My Top 5 - Fishing Minigames

 I have never bought or played a game that is directly advertised as a fishing simulator.  They exude a kind 'Woman want me, Fish fear me' energy.  They remind me of guys on Tinder that have a picture of them holding a fish to show what a Manly Man they are.  They make me think of a stereotypical American dad who dissappears for a few days to go on a fishing trip.  It's not a genre of game that appeals to me.

And yet - I am totally enamoured with any kind of fishing minigame that is part of a wider game.  I find them calming, giving me a moment of calm to take in the ambiance of the world of the game.  They are usually quite rewarding, providing my characters with food to eat or filling in some stamp as part of a collection my character has to fill in.  I'm at the point where I actually fet quite annoyed when I can see a fish in a game but you can't fish for them.

I'm clearly not the only person who loves these minigames - There's a whole Twitter dedicated to highlighting whether you can fish in games or not, a resource I have used many times.

I would argue there are four main factors that contribute to the success of a fishing minigame.  They aren't entirely universal (my number five totally defies these guidelines), but in general they make a game a lot more satisfying. These factors are:

1. It needs to take at least some skill to catch a fish.  This can be something simple, like a test of your reaction times, or something more complex, like the fishing bar in Stardew.

2. Having a 'collection' or 'encyclopedia' page to reflect back on what fish you've caught and which you have left to go.

3. The fish you catch should have some sort of use in the game, or at the very least some acknowledgement that you've caught them.

4. The fishing minigame should add to the world-building of the game, or allow you to appreciate parts of the game you might not take time to otherwise.

The Fortnite Tangent

My partner and I looooove to fish in Fortnite.  At one point we were spending the majority of our gameplay fishing, neglecting to fight anyone unless absolutely necessary.  When someone attacked us, we would complain 'Why are you attacking me??? This is a fishing simulator!'.  

Depending on the season, fishing in Fortnite can either be extremely rewarding or a bit of a waste of time. The fish are some of the best healing items in the game, giving you health an shields much faster than the default shield potions and bandages.  Some fish give other fun status effects, like thermal vision or icy feet, but these are only available during events.  In certain seasons, there are alternate versions of fishing rods, such as pro fishing rods and harpoon guns, which I love using. Fishing rods have multiple uses - they can be used to yoink things (or people) towards you.  Most excitingly, they can be used to tempt sharks.  if a shark bites your lure, you can waterski behind it - a shockingly effective mode of travel.

The only reason that Fortnite doesn't make this list is because Fortnite fishing is at an all time low this Chapter.  You used to be able to collect rare fish, add them to your collection, see how they compared to the fish that your friends had caught.  

This feature has been erased.  I find this a really strange decision considering that the variety of fish is still there - you could still fish, check which fish you'd caught and make a note of it, but there's no official record.  Obviously this feature was not popular at all, but it's such a big loss to me specifically that I'm embittered.

With that rant out of the way - here are my top five!

5. Hades

The fishing mechanics are incredibly simple; you see a fishing spot, you fish, you click when it blinks.  So what makes this good enough to rank in my top 5?

 

Part of it is setting.  So many levels of Hades take place surrounded by the waters of various rivers of the underworld.  We have the firey Phlegathon, the forsaken Styx or the mysterious unnamed waters that surround Chaos in his domain.  There's water everywhere, and I really appreciate that Supergiant games thought about what strange creatures exist within this mythical setting.  

Another great thing is the range of fish that you can catch.  Most have sweet, pun-filled names like 'Chrustacean' or 'Slavug', many have cool mystical designs.

The funniest thing, however, is that the best fish you can catch in the game are ones that other fishing games would render boring and unimportant.  Because it takes so much work to get to the surface, fish like Trout and Bass are delicacies, rather than being the kind of fish you would be annoyed at for filling up your inventory slots.

Fishing is very rewarding in Hades.  You can fill up your Codex with information about the fish you've caught, and you can exchange your fish with the local chef for precious items like keys or nectar.  

It makes you really excited to go into the next room for that chance you might hear the tell-tale tinkle of a fishing spot spawning.  Even the characters express their excitement at this; Zagreus and Hades have dialogue lines about fishing, and details like this really make the game.

4. Club Penguin

A real blast from the past, this makes it onto the list as the only fishing game I can think of that has a kind of plot twist to it. 

The game itself is good fun, avoiding anything that could make you damage your line, giving up prescious worms.  

The real fun is with the end of the game.  An enourmous fish appears, and if you try you find that you cannot catch it on you line.  

There's a trick - if you save up the last fish you catch, then you can use it as bait to snag that giant fish, giving you a huge bump to your score.

Finding out this trick by yourself must be immensely satisfying.  I was told how to do this by a friend, and it felt like being let into a secret, part of Club Penguin's cool kids.  

3. Spiritfarer

The Spiritfarer fishing minigame has a lot of the basics when it comes to what I want from a fishing simulator - some skill, a good collection of things that you can catch.  But where it really wins is in how relaxing it is.

 

Spiritfarer is such a beautiful game, but it's also extremely busy.  By having this fishing game allow you to slow down, take in the atmosphere and appreciate the game a lot more, it really elevates not only fishing, but the game as a whole.

 

2. Stardew Valley

Stardew's creator, ConcernedApe, has perfected fishing down to a science.  He understands the factors that can make fishing great, and he's added all of them to Stardew's mechanics.  Not only is there a fishing collection, but there's a whole character who is a fisherman and will enthuse about any advance you make in your fishing journey.

 

There's so many facets to this minigame.  You can place crab pots, you can keep your caught fish in little ponds where you can talk to them, you can put them in tanks and give them little hats.  

Some people find the fishing minigame torturous, and to a certain extent I can get it but I'm glad that ConcernedApe has never made the base game any easier.  It has a certain challenge to it that stops it from being boring even as it can be competetive.  To make the game more accessible, there are a great deal of buffs you can get to your rod and to your own fishing ability as you go along; even if the Crimsonfish has evaded you for years, it'll be much easier to get when you've managed to complete that much fo the game.  

On top of this, Stardew allows you to fish in some very novel locations.  I was so excited to discover fish that live in the sewers and the lava in the game.  Fishing in seasonal ice holes and from a submarine is an absolute delight.  

Honourable Mentions

Dredge - This game is the closest I've come to playing an actual fishing simulator and I really like the mechanic of catching the fish.  The fact that all the fish have weird freaky counterparts is really fun.  However this one loses out because there's not a single line of acknowledgement for completing your collection, something that took my hours to do.  I found that so frustrating.

Graveyard Keeper - The mechanism for this is really interesting, and the fish can be used for some weird ends.  I look forward to seeing how this develops in game.

Cozy Grove - This is a really enjoyable minigame, although I will have to play more before I can decide how it compares to others.

Fire Emblem - This fishing minigame is ridiculous, it feels like they based it on a magical girl transformation.  But there's something charming about that.

Pokemon - Kudos to them for having a fishing simulator where you have to fight the fish as soon as you find them.

Raft - Very solid fishing BUT it annoys me soo much how you have to do it alllll the time because you're constantly hungry in game.  Let me REST.

Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Old Clock - It's honestly just very funny that any of the Nancy Drew games has a fishing minigame in it.  I appreciate that. 

Games that are actively worse because they don't have a fishing minigame:

It perplexes me no end the number of games that require that you catch fish by chasing after them rather than using a fishing rod or net.  Pleaaaaase these games need to fix this.  The offenders include: Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Minecraft and Subnautica.

1. Animal Crossing

This is the big one - the one that for many of us will have been the first fishing minigame we ever tried.  It has been so satisfying over the years to see how Animal Crossing have upped their game in making fishing better and better.  

  

Not only is there a really good encyclopedia to keep track of all of your catches, but there some level of challenge and patience to fishing - it makes you roam your island and appreciate it all the more.  

The museum is a staple of Animal Crossing games, but New Horizons really went all out on making the  aquarium exhibit spectacular.  Rather than just being content with checking my Critterpedia, I always love going to the museum to see the fish in a replica of it's own habitat.  The addition of diving makes fishing even more exciting and varied, adding some wonderfully animated animals, such as my favourite, the vampire squid.  

Much like Stardew, Animal Crossing has it's own fishing-based character in the form of influencer otter CJ.  While I may prefer his punkier partner Flick, I do really love that his visits signal a great time to get back into fishing if you've not done it for a while.  

Animal Crossing snags this win as a classic thats remained a classic for well over a decade now.