Dredge, as both me and at least two of my coworkers have written before, is good fun. Its latest bit of DLC, The Iron Rig, is buy and large more of that same kind of fun, but I can’t help but feel that, at least from a narrative perspective, it had the potential to offer a bit more than it does.
As you’ve probably gleaned from the name, the central premise of the Iron Rig is that an oil rig has popped up to the north of the game’s established islands. So, as you did with the ice-filled Pale Reach, it’s your job to head to this new landmark and see if it has a need for the finest aquatic life and abominations in the land.
When you arrive, you’ll learn from the rig’s foreman that, as is the tradition, something mysterious is afoot. The ships dispatched by the Ironhaven corporation which owns the rig to bring the supplies its workers need to get it properly set up and drilling have sunk, and no one has the foggiest why. Thus begins one of the two central gameplay loops of the DLC – you head out, dredge up some crates belonging to the corporation, and bring them back to the rig to, on this occasion, unlock it as a home base.
