DREADMOOR keeps your progress in save files, and the developer’s pinned Steam FAQ spells out what that means when things go wrong: if your ship is destroyed, your character dies and the game reloads your most recent save, so everything since then is lost. The Steam store page also lists Save Anytime and Steam Cloud among the game’s features, so your saves are not tied to one PC.
Dream Dock and Digital Vortex Entertainment have not published a step-by-step for the save menu, so this guide sticks to what they have confirmed as of the Early Access launch, plus the habit that matters most while the game is still being patched.
What the Developers Have Confirmed
- Death reloads your last save. The developer’s FAQ says that if your ship is destroyed, your character dies and the game reloads your most recent save. You lose any progress made since then, and your resources and equipment go back to how they were at that point too.
- Save Anytime is listed. The Steam store page includes Save Anytime in the game’s feature list, which the developer chooses on Steam. The developers have not said publicly where the save option sits in the menus.
- Steam Cloud is supported. The store page lists Steam Cloud, so your saves follow your Steam account.
- Going back a save is the fix for some early bugs. When a few quests could get stuck because a step was done before the quest asked for it, Digital Vortex’s advice on the Steam forums was that “you may have to go back a save game” while a fix was made.
Earlier builds handled this differently. Dream Dock’s May preview notes said a destroyed ship was towed to the nearest dock with its cargo hold emptied. The current FAQ, last edited on launch day, describes reloading your most recent save instead.
What Dying Costs You
Because death sends you back to your last save, every trip away from safety is a gamble on how much you have done since it. Death comes from more than sinking: health drops from attacks on land and at sea, and Update #1 added a danger timer that starts when you enter waters your quest progress or boat upgrades are not ready for.
Our healing guide covers how to keep your health up and take less damage. Dream Dock’s notes also say travelling at night is extremely dangerous, with tentacles active after dark, so long night trips are where saves matter most.
Keep an Older Save Around
This is the habit that matters most in Early Access. The developers’ own advice for stuck quests is to go back a save, which only helps if you have one from before the problem. Two patches in two days (Update #1 on November 9 and Update #2 on November 10) fixed several progression blockers, but Early Access games keep changing.
So:
- Do not rely on a single save. If the game lets you keep more than one, keep an older one from a quiet moment.
- Be careful around big quest steps, like the multi-part Father Matthias quest that asks for Bloodgill (our Bloodgill guide has the details).
- Back up the save folder by hand before a big session if you want a guaranteed fallback (see below).
- Report blockers. The developers ask for bug reports on Steam Discussions or their official Discord server.
Where Save Files Live
Digital Vortex’s own instructions, written for clearing out old playtest and demo saves, go through Steam: in your Library, right-click DREADMOOR, choose Manage > Browse local files, open the Dreadmoor folder and look for the Saved folder. Copy that folder somewhere safe to keep a manual backup.
Two cautions:
- Do not carry over playtest saves. Digital Vortex warned before the demo that old playtest saves could cause bugs and crashes, and recommended starting fresh.
- Back up before you delete anything. Copy the folder first, then change what you need.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you save anywhere in DREADMOOR? The Steam store page lists Save Anytime among the game’s features. The developers have not published where the save option sits in the menus.
What happens to my progress when I die? The game reloads your most recent save, and anything since then is lost, per the developer’s FAQ.
Does DREADMOOR have cloud saves? Yes. The store page lists Steam Cloud support.
Does sleeping in a bed save the game? The developers have not said so. Their notes describe resting as a way to skip time, so do not count on it as a save.
Where are DREADMOOR save files? In the Saved folder inside the game’s Dreadmoor folder, reached through Steam’s Manage > Browse local files, per Digital Vortex’s instructions for older test builds.