If catching your typical trout sounds too tame, a new fishing game called Dreadmoor might rock your boat the right way. Players can cast into a flooded wasteland for rare and dangerous mutant species. But watch your back: hostile creatures roam both the water and what remains of dry land.
The survival adventure is available in Steam Early Access from today (9 November 2026). A recent trailer gives viewers a taste.
A recent trailer reveals the flooded setting called the Submerged Lands. Here, settlements are separated by dangerous stretches of water and the remains of civilisation. Players can use a fishing trawler to travel between locations, carry supplies and search for places to fish.
Different waters contain dozens of species. Bait choice and fishing location affect what players can pull from beneath the surface, while more dangerous catches can fetch higher prices.
However, landing something valuable does not guarantee a payday. Fish stored together in the trawler’s hold can eat one another, meaning a prized specimen may disappear before the boat reaches a trader. Players need to consider which catches they keep together. Creatures can be dissected to harvest organs and body parts for crafting lures and other equipment.
Encounters unfold through real-time combat, while travelling after dark can bring additional dangers. Players can leave the trawler to search abandoned buildings, caves and shipwrecks for scrap metal, blueprints and other useful materials.
Recovered resources can be turned into specialised bait, reinforced harpoons, medicines and survival tools. The trawler and other equipment can also be upgraded to support longer trips into more hostile parts of the flooded world.
Dream Dock, the studio developing Dreadmoor, says the Early Access release includes one major region along with the main fishing, scavenging, exploration and upgrade systems. Players can continue exploring and improving the trawler after reaching the end of the currently available story content.
Dream Dock expects the development period to last about six to twelve months. The studio plans to add areas, adventures, fish species, fishing mechanics and boat upgrades while refining balance, accessibility, controls and performance using player feedback.
* Visit the Steam page for ‘Dreadmoor’ here.