Sea Shanty
Dredge and a small Nintendo Music update
Nintendo Music
Well I caved. Four years since the official launch of the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service, and the company finally got me to sign up because of the recently released Nintendo Music app. For what it is it’s a fine app, it plays the music, but after using it for the past week and change it’s even weirder that Nintendo decided to release it when they did.
At the time of this writing, there are only 26 game soundtracks to choose from - 9 of which are Switch games and there is only 1 GBA and Gamecube game each. Knowing Nintendo’s rich catalog of music it feels criminal to have such a limited selection at launch. I can’t imagine any other service launching like this, but considering the rollout of Nintendo’s various iterations of Virtual Console over the last two decades I doubt they thought twice about it. So far, they’ve added a new game once a week, so hopefully that cadence continues, but I’ll likely have to wait until 2026 to make a rotating playlist of every version of Animal Crossing’s “7:00 AM”.
I have a couple other minor gripes that are simply inconvenient. First, it’s just a phone app. I’m most likely to use this app during my work day or when I’m writing, so to have a Mac or even a web app would be great. The second issue may just be a bug or truly a concoction of my own neurosis, but on the iPhone Lock Screen the track preview does not help you identify what game each song is from. Sure I’m listening to “Forest Interlude (Web Woods)”, but is that from Donkey Kong Country or Diddy’s Kong Quest? Each track is also given its own preview image instead of the game’s cover causing further confusion. Sure it’s not a huge problem now, but if they’re expecting me to be able to distinguish between screenshots of Nintendogs and Nintendogs + Cats we’re all going to be left disappointed. Lastly, I would love for the app to include more information about the composers. It’s a missed opportunity to celebrate and expand the reach of the creative minds behind the work that has lodged itself into our brains for years now.
I only complain because I think this app could be something special. It could be a tool that helps to further build up and shine a light on one of the aspects of gaming that tends to get lost to history. There’s a lot of great potential here, and you can already see that the team behind it has some great ideas in this first version. The feature of extending certain tracks to loop for 30 or 60 minutes has been great for my productivity this week. There’s also the ability to add a game to a list so that you don’t inadvertently stumble across spoilers in a track’s title. If you are into video game music there’s a lot to be excited about with this app, I just hope Nintendo continues to feel the same way.
Dredge
I actually started playing Dredge around the same time that I started Dead Space. I thought its seemingly more low-key but still creepy vibe would be a nice compliment to the intensity of Dead Space. The balance was definitely there, but the opening moments of the game were a bit too understated to keep my interest for very long.
In the game, you have recently taken on the job of local fisherman in the coastal town Greater Marrow. Upon arrival, you quickly understand that this isn’t just a normal job, and the town is plagued by some sort of Cthulu-esque force. From there, everything is loosely held together, and it is up to you to pull on the threads. Your initial task is simply to fish in order to make upgrades to your small boat which in turn allow you to travel farther out at sea. Along the way, you meet spooky town folk who are supposed to give you cause to go to a new island to do some further exploration. Unfortunately, the bread crumbs of story bits that you get come at such a glacial pace and the starting state of your ship is in such disrepair that it was difficult to stay motivated in the early stages of the game.
To be fair to Dredge I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with the way that the game is constructed - satisfaction can be found in the central gameplay loop and I think it’s one that is fairly common in other video games that I also enjoy. My suspicion is that it just isn’t the kind of game that fits well in the structure I’ve created in order to have something to write every couple of weeks. I tend to pick a couple games from a list and bounce between them, attempting to get a few hours deep, in the lead up to one of these posts. But there’s a big Persona-sized elephant in the room that tends to pull my attention away lately, and I found it difficult to actively choose to settle in for something as slow-paced as Dredge. For me at least, the game is better suited in a more longtail slot of my lineup. Pacing this out across months as opposed to weeks like I’ve tried to do feels like a more natural fit to its design.
This may not be for me right now, but I’ll say that if you are looking for a cozy game with some edge Dredge is worth checking out. The vibes are immaculate with this one. You just have to make sure it’s the vibe you’re looking for.