Welcome to DREADMOOR, a world steeped in loneliness, melancholy, and quiet tension, where every faint echo or ripple is a hint that the world around you is never entirely still.
The world of DREADMOOR exists in a strange in-between state, changed, weathered, and reshaped over time, yet still unmistakably alive. Set in “The Submerged Land”, this post-apocalyptic reflection of our Earth bears the marks of radiation, Sea Blight, biotechnological failures, and the slow erosion that comes with time.
The world we are building is not a fully fictional world, nor a direct mirror of reality. Instead, it is a hybrid; you will come across familiar landscapes, albeit submerged beneath ever-rising waters, with only fragments of human civilization clinging to the surface.
What remains of the world is often weathered and overgrown with moss, unusual growths, and marked by the irradiated remnants of past human activity. Yet the world is not dead. Nature always finds a way to adapt, and in the Sumberged Land, nature has adapted in unexpected ways.
Strange creatures inhabit the waters, from the decaying swamps to the flooded ruins of humanity's past. Some of these creatures keep their distance, while others simply follow instincts shaped by this new environment.
And yet, amid the ruin and decay, rare sanctuaries can be found, small pockets of untouched nature remain. Calm, quiet, almost pristine, as if the land itself is trying to reject the corruption that consumed it.
From the very first moments that you enter the world of DREADMOOR, we want you to feel two truths deep in your bones:
1. You are a stranger here, and no one is waiting for you.
2. Silence is only the calm before the storm.
INSPIRATION AND VISION
When we first set out to create DREADMOOR, we knew that a big part of the work would go into creating the game's atmosphere, one that is quiet, uneasy, and tense. On top of that, the aim was to create a game that is first and foremost focused on adventure and the survival experience, and through it make the players think, at least for a while, of humanity’s impact on the planet.
How did it begin?
It all began with a single premise: what if humanity grew to an extent that, in its hubris, it found a way to use the Earth itself as a weapon, and what if that backfired?
In the world of DREADMOOR, that is exactly what happened. An experimental device, designed to manipulate Earth's magnetic fields, was activated during a time when desperation ran rampant, and the consequences were catastrophic. The poles suddenly shifted, the climate dramatically changed, and across the continents, the crust fractured, and much of the land sank beneath the waves.
For humanity, what followed was the collapse of the world order. The survivors of the initial catastrophe soon found themselves divided and struggled to adapt, sparking conflicts between the survivors. Worse, modern industry shut down, leaving behind vast amounts of toxic chemicals and radioactive material. Unguarded, unmanaged, unwatched, slowly the safeguards failed, and leaks began to poison the environment. As the contaminants seeped into the oceans, the ecosystem changed in ways no one anticipated, ultimately giving birth to the Sea Blight.
In time, new species appeared, creatures shaped by the blighted waters. Some of these new creatures were aggressive, posing a real danger to anyone venturing into their domains, especially in the flooded ruins where both humans and wildlife competed for space.
Every location in DREADMOOR carries the weight of that collapse. The unsettling presence of the world, both above and below the water line, serves as a quiet reminder that the damage was of our own making.
This is the kind of Lovecraftian dread we aim for, dread rooted in human hubris, not cosmic indifference, for the world of DREADMOOR was not destroyed by an uncaring cosmos, but by humanity's own arrogance.
At its core, DREADMOOR is about an ever-present unease, the sense that the world holds secrets just out of sight, and that every fog-shrouded corner might reveal something unexpected. It’s within this mood that players find themselves exploring the world, navigating a landscape swallowed by water, fog, and silence, where a new form of tainted nature steadily replaces the old "natural" world and takes over from humanity.
Nothing shapes this world more than the Sea Blight, a living infection carried by water. It creeps across cities and coastlines alike, fusing with structures and mutating anything caught in its slow, persistent advance.
At its heart, DREADMOOR is a cautionary what-if story for us to consider.
What if we pushed our environment beyond its limits and altered it in ways we could no longer control? How would the planet change in response, and what would life look like in a world reshaped by our own hand?
Until now, we’ve just introduced the world of DREADMOOR, its drowned cities and its ever-creeping blight, but the world we’re building in DREADMOOR offers much, much more.
So, now we’ll give you a quick look at the game’s core systems that define DREADMOOR, and in doing so, we hope to dispel some more of the fog and mystery that shrouds our game!
The Core
The core of the game is built on an ever-shifting loop: fishing, exploration, survival, and combat, each bleeding into the next, never offering true safety, and thus keeping the player on their toes at all times.
- Fishing isn’t a safe pastime activity; the toxicity of our...world (of DREADMOOR) poses many risks. Predators hide beneath the surface, many fish behave aggressively, some drain your resources, and some even fight back.
- Exploration means searching for materials, new fishing spots, shelters, and remnants of forgotten settlements.
- Survival is managing radiation, fatigue, hunger, limited inventory space, and a hostile environment.
○ You get tired when fighting large prey.
○ You risk radiation whenever you enter contaminated waters.
○ You’re restricted by what you can carry or store in the hold.
The hook gun is used to grab onto items that might be useful!
Our goal has always been to heighten the feeling of vulnerability; therefore, we went with the first-person view.
Fishing and Your Boat
Fishing is a core part of DREADMOOR, and with that comes the humble boat that you control. After all, the best catch is often found in the open water, beyond the reach of the land.
When designing the boat controls, we wanted our players to not just control the boat, but also to feel the heaviness of the atmosphere around them, and the restricting nature of the submerged world.
Your boat is not a sailboat; fuel is needed to keep your vessel moving!
The first-person view gives the player the same view that the boat’s pilot would see, the view in front of them, and that’s all. There is no camera to show them what is underwater, and they cannot see front and back at the same time. This amplifies the importance of sound, as not only must the player carefully observe the world around them, but they must also listen out for the sound of approaching danger.
If fishing is so dangerous, then why fish?
CLOSING
This is the heart of the DREADMOOR experience: a cycle of discovery, tension, and survival where every haul you catch, every shadow you see, and every sound you hear matters.
As development continues, we’ll share more about the creatures you’ll face, the tools you’ll rely on, and the dangers that threaten you both above and below the waterline. For now, prepare yourself, because in DREADMOOR, the world is always watching, and the depths never sleep.
Finally, keep your eyes open and focused on us, as we’ll soon unveil the playtest announcement, complete with the timeline, how to participate, and what exactly we will be putting to the test!
About DREADMOOR
DREADMOOR is a dark first-person horror fishing adventure game. Anglers explore both land and sea, fishing for a wide variety of aquatic creatures lurking in the depths of the treacherous waters, and fighting their way through a flooded wasteland filled with danger and mystery.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3629430/DREADMOOR
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