreshed Dreadmoor X account revealing the Digital Vortex partnership.
“This is very clearly heavily ‘inspired’ by Dredge, and until I see proper reviews/gameplay showcased I am not trusting it to be real.”
Digital Vortex Announce The Partnership
Digital Vortex is so new that this writer was the third person to join its Discord channel at the time of publication, although it’s more active on X and YouTube. The publisher also shares ties with Dream Dock – the CEO of the latter, Rostislav Fedorov, worked at Amsterdam-based publisher MY.GAMES (Starship Troopers: Extermination), which is also where the Digital Vortex CEO, Alex Izotov, used to work.
However, gamers looking for a vote of confidence in the publisher should note that its Head of Business Development, Stan Semianikhin, used to work for Wargaming (World of Tanks, Steel Hunters) and the company has backing from Vladimir Nikolsky, the former CEO of Astrum Entertainment (Atomic Heart, Warface).
Most importantly, Digital Vortex’ first published game is RailGods of Hysterra, by Troglobytes Games. Despite being in Early Access, it’s already received decent reviews, with most negative player ones noting that it needs a bit more time in the game dev oven (as the publisher, Digital Vortex is helping with development).
Although neither Dream Dock nor Digital Vortex has said when to expect more news about Dreadmoor, the publisher has run regular updates on RailGods of Hysterra so the chances of updates coming sooner rather than later are good. So far, both parties have Dreadmoor slated for a Q4 2026 release.
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