DREADMOOR is out now in Steam Early Access, and the numbers behind the launch tell their own story. More than 750,000 players wishlisted the game before release, pushing it into the top 60 most wishlisted games on Steam, and it is available now on PC for $19.99, with a 10 percent launch discount running until November 23. For a fishing game about a flooded world full of things that should not be in the water, that is an extraordinary amount of attention.
The game comes from developer Dream Dock and publisher Kwalee, and it is built around a simple, unsettling idea: the world has drowned, and the only way to survive in it is to fish. Not the relaxing kind of fishing, either. The waters of DREADMOOR are full of mutated creatures, the ruins below the surface hide both treasure and danger, and every expedition is a decision about how far from safety you are willing to drift.
What Is DREADMOOR?
At its core, DREADMOOR is a fishing adventure RPG set across a flooded, post-apocalyptic world. Players captain a trawler through more than ten distinct areas, from drowned cities to dead industrial zones, casting lines for over 200 species of fish. Some of them are ordinary. Many of them are not. The creatures down there have mutated, and the game leans into that with a mutation system that lets you research, catch, and even take on the traits of what you pull from the depths.
The loop is built to keep you coming back to the water. Catch fish, sell them, and use the money to upgrade your boat with better engines, sonar, and equipment that lets you reach deeper, darker water. Along the way there are more than 60 quests to take on, side activities like dredging wrecks and hunting treasure, and a cast of characters scattered through the settlements that still cling to the surface. The world is designed to feel lived in, even though most of it is underwater.
There is also a darker edge to the whole thing. The game wears its influences openly, and the flooded ruins, the mutated sea life, and the sense that something enormous is moving below the boat all add up to an atmosphere that is closer to horror than to a cosy fishing sim. You are not just relaxing on the water. You are working in a place that wants to eat you.
DREADMOOR Early Access: What Is In the Game Now
The Early Access version is not a bare-bones preview. Dream Dock says the full storyline is already playable, with the complete main quest chain available from day one, alongside all ten areas, the full fishing and mutation systems, and the boat upgrade progression. The plan is to spend six to twelve months in Early Access, using player feedback to shape what comes next, and the roadmap already has three additional chapters mapped out.
The first of those, Chapter One, is due around a month after launch, and it will add a new region, additional quests, and new mutation powers. Later chapters will expand the world further, with the studio promising new content with each update while it works towards a full 1.0 release. For Early Access buyers, that means the game they buy today is complete enough to finish, with more on the way.
The pricing is pitched to match. At $19.99, with 10 percent off until November 23, DREADMOOR is an accessible entry point for a game with this much pre-release momentum, and the wishlist numbers suggest the audience was already there before the launch trailer dropped. Steam’s top 60 wishlisted list is a difficult place to reach for an indie game, and it usually takes either a big publisher or a very strong hook to get there. DREADMOOR managed it on the hook alone.
Why 750,000 Players Wishlisted DREADMOOR
Part of the appeal is how neatly the game combines two things players already love. Fishing games have a huge, loyal audience, and survival horror has another one, and DREADMOOR sits right where those two circles overlap. The fishing is the calm surface: the rhythm of casting, waiting, and reeling in a catch. The horror is everything underneath, and the game never lets you forget that the water is not safe, even when the sun is out.
There is also the simple fact that the concept is easy to understand in a single screenshot. A lone boat on a flooded sea, a ruined skyline breaking the surface, and something vast moving underneath it. The launch trailer, embedded below, sells that image in about a minute, and it is easy to see why so many players clicked wishlist after watching it.
Early Access launches live or die on whether the first version feels worth the price, and the early signs for DREADMOOR are encouraging. The full story is in, the systems are complete, and the roadmap is specific rather than vague. If the updates land as planned, the game that leaves Early Access should be considerably larger than the one that entered it.
PC players looking for more to play this week can also check out SEEDS Launches on Steam Early Access — Terraform a Dead Planet Into a Living World, another Steam Early Access launch built around making a hostile world habitable, and Sea of Remnants Dawnbreaker Beta Starts December 3 — 21 Playable Characters and Two New Regions Await, which takes its ocean adventure in a very different direction. DREADMOOR is the darker, lonelier option of the three, and that is exactly the point.
Watch the DREADMOOR Early Access Trailer
You can watch the trailer above, and pick the game up now on Steam for $19.99, or 10 percent less until November 23. The full storyline is already in the game, with three more chapters on the way over the next six to twelve months.
Source: Dream Dock and Kwalee via Games Press
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