This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
if you can find this on sale, it's very worth a shot. it's a cute little game with a pretty decent amount of depth for a the 1.99 i paid. the graphics are straight out of an n64 game, but they are well stylized. you might not spend more than a day or two on it, but if you like indies and fishing games i don't think you will be disappointed. the sound design is also pretty great for what it is.
i do have to say that the ending is a clear weak point. it's really not anything, it doesn't seem like the creator had any ideas for what was actually going on in the story, and given how difficult it was to get the line cast into just the right spot, i really expected at least some kind of monster down there. instead i get what appears to be an infinitely looping deepdream GIF, with no real indication of whether it's going to change, or any access to the game's menus. especially given the abrupt start to the game (no intro whatsoever, you're just suddenly there at the campfire in a playable mode), it felt a bit disappointing that the ending also seems to have so little effort put into it. because of this, i have to take some points off. had i purchased this for the full asking price, i'd be sorely disappointed. there isn't even a way to shut the game off at the end, either. you can't exit without force quitting from the home menu, which feels very sloppy. i don't know if it was intended to feel like the player is trapped there, but there is a very lacking transition from the real game to this cinematic, with no real explanation. add to this that the game doesn't indicate whether it has an autosave, and doesn't offer a manual save, and it makes for a strangely incomplete experience.
it's notable that the cooking has no real benefit. it just makes the game take longer because you won't earn as much money. i'd prefer if we were able to sell our cooked meals, since there is a risk that they won't create anything useful.
the other review mentions grind. i don't find the game to be very grindy, and i could probably speedrun it in like 20 mins or less. if you know which fish to target, many of them are worth 500 or more. with the most expensive upgrade being a little over 2000, this makes it pretty easy to win. still, i left it idling quite often because the ambient sound is nice.
there are quite a few hidden items, so make sure to poke around. still, none of them are really any good besides "the beast" which is cat shaped and has an attraction of 7, making any fish in the shallows easy work.… Expand
