Image: Dream Dock & Digital Vortex Entertainment

There's been a whole barrage of games blending horror and fishing lately. Dredge being the best known, but also Crabmeat, Umigari, and the upcoming About Fishing too, among many others. Joining this damp and dreadful crew today is first-person spooky fish-'em-up Dreadmoor, making its early access debut today.

Clearly inspired by Dredge, it's a game about being a fisherman in a cursed Lovecraft-inspired world of mutants, occultists, fishmen and other watery weirdos. Fishing's a dangerous job, but it's a lifeline for those still living above water. It's a little bit more gnarly and cartoonish than Dredge, though, with you getting hired by a watery-looking mute fella with a snarky talking eel parasite on his shoulder to be the settlement's latest angler.

Going out and fishing, making a profit, and upgrading your boat and rod are of course just part of the equation. There's combat against the occasional bunch of waterlogged undead, and some big soggy monsters out there that need a good harpooning. It's a pity the game missed Halloween, really - the vibe I get from the game is less horror and dread, and more 'rubber masks and spooky cliches', which is still scary enough for some, but less intense.

Initial sales on Dreadmoor look to be solid, with nearly 4,000 players out on the waters already. The first noises coming in from those players are largely positive, although the user review numbers are liable to change at any time. People were pretty critical of the game's demo (now sadly unavailable) for its bugs and general performance issues, and it seems like they've managed to hammer out the worst of those kinks, but there's still a good way to go until this one's fully ship-shape.

The current early access release features the first of several planned regions, with its own quest-arc, and plenty of weird fish to catch in those initial waters, but there's a lot more to come. Developers Dream Dock reckon that it'll be at least six months and maybe a full year until the game's complete, with more areas, upgrades and missions. More of the same, then, but I guess if you're already on the hook...

Dreadmoor is out now for £17.75/$20, with a 10% launch discount. More to be saved if you own Murky Divers, Gone Fishing, Voodoo Fishin', or the somewhat more landbound (but thematically related) Pacific Drive.