DREADMOOR Guide
Dream Dock's first-person fishing horror opens on Steam Early Access on November 9. You start with a worn-out trawler, a rod and a swamp that gets meaner after dark. These pages answer what new anglers actually ask — when it unlocks, what to craft first, how not to lose your hold to the tentacles — from the developers' own Steam posts and the free demo, with launch-day facts added as players find them.
Last checked Nov 8, 2026
Early Access: Mon, Nov 9, 2026 · 13:00 UTC (5 a.m. PT, 8 a.m. ET)
Price: $19.99 · optional Supporter Pack $4.99 · price rises at 1.0
Platform: Steam (Windows) only · single-player · playable on Steam Deck, not yet Verified
Developer: Dream Dock · published by Digital Vortex Entertainment
What you get: One major region, full core loop · about 6–12 months to 1.0
Free demo: On Steam since Oct 6 · playtest saves don't carry over
Basics
- DREADMOOR beginner guide: your first hours, step by step▶ VideoFollow the radio west to the trading post Betsy and Sons. Gill and Bozur treat your Blight on credit, so you work off the debt: get the bunkhouse key, find the Simple Rod, and catch 5 Snapper (Earthworm). Fix John the Fifth's moonshine still for the Dry Dock Key, make fuel with the Grinder and Fuel Larva, catch 3 Softgrazer (Wind-Up Tin), research and build your first upgrades, catch 3 Harpooner (Rainbow Fin), buy the Carburetor, and head for The Throat. This is the demo's order; Early Access may change details.
- DREADMOOR how-to: braided line, rod, saving, healing, torn pages, fuel▶ VideoBraided line: unlock it in the upgrade tree (Mastery), craft it at the workbench, then put your rod on the upgrade station and press Install. Torn pages are the research points you spend in that tree. Saving: the game is 'save anytime' with Steam Cloud, and a destroyed boat sends you back to your last save. Healing: you do have a health bar; the store lists craftable medicines — exact items come with Early Access. Fuel cans refuel your boat or the generator at The Throat.
- DREADMOOR FAQ: Dredge, multiplayer, consoles, developerNot Dredge: DREADMOOR is by Dream Dock (published by Digital Vortex Entertainment), not Black Salt Games — it's often compared to Dredge but is first-person, with on-foot exploration and real-time combat. Single-player only, PC (Steam) only at launch, built in Unreal Engine 5. Early 2025 doubts about whether the game was real have since been answered by a publisher deal, public playtests, a free demo and a dated Steam launch on Nov 9, 2026.
Launch & platforms
- DREADMOOR release date and unlock time in your time zone▶ VideoDREADMOOR enters Early Access on Steam on Monday, November 9, 2026. It unlocks at about 13:00 UTC: 5 a.m. PT, 8 a.m. ET, 1 p.m. in the UK, 2 p.m. in Berlin and Paris, 9 p.m. in Beijing and Singapore, 10 p.m. in Tokyo (just after midnight Nov 10 in Sydney). It's $19.99, Windows only, single-player. The free demo is still on Steam until then.
- How much is DREADMOOR? Price, Supporter Pack and regional prices$19.99 on Steam for Early Access, with an optional Early Access Supporter Pack for $4.99. In other regions: £17.75 (UK), €20.49 (Germany), ¥2,600 (Japan), ¥77 (China), R$67.99 (Brazil). Dream Dock says the price will go up at full release, so Early Access is the cheapest it's planned to be. The demo is free.
- DREADMOOR system requirementsMinimum: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600, Nvidia GTX 1060 (6 GB) / AMD RX 580 (8 GB), 8 GB RAM. Recommended: Intel Core i5-12400F / AMD Ryzen 5 5600, RTX 4060 / RX 7600, 16 GB RAM. Both need 64-bit Windows 10 or newer, DirectX 12 and 60 GB of storage. No Mac or Linux version; the demo runs on Steam Deck but isn't Verified yet.
- DREADMOOR Early Access: what's in it and what's comingEarly Access (from Nov 9) has a complete core loop, one major region, the original story and a wide range of fish and mutations. When the story ends you can keep fishing, hunting rare specimens and upgrading. Dream Dock expects 6–12 months to 1.0, which adds new areas and adventures, more fish, new fishing mechanics and more boat upgrades, with smaller updates along the way. The price rises at 1.0.
- DREADMOOR demo: what's in it and does progress carry over?The free DREADMOOR Demo has been on Steam since Oct 6, 2026 (separate store entry, about 7.7 GB). It covers the opening: the harbour, getting your trawler, fishing and crafting at the workbench, the Fishing and Ship Upgrade skill trees, the Grappling Hook Gun and Harpoon Launcher. Dream Dock hasn't said demo saves carry into Early Access, and every earlier playtest save was wiped — plan on starting fresh on Nov 9.
- DREADMOOR platforms, Steam Deck and multiplayerAt launch DREADMOOR is Steam on Windows only. Steam Deck: the demo is playable on Deck, but the game has no Verified rating yet. No PS5, Xbox or Switch version has been announced, and there's no Mac or Linux build. It's single-player only — no co-op. Text in 12 languages, voice acting in English and Russian.
Fishing
- How fishing works in DREADMOOR▶ VideoCast at disturbed water (bubbles, a fish school or a splash zone) with the right bait. When a fish bites, pull the opposite way it swims to drain its stamina; when it's tired, reel in — but watch line tension: if it fills, the line snaps and the fish is gone. Close enough, press Land Fish. Predators are different: throw a lure into the splash zone and reel at a speed the fish can follow — too fast or stopping too long loses it.
- Bait, lures and crafting in DREADMOORMatch the bait to the fish: Earthworm for ordinary fish like the Snapper (no crafting), Wind-Up Tin for peaceful fish like the Softgrazer (1 Metal Plate + 1 Fish Meat), and the Rainbow Fin lure for predators like the Harpooner (1 Fish Meat + 1 Metal Plate + 1 Chromatic Scales). Craft at the workbench. Fish Meat comes from the Grinder, Chromatic Scales from the Thresher (peaceful fish), Metal Plates from wrecks and floating barrels. These are demo recipes.
- DREADMOOR fish listConfirmed so far: Snapper (ordinary, Earthworm), Softgrazer (peaceful, Wind-Up Tin), Harpooner (predator, Rainbow Fin), Bristler (dangerous predator), and Shovelnose and Gleamer (added in the September playtest). Japanese coverage relays the developers' figure of 100+ species in total; Early Access opens Nov 9 and this list grows from launch day. Each catch goes into the glossary with 1–3 star rarity, peaceful/violent, and weight.
Trawler
Survival
Walkthrough
Live
- Is DREADMOOR down right now? Live server statusThe card below shows how many people are playing DREADMOOR right now, straight from the official Steam player-count API, and refreshes every 5 minutes. If that number looks normal, the servers are up and a connection problem is on your end or a rolling update.
- DREADMOOR player count right nowThe number below is the live DREADMOOR player count on Steam — people in the game at this moment, from the official API, refreshed every 5 minutes. Counts peak in the US evening and dip in the early morning, so compare against the same time of day. Before launch (Nov 9, about 13:00 UTC) the game isn't out, so the API may return no count — that's expected, not a bug.
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