After 100% this game with all the DLCs, I can say I thoroughly enjoyed this game.
It has very good gameplay and atmosphere alongside beautiful art.
The game can be utterly terrifying at some points, but that's mostly at the start, where you don't know the mechanics and your boat is quite slow. With each new location, the scare factor fades away more and more (in my opinion, it drops off significantly after the second one, 'Gale Cliffs'), which would be my second critique.
Each of the five locations provides a unique feel/look with new hazards that spice up the gameplay. While the overall story is a bit in the background, looking at it as a whole, it's quite good; however, you'll mainly care about the characters, who are simple yet engaging enough to make wanna complete all their quests.
Fishing is fun and varied and nicely interspliced with exploration, creating some really tense moments (especially at night!). The feeling of slowly upgrading your ship and collecting all the equipment is really cool and rewarding. Collecting all the aberrant fish is the most tedious part for the completionists out there, but it's not too much grind if you pace it nicely.
My biggest critique would be the inventory system. I do not mind juggling space in my ship, but for the love of god WHY ISN'T THE DOCK INVENTORY INFINITE?! I don't like throwing away stuff, and the near-constant inventory management near the end of the game soured my experience. It was 100% self-inflicted, yet I still feel bitter
Blackstone Key - You may see some negative reviews on this one, and that's quite simple. It's not a DLC. It's a nice bonus you can buy as a tip to the devs, which gives two items for your ship, one super good one and one "eh".
The Pale Reach DLC - this DLC adds a whole new location that can be accessed at any point. It doesn't break any new ground and is exactly what you would expect. It's fun, and I liked it quite a bit. (2h~ of content)
The Iron Rig DLC - This DLC expands the game vertically, adding content to all previous locations alongside expanding some ship mechanics. It was quite fun but slightly tedious due to the way I played it (I played it right after the base game, which adds an edge of repetition to the whole game), so either pick it up in the middle of a playthrough, or after you haven't played the game for a bit.
This game hooked me and was an absolutely addictive experience, 10/10
