DREADMOOR demo walkthrough: the radio, the trading post and the flophouse
Quick answer
Take the axe from the ghoul's head (aim at the handle), equip it with 1 and break the yellow-painted barricade. Follow the pier to the boat and tune the radio on the wheelhouse table: hold left mouse on the big dial and drag right slowly until the signal locks near the right end of the band. Sail to the trading post, steering around the wrecks, press X in the docking zone and ring the bell on the anglerfish post at the end of the short pier. Talk to Gill and Bozur in Betsy & Sons, carry your chest from the pier to the flophouse, and patch the hole with the iron sheet and then the wooden frame from beside the couch. Sleep until 10 AM, take the Simple Rod from the workbench, step out on the balcony and meet Gill and Bozur on the platform behind the Dry Dock for your first job: Snappers.
Open marked sections to reveal solutions or story details.
Before you start
A new game in the DREADMOOR Demo
The keys: F interacts, 1 equips the axe, X docks
1
Spoiler level
Light story spoilers for the demo's first night: quest names, the places you visit, who you meet and one scripted scare in the flophouse. Nothing past the first fishing job is described.
Malcolm wakes in a wrecked shack at night. Press L for the flashlight. There's rope on the table and a note on the dresser called Younger Brother; the dresser drawers held Metal Plates for us.
The quest asks you to pull the axe out of the ghoul's head. The body is in the next room. Get close and aim at the axe handle, then press F. The quest becomes Boat, and a tip says to press 1 to equip the axe.
The way out is a barricade marked with yellow paint. Swing at it with left mouse until it breaks; it took us several swings.
Outside, the boat marker counts down from about 14 m, but the pier doesn't run straight there. Go forward past the nets with orange floats, then follow the plank walkway round to the rope bridge and the boat. The rocks with coral by the rope bridge are a dead end.
A wheel near the shack has a gear icon: three axe swings gave us Rubber. Once you reach the boat, the quest becomes Signal: tune the radio to start the conversation.
The radio is on the table to the right of the wheel. Aim at it and press F (Tune In). The tip says to move the cursor over the tuning dial, hold the left mouse button and adjust the frequency.
Put the cursor on the big dial on the right of the radio, hold left mouse and drag right. Move slowly: fast jerks barely moved the needle for us, small steady drags did.
The glow on the frequency strip isn't the signal. We held the needle in the middle of the glow for over 40 seconds with nothing. Keep dragging right: the signal locked for us near the right end of the band, about three quarters to five sixths of the way from 100 kHz towards 250 kHz.
When it locks, Gill and Bozur's voices come through and the game takes over. Gill asks where you're calling from. We answered An abandoned house; the other choice is None of your business. Move the mouse towards a choice and click it, then Space moves the conversation on. Gill tells you to sail straight ahead to their trading post and head into Betsy & Sons. The quest becomes Trading Post.
On screen: Checked on screen November 2: the SIGNAL quest on the HUD beside the boat, then the wheelhouse radio, with Gill's voice coming through and telling Malcolm to sail straight to the trading post.
“A New Open World Apocalyptic RPG That's Got My Attention! - Dreadmoor” by Splattercatgaming · Oct 13, 2026 · Free demo footage, uploaded before our check; the creator's chapter list calls it the demo and the HUD matches the demo quests we played. The build number isn't legible in the frames we checked.
Walk up to the wheel and press F to take control, then X to undock. The marker read about 182 m. On the map the trading post is the house icon at the top, straight ahead of where the boat starts.
Our first try ended badly: we held W straight off the pier and got YOU ARE DEAD after about eight seconds without seeing what hit us. Gill later warns that your tub will sink before you know it because of the tentacles, and that it's best to sleep at night. On the second try we steered around the wrecks and reached the post.
We also got stuck once at about 154 m against something we couldn't see beside a spiky wreck; reversing with S and turning with A freed us.
About 13 m out the quest becomes Mooring and a tip explains docking: press X inside a docking zone. When the anchor icon shows, press X. Progress is saved.
The bell isn't up the stairs among the shops. It hangs from a carved anglerfish post at the end of the short pier, a few steps from where you dock. We spent about six minutes searching the upper walkways first.
Aim at the bell and press F. The quest becomes Merchants: enter the shop and talk to the merchants. The shop door faces the bell across the pier.
Open the door of Betsy & Sons (aim at the handle, F). Bozur stands at the counter and Gill does the talking. Malcolm has the Blight; Gill offers a dose of Essence on credit, written in their ledger, to be worked off. One choice asks where you came from: From the direction of the Church Settlement or What do you care?
Gill gives you the key to the bunkhouse, the flophouse, and says they'll contact you in the morning. The quest becomes Personal Belongings: take the chest from the pier.
Spoiler clip · Meeting the merchants at the trading post (creator chapter at 7:15) · reveal
On screen: Checked on screen November 2: the MERCHANTS quest at the shop door on the trading post, then inside with Gill and Bozur behind the counter while Gill talks.
“A New Open World Apocalyptic RPG That's Got My Attention! - Dreadmoor” by Splattercatgaming · Oct 13, 2026 · Free demo footage, uploaded before our check; the creator's chapter list calls it the demo and the HUD matches the demo quests we played. The build number isn't legible in the frames we checked.
Malcolm's chest sits on a crate on the dock beside the stairs. Aim at it and press F to pick it up; while you carry it, left mouse drops it. The quest becomes Away From Prying Eyes: take the chest to the flophouse.
Carry it up the main stairs, past the plaza with the nets and up the steps of Angler's Hole. The flophouse door is just to the right of Angler's Hole's front door. It's dark up there; L still turns the flashlight on while you carry the chest.
Press F on the padlock, then F on the handle. A tentacle bursts through the far wall and pulls back out, leaving a hole. It didn't hurt us.
On screen: Checked on screen November 2: carrying Malcolm's chest under the AWAY FROM PRYING EYES quest, walking up through the dark, then inside the flophouse with the smashed hole in the wall.
“A New Open World Apocalyptic RPG That's Got My Attention! - Dreadmoor” by Splattercatgaming · Oct 13, 2026 · Free demo footage, uploaded before our check; the creator's chapter list calls it the demo and the HUD matches the demo quests we played. The build number isn't legible in the frames we checked.
You're Not Welcome Here: how to patch the hole in the wall
First, Place for Personal Belongings: a green outline of the chest shows against the right-hand wall under the shelves. Walk up with the chest, aim at the outline and hold F for about three seconds; a tap didn't work. Malcolm says he needs to patch the hole or he won't make it till morning.
The patch takes two pieces, and the quest text stays the same, Patch the hole in the wall, for both, so it looks stuck after the first. Both pieces are by the couch against the wall opposite the hole.
Piece 1: the iron sheet leaning on the couch. Pick it up with F. A green grid appears in the hole; aim at it (Repair Slot) and hold F.
Piece 2: the wooden frame, planks tied with rope, standing at the end of the same couch. Pick it up, aim at the green outline in the hole and hold F again. Malcolm says no one's getting in now, and the quest becomes Overnight Stay.
The bed by the window only offers Sleep once this quest is active. Press F to open a 24-hour clock: a blue night segment and a yellow day segment with grey between, and fish and creature symbols around the dial. Click the dial to move the hand, check the Rest until time underneath and press F to rest. We picked 10:18.
There's also a note titled To Be in Debt on the side table by the bed.
Gill calls on the radio: take the fishing rod stored in the bunkhouse, then come down to the platform behind the Dry Dock. The quest is Fishing Rod.
The Simple Rod lies on the workbench to the left of the patched hole. Aim at it and press F. Its stats read line strength 20, thrust 20 and exhaustion 20. Next is Beautiful View: step out of the door beside the radio table onto the balcony, and the camera takes in the swamp by day.
Then Talk to Gill and Bozur: walk down the stairs to the platform with the nets. Gill calls you a layabout, then asks if you can fish. Their first job is Catch Snappers from the pier (0/3), using worms for bait.
The fishing spot for this job is the quest marker on the walkway beside their platform; our fishing guide covers casting, hooking and landing. We caught 1 of the 3 Snappers so far, so the rest of the job, the engineer and the dry dock aren't covered here yet.
Spoiler clip · The morning after: the radio, the rod and the balcony (creator chapter at 12:41) · reveal
On screen: Checked on screen November 2: the flophouse radio with Malcolm and Gill talking, the rod on the workbench while Gill sends Malcolm to the platform behind the Dry Dock, then the balcony view under the BEAUTIFUL VIEW quest. No fishing yet in this window.
“A New Open World Apocalyptic RPG That's Got My Attention! - Dreadmoor” by Splattercatgaming · Oct 13, 2026 · Free demo footage, uploaded before our check; the creator's chapter list calls it the demo and the HUD matches the demo quests we played. The build number isn't legible in the frames we checked.
Sources · 2Walkthrough · checked 2 Nov 2026 · Research checked 2 Nov 2026
Kingy test run: DREADMOOR demo, new game to the Catch Snappers job ↗Kingy's own session in the Steam demo on Windows 11, November 1–2, 2026 (PC local time): Steam build 26254439, in-game save version 0.3.41, mouse and keyboard, English. Covered the first-launch telemetry prompt, the main menu, the Game and Controls settings, a new game from waking in the shack through the axe, the pier, the radio, sailing to the trading post (including one death on the first attempt), mooring, the bell, Gill and Bozur, the chest, the flophouse repairs, sleeping to 10 AM, the Simple Rod and the start of Catch Snappers. Not covered: catching fish, the engineer, the dry dock, combat with a creature, a controller, and the rest of the demo. Silent clips and stills were recorded from the game window during the session. Saves were found in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Dreadmoor\Saved\SaveGames, and the Game tab showed gamepad, adaptive trigger and vibration options.Walkthrough ·
Kingy test run: DREADMOOR demo, the first fishing job ↗Kingy's own second session in the Steam demo on Windows 11, November 2, 2026 (PC local time): Steam build 26254439, mouse and keyboard. Covered starting Catch Snappers from the pier, Select Tackle, the bite-zone, hook-set, rod-movement and line-tension tutorials, choosing the A and D rod controls, landing one Snapper (1.76 kg) for 1 of 3, losing one when the line snapped, and the Guided Fishing, Immersive Fishing, Fish Distance and Fish Struggle Indicators descriptions in Settings. Not covered: the second and third Snappers, selling, the engineer, the dry dock and fishing from the boat. Silent clips and stills were recorded from the game window. A third session the same day (about 04:40 to 05:00 PC time, same build) reloaded the 12:15 AM manual save at 0 of 3, hooked three fish and landed one Snapper (1.83 kg), lost two (one after it recovered its stamina, one when the tension went red), found Guided Fishing off again, Save Game greyed out while fishing and no autosave after a catch, then quit without saving.Walkthrough ·
Stuck? Tell us where
Say where you’re stuck in DREADMOOR. You get one hint at a time from a published kingy.wiki guide, and the answer and its clip stay covered until you ask.
If nothing matches, we keep your words (without emails, links or long numbers) to decide which answers to write next. Privacy
4:46–5:46 · 60 sContacting the traders by radio (creator chapter at 4:46)
