First-Person Fishing Horror Dreadmoor Announced With Very Familiar New Trailer
New Polish studio Dream Dock has released the first trailer for its debut title, Dreadmoor, a horror fishing sim that admits to owing a great deal of inspiration to another Lovecraftian fishing sim, Dredge. Dream Dock hasn’t revealed when the game is expected to be out, other than it’ll appear on PC.
Dreadmoor is presented as a first-person adventure set in a Lovecraftian post-apocalyptic world, where darkness and radiation have created monstrous things. Dream Dock states that players will get to hunt for fish and craft supplies, as well as improving their boat.
“Step behind the helm of a fishing trawler and set sail into a world where, after a global nuclear war, continents have sunk beneath the waves, replaced by scattered islands and submerged ruins of ancient civilizations,” Dream Dock said in a press release.
“Upgrade your ship and craft equipment to explore hidden depths and secret locations. Mutated creatures and sinister mysteries lie hidden in the deep and within abandoned structures, especially at night.”
Horror Fishing Homage
Ask any gamer to name a recent horror fishing title and chances are they’ll think of Dredge, the award-winning Lovecraftian fishing sim by Black Salt Games. It has players venture out into uncharted waters to catch weird sea creatures as sinister aquatic leviathans haunt the water.
If they make it back to a port, they can sell their catch and upgrade their boat, all while trying to solve quests involving lost loves, crumbling mansions, and secret research stations. However, if the player decides to go out at night or stays awake too long, they start to see creepy things, such as hovering red eyes and ghostly forms.
Dreadmoor has all this and more, from the creepy red eyes to fish (in the game and on Dream Dock’s website) that bear a striking resemblance to the ones in Dredge. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Dreadmoor is probably going to get married to Dredge, settle down, and raise Lovecraftian fish-babies together.
It’s not unfounded, either, as Dream Dock makes it clear where its inspirations come from in the Dreadmoor press release:
“Dreadmoor is a first-person Dredge with a land-based adventure in the vein of Resident Evil, Metro Exodus. You can also say that it is the quintessence of Dredge and Pacific Drive, Fallout.”
Who is Dream Dock?
No concrete info about the studio exists on its official site, other than the names of its CEO and CFO, and that it offers full-cycle production development. It’s not uncommon for indie developers to seemingly appear out of nowhere, but for a studio to launch all its media channels on the same day, without any kind of dev logs or previous game-related online info, is unusual.
However, the developers did start an AMA on Reddit on Wednesday April 16, 2025, which received a lot of attention from gamers, but not entirely positive ones.
For example, a lot of people have noted that the Dreadmoor trailer seems to consist entirely of prerendered animation, not actual gameplay. When asked about this, the devs avoided an answer for a considerable amount of time before offering an unsatisfactory response, which included:
“We needed to record gameplay with the interface in multiple languages, as well as add camera movements uncharacteristic of normal gameplay to enhance the dramatic viewing effect for the audience. However, this was unachievable when recording real gameplay.”
Dream Dock did respond to questions about its team, though, by revealing there are 10 people with the studio, plus some outsourced staff. However, further questions as to why its website and related channels are all slapdash were met with what could be called an unprofessional response.
“Because the deadlines were tight, we simply didn’t have time to fully develop the website. We’re already working on expanding it and will include team photos. But some of our specialists are very shy, so there will just be funny avatars instead.”
The developer also listed a number of projects Dream Dock staff have worked on in the past, including World War Z and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, and mentioned working under NDAs. The latter is very common in this industry, but it still doesn’t fully explain why the projects namedropped aren’t highlighted on the Dream Dock site.
Lastly, when asked about releasing a playable demo and the game’s actual release date, the developers avoided a concrete date, but did offer some information.
“Technically, we expect the demo to be completed within two months, but it will be tested in a closed format. We will announce the selection process separately a bit later. Since the release of the demo is a major standalone announcement—we don’t want to reveal it prematurely. We want to showcase the demo as close to the release as possible, so players won’t have to wait too long. Currently, we’re planning the release for 2026, but this is not an official date.”
