Having now gotten 100% in the eerie world of Dredge, I was eager to do more with my speedy, fully-upgraded boat and the huge wads of cash I had accumulated over the course of my adventure.  Fortunately, Dredge has some DLC in the form of the $5.99 Pale Reach expansion, which adds a large icy region into the previously empty, southern portion of your map. 

Exploring the Pale Reach took me about 2 hours, and to start, yes, it adds some of the usual stuff that you’d expect.  New fish, crabs, and aberrations, plus new rods.  The Pale Reach is also a bit larger in scale than each of the five main locations present in the base game.  Though, I think the most important thing I was looking forward to in the new DLC was the story and the sense of dread that I had grown used to in the main game.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but I can say that the Pale Reach tells the story of a doomed expedition.  It also introduces a new creature that is fairly fast and aggressive, though how difficult it will be for you to deal with depends on how much you’ve upgraded your boat.  My boat is very fast and upgraded as far as it can possibly be, meaning I had little trouble avoiding the threat, and the option to leave out fish for it as a distraction was never necessary (rather, this was only required a few times to progress).

Initially, I was very intrigued by the story in Pale Reach.  There was enough mystery to keep me interested, and the sense of unease only increased when I discovered the presence of a much larger creature.  Unfortunately, all the tension that the Pale Reach had built up culminated in a rather anticlimactic resolution to the story.  Online, I found that my sentiment towards the DLC’s ending is quite common, though some people defend it, arguing that it’s really no more or less than what we’ve come to expect from the other five locations in the game.  And…I suppose that’s completely true.  While the ending to the full game is quite dramatic indeed, the resolution to each of the five locations was never particularly exciting.  For example, the story of Gale Cliffs revolved more around reuniting two brothers than the sea serpent meandering about the cliffs.

With that said, I just expected more from the Pale Reach, probably because it was an addition to the main game.  I guess I was hoping for a miniature, standalone story that would have a greater impact.  Even so, I still had fun, which is what really matters in the end.  So if you really enjoyed Dredge and want more, I’d still recommend the Pale Reach DLC as long as you don’t allow your expectations to get too high.  It’s just another location to explore, no more, no less, and the lore is at least interesting, even if it doesn’t go anywhere.  After all, the Pale Reach DLC is only $5.99, and it does go on sale.  So even if the Pale Reach was not what I was expecting, for that price, I really can’t say I didn’t get my money’s worth.