There was a period in the post-Stardew Valley a time when it seemed like half of the indie games announced at video game conventions were in the “healthy, comfortable fishing sim” genre. It was a dismal oversaturation of the market, comparable to that of the post-Produce 101 era of Korean pop music. There was Moonglow Baywhich has fallen into oblivion despite Lena Raine’s music. Luna’s Peach Garden. There was Fishing paradise. There was The cat goes fishing.
But a few years later, the fishing game genre has expanded! There are so many fishing games out there now, in so many different varieties. I look at the Fishing category of the Steam store and my Steam recommends the crossover Exploration fishing games, “because you’ve played games tagged Exploration”. Just above that, my Steam also recommends the probably overflowing category of fishing games Dungeon Crawler fishing games.
For the sake of transparency, I currently only actively play two fishing games: Dave the diver And Drag. Dave the diver is a fishing game that also falls into the Sushi Restaurant Management subcategory. It’s a charming little game well-suited to a general audience, featuring boss battles and shark fights in addition to the basic spear fishing. You can bring a gun into the ocean. The game’s daily structure makes it easy to play in 20-minute intervals to cleanse your palate. I usually jump into it after finishing a session of my second fishing game, Dragwhich I also play in 20 minute intervals because I’m a big baby.
Drag is a fishing game that falls into the Eldritch Horror subcategory. It’s not weird in the sense of jump scares or monsters chasing you. Instead, it’s the atmosphere. Each of the islands the main character visits is filled with gloomy, world-weary inhabitants. The sound design is half the horror; you catch a mutated fish, and the game plays a strange ringing sound while all other noises fade away. If you stay out too late at night, you start seeing rocks pop up where there weren’t any before, and glowing red eyes in the distance that your weak headlamps can’t see. I may be playing too cautiously and haven’t died yet – it’s not very common, as other people who’ve played have told me they die tons of times – and after encountering a huge fish that damaged my boat for the first time, I panicked and haven’t come back yet Drag Again.
It is with this experience and authority, in addition to having devoted 150 hours Stardew ValleyI present to you a very scientific intervention in the field of video game classification. I have sifted through – and even dredged up – the best-selling and recommended games in the fishing category on Steam and classified each game into the main groups. Without further ado, here is the official taxonomy of fishing video games, with examples.
Healthy and enjoyable fishing
Moonglow Bay
Luna’s Peach Garden
Fishing paradise
The cat goes fishing
Fantastic fishing village
Fishing in Dungeon Crawler
FATE
Battle Hunters: Nightwar
9th Dawn III
The Quiver Dick Chronicles
A shady RPG
Realistic fishing
Planet Fishing (including DLC of Fishing Planet: Japanese Odyssey Pack, Fishing Planet: Voyager Packand the Pro Angler Sport Pack)
The Call of the Wild: The Fisherman™ (including DLC content from The Call of the Wild: The Fisherman™ – South African Reserve)
Ships at sea
Russian Fishing 4
Feeding and growing: fish
Ultimate Fishing Simulator
Bassmaster® Fishing
SEGA Bass Fishing
Ultimate Fishing Simulator 2
Fishing for supernatural horror
Fishing simulation in a restaurant
Dave the diver
Catch and Cook: A Fishing Adventure
Typing Dungeon Crawler Fishing
Actually a farm simulation
Stardew Valley
Animal Crossing
Magic Eggs
Dinkum
Rune Factory 5
Together on the farm 2
Everafter Falls
Rune Factory 4 Special
Rune Factory 3
You see, but don’t necessarily catch, the fish
You are the fish
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