How to Fish Review

How to Fish is not a fishing simulator. It's a multiplayer party game where you fish, shoot your catch, gamble the profits, and fight bosses across a chain of islands. The game is very good at being funny with friends, but it stumbles when you play alone. Its biggest strength is the unpredictable chaos that erupts when you and your friends are let loose with physics and guns. Its biggest problem is that the core loop gets repetitive fast, and solo players feel that sting much sooner.

Core Loop

The loop is simple: fish up a creature, kill it in some creative way, sell the corpse, buy better weapons or gamble your money, then take on the island's boss. Fishing is just the start—the real fun is in how you finish the job. Players describe unloading a clip into a shrimp, or trying to trickshot a fish with a sniper while a friend gets accidentally shot. As one player puts it, the game teaches you everything from casting a line to what to do when armed conflict breaks out between you and a fish. That absurd mix is what sets the game apart from every other fishing game on Steam.

Multiplayer Mayhem

This is where the game shines. The chaos of co-op is the main draw, and the physics engine—often janky—turns every mistake into a comedy bit. Players talk about hitting a trickshot at 20fps and getting a multiplier, then gambling it all away. Another describes a boss fight where one friend drove the boat while the other shot at piranhas, turning a fishing game into a full-on campaign mode. The game is at its best when you're laughing with friends, not when you're trying to play it seriously.

But that chaos has a shelf life. The game is short—most players finish a run in under ten hours—and the repetition sets in quickly. One player with over four hours noted that by the time they reached a certain island, the loop felt very samey: grind money, fight boss, repeat. Another with nearly five hours said they were stuck on a boss and found the difficulty spike frustrating, especially solo. The game doesn't have long-term progression or regular updates, and that's fine for a cheap party game, but don't expect to play it every day.

Solo Play

Playing alone is a different story. Without friends to banter with, the game becomes a grind. One solo player admitted they got bored quickly and recommended finding a partner. Another noted that the bosses all have similar patterns, and the difficulty seems tuned for groups—the final boss is reportedly tough even with four players, so solo players may find it punishing. The game is playable solo, but it's clearly designed for co-op, and the experience suffers without it.

Performance and Price

On the technical side, the game runs on almost anything. Players mention running it on an i3 or a 2060 without issues, and the download is under a gigabyte. There are a few complaints about UI clarity and missing difficulty settings, but no widespread bugs. At $7.99, it's an easy sell if you have friends to play with—just don't expect a polished, deep simulation.