A free digital fanzine centered around Dredge,
the horror fishing game by Black Salt GamesCURRENTLY IN CREATION PHASE
DREDGING UP THE ZINE ON OCTOBER 31, 2025
Messages in a Bottle: A Dredge Fanzine is a collaborative fanzine that will focus on events that take place before the main story in Dredge. The fanzine will be SFW, digital, and free.Artwork, fanfiction, and other media will explore events leading up to the game's main storyline––the 20-year period before the Fisherman and the Collector jumpstart the story. Contributors will use lore from the game and their creativity to fill in the blanks of that 20-year period.
| Check-in 1 | Jun 17 |
| Check-in 2 | Jul 29 |
| Check-in 3 | Aug 26 |
| Final deadline | Sep 9 |
| Formatting period | Sep - Oct |
| Zine release (Main & DLC) | Oct 31 |
| Donation period (DLC only) | Oct 31 - Nov 30 |
| DLC zine free for download | Dec 1 |
CHOCO
Head & Social MediaWaves lap against the basalt shores of Blackstone Isle as Choco releases another bottle into the sea. The vessel of dark glass drifts away, carrying a message that echoes with whispers from the Deep.
PEACHES
OrganizationYour boat docks and you find Peaches huddled next to a campfire, muttering about video games and zines, determined to bring this zine to life under the watchful eye of the All-Seeing Cod.
OCEAN
WritingThe Ocean’s wild and wrack-filled eyes stare into you. She babbles labyrinthine directives, suggesting corrections to your path, guiding you toward your goal. The Spine’s broken ruins await.
Under her waves, the watch ticks backwards.
RIC
ArtSomething slithers into your cargo hold, a twisted thing that can scratch artwork into rusty steel and rotting wood. Ric is providing scribbled shapes and images as a form of communication with you.
IZU/POTENTIALFORART
FormattingUnder brackish water, something stirs. Mud clouds the depths but as debris bobs and falls beneath the surface, amalgamations arise. Their composition seemingly more than the sum of its parts, it'll do for company.
EPILOGUE
GraphicsGraphic designer & illustrator
who loves fish and scary bodies of water!
What is a fanzine?
A fanzine, or simply "zine," is an unofficial publication created by fans, for fans. Fanzines may include fanworks such as art, writing, music, cosplay, and photography.What will the Dredge fanzine include?
The Dredge fanzine will explore the 20-year period leading up to the main events of the game. It will be organized around areas from the base game (Stellar Basin, the Marrows, etc) with a balanced number of fanworks per area. There will also be an extra mini-zine containing fanworks for the DLC areas (Pale Reach and Iron Rig).Is this a horror zine?
Since Dredge is a horror game, the main focus of this fanzine will be horror, with genres such as cosmic horror, body horror, psychological horror, etc. Mature and sensitive topics are allowed and may explore themes of violence, abuse, psychological trauma, and more. Works may also depict gore or blood, but not to an excessive degree. Please note that this fanzine is SFW, which means that it will NOT contain sexual content of any kind.What types of relationships are allowed?
General/platonic relationships and romantic relationships ("ships"). Romantic ships will be SFW.Will this fanzine be for charity or for profit?
The main Dredge fanzine will always be available to download for free. For a limited period of time, the extra DLC mini-zine will be available to download for supporters who donate an amount of their choice to the NZ Whale & Dolphin Trust, a charity that has been supported by Black Salt Games and Team17 in the past. Supporters can get a copy of the DLC mini-zine by emailing a screenshot of their donation to [email protected]. After this donation period is over, we will make the DLC mini-zine available for free.Will you offer an option to purchase a physical zine?
We will provide the main fanzine and the DLC mini-zine as PDF files only. However, we will also provide PDFs that are formatted for printing if you wish to print a physical copy of the zine on your own and at your own expense.Can I apply to be a moderator?
Our mod team is currently full! Thank you to everyone who applied!Can I apply to be a contributor?
Contributor applications are closed, and creation phase has begun! Thank you to everyone who applied!What if I have a question that isn't answered here?
We've got you covered! Send us your question on our Q&A app, Neospring.