How to Fish
"A brilliant co-op premise, torpedoed by its own bugs."
About
How to Fish is a cooperative physics game for one to four players. After crashing your boat on a small island, you must work your way back home. The core activity involves fishing, but with a twist: you use an arsenal of firearms and explosives to catch your prey. Gathered resources are used to upgrade your gear, take on progressively tougher island bosses, and ultimately repair your way to freedom.
Verdict
How to Fish is a brilliant concept for a co-op night, trapped in a buggy, repetitive frame. Blasting fish with an Uzi alongside three friends is genuinely hilarious for the first couple of hours. But the joke wears thin as you grind through the same loop on new islands, and the laughter stops when a run-ending bug sinks your progress. It's a fleeting blast of chaos that desperately needs more polish and variety to last.
You'll like it if …
- +You want a chaotic co-op game to laugh through with friends for a few evenings.
- +Simple, repetitive loops are fine as long as player interaction creates the fun.
- +You consider physics-based jank and glitches part of the charm.
You'll dislike it if …
- −You primarily play games solo.
- −Run-ending bugs and a general lack of polish are deal-breakers.
- −You expect deep progression systems that evolve over dozens of hours.
Breakdown
- +The central loop of shooting fish with friends is immediately chaotic and funny.
- +Boss fights add a surprising layer of frantic shooter combat to the fishing formula.
- +The physics-driven chaos creates memorable, unscripted comedic moments.
- −Novelty quickly gives way to a repetitive grind across similar islands.
- −Bosses often feel like bullet sponges, encouraging brute force over tactical play.
- −The experience is a significant slog when played solo.
- +Each new island introduces different weapons and fish, providing short-term goals.
- +Achievement hunting and cosmetic unlocks offer some reason to keep playing.
- −The core gameplay loop fails to evolve in meaningful ways.
- −Gear progression is linear, with new unlocks simply replacing old equipment.
- −The experience runs out of content and ideas after a handful of hours.
- +The game's chaotic, unserious atmosphere is a key part of its appeal.
- +It successfully delivers comedy through its ridiculous premise and emergent physics.
- −There is no story to speak of beyond the initial setup.
- +A simple, clean paper-craft art style fits the game's lighthearted tone.
- +Explosions and weapon sounds effectively add to the on-screen mayhem.
- −The soundtrack is sparse, appearing almost exclusively during boss fights.
- −Occasional performance stutters can interrupt the action at crucial moments.
- +Joining a friend's game is straightforward and quick.
- −Riddled with physics jank and progression-halting bugs.
- −Losing the essential, droppable radar item can soft-lock a run.
- −Bosses can clip through terrain, becoming difficult or impossible to defeat.
- −The UI is missing basic quality-of-life features like a weapon crosshair or a public lobby browser.
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