By day, Out Fishing is a relaxing simulator where you cast your rod, catch fish, and skip stones, reminiscent of childhood getaways. You sell fish to earn money, upgrade gear, and build a camp as a fragile safe haven. At night, the lake and woods turn eerie, with strange visions, cryptic voices, and unsettling moments blurring memory and hallucination in a slow-burn horror story that unfolds at your pace.

Beyond fishing and resource management, you’ll upgrade tools, unlock new techniques, and use vehicles to explore deeper waters and eerie wilderness areas, though the woods feel hostile. A shotgun, introduced later with scarce ammo, offers a last-ditch defense, but the game emphasizes psychological horror and atmosphere over combat.

Still in early development, Out Fishing’s creepy premise will clearly draw comparisons to DREDGE for its mix of fishing and horror.

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In Dreadline: Net Quota, a crew of up to six fishermen faces an impossible task, they must catch fish to pay off a massive debt, all while being hunted by terrifying underwater monsters. The further they venture from the shore, the more dangerous and bizarre the creatures become, and every cast of the fishing rod might attract something better left undisturbed. Besides battling beasts from the abyss, you must also beware of a relentless loan shark who won’t stop until he gets his money.

Key gameplay elements include chaotic multiplayer fishing, where teams must secure enough catch before time runs out. The roguelite progression system allows you to unlock upgrades, new equipment, and bizarre fishing techniques, making each session unique. The atmosphere balances between dark humor and sheer horror, where the biggest catch might also be your last.

Dreadline: Net Quota offers an intense multiplayer experience, requiring teams to coordinate efforts to meet daily quotas before time runs out. Progression unlocks new tools, improvements, and fishing techniques, while the game also delivers creepy yet unexpectedly comedic moments, creating an unpredictable environment where every successful catch could bring new problems.

The game will launch in Early Access in Summer 2025, and interested players can already support the title on Steam.

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In Cast n Chill, you take on the role of a fisherman exploring beautiful and peaceful fishing spots. The game is designed to be as relaxing or engaging as you want it to be. You can actively cast and reel in fish to speed up your progress, or switch to passive mode and let the game do the work for you. Even when you’re offline, the game continues to progress, so you can return to see what you’ve caught.

The game features over 100 fish species to collect, including common, rare, and legendary catches from both freshwater and saltwater environments. As you catch fish, you can sell them for profit and use the earnings to upgrade your gear, allowing you to catch even rarer and more valuable fish. The game also supports couch co-op, allowing you to fish with a friend on the same screen.

Cast n Chill will be available on Steam in June 2025. Until then, you can check out the announcement trailer to get a glimpse of the game’s charming world and relaxing gameplay.

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In the game’s world, oceans and lakes are filled with mysterious marine creatures called SeaAZ. These creatures come in various shapes, sizes, and rarity levels, and you will use your fishing skills to catch them. Fishing involves a unique “Gauge Action” mechanic, where stopping a bar in the correct area of a gauge inflicts damage on the SeaAZ. Reducing their HP to zero completes the catch.

The materials collected from fishing are key to crafting better equipment like rods and hooks. Upgrading these tools improves your ability to catch stronger SeaAZ. You will also alternate between two main characters, Rod and Axel. Rod is the expert fisherman, handling all SeaAZ-related tasks. Axel, on the other hand, excels at exploring and clearing obstacles during the journey.

A ship becomes available as the story progresses, allowing you to freely explore Sea Fantasy’s vast pixel world. Alongside fishing, the game includes various 2D action elements to keep the gameplay diverse and fresh.

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Fishing games have a certain charm that consistently draws you in, whether it’s the unique mechanics, the relaxing gameplay, or something else entirely. After dedicating 15 hours to Last Dream Fishing Arcade, I had to step back and share my thoughts, or I’d be endlessly caught up in this title. It’s a straightforward and simple game that doesn’t offer much innovation, but it holds its own thanks to its replayability. Don’t expect anything groundbreaking; this game delivers exactly what it promises: various characters, different locations, and plenty of fish to catch, along with unique skills, equipment, and items to enhance the experience.

The tutorial can be quite overwhelming. While it does guide you through how to play, it makes the process seem far more complicated than it actually is. I played using a keyboard, which I found to be more accessible and easier to navigate. At the start, you cast your line, and once it lands in the water, you can either reel it in or wait for it to get to a fish. When a fish bites, two meter bars appear.

The first, on the right, shows the fish’s exhaustion level—if this depletes, you’ve successfully caught the fish. The more critical one, however, is the struggle meter on the left. This meter requires your constant attention; if it maxes out, the fish will escape, so you must keep it balanced. The challenge increases as the fish moves in different directions, left, right, up, and down, forcing you to use your arrow keys precisely where indicated. This helps build a combo at the top of the screen, which in turn makes it easier to exhaust the fish.

The challenge lies in the variety of fish sizes, ranging from tiny to gigantic, each with distinct behaviors and movement patterns, making them difficult to catch. As you progress, the game will definitely test your hand-eye coordination as you try to hit combos accurately. Fortunately, there are features that make this easier. Consumables and accessories can enhance your stats (which you can check anytime in the menu), and equipment found in chests or won in tournaments can grant special skills, called overdrives, and other useful abilities. For example, by speeding up the fish’s exhaustion or improving reel strength.

The game encourages continuous improvement, which is a positive aspect. Accumulating enough points allows you to upgrade your fishing rod and four key stats: casting power, reeling power, quick reflexes, and line strength. These upgrades are crucial if you want to challenge yourself with larger fish. Additionally, the game automatically saves your progress each time you catch a fish, which helps avoid tedious saving ways.

However, a significant issue with the game is its slow progression. Advancing feels like a drawn-out process, which can become frustrating. Fish don’t yield enough points, even the rare ones, making the grind feel unrewarding. You might catch ten fish in a day and still only earn 300 points; it just feels unbalanced. Once the rods start costing 2,500 points or more, catching smaller fish becomes burdensome, and even those in deeper waters can be inconsistent in their point rewards.

Personally, I found the method of unlocking characters and locations to be a chore. While unlocking locations by collecting messages in bottles felt unique and intriguing, unlocking characters was a tiresome grind. The tasks, such as collecting all tier 1 saltwater fish or tier 2 freshwater fish, felt repetitive and eventually made the game less enjoyable. Even after 15 hours of gameplay, I only managed to unlock 5 out of 12 characters and catch all the saltwater fish. Keep in mind, there are five tiers of fish to catch, so if you’re into this kind of game, you could easily sink countless hours into it.

The tournament event was a nice touch, adding some suspense with the question, “Can I beat ten other AI characters?” But beyond that, catching fish is all you do in this game. I’m not entirely sure if the game is meant to be cozy, challenging, or even grindy, but overall, it was just engaging enough to avoid becoming boring, though that might happen eventually.

Does it deliver what you expect from a fishing game? Absolutely. In fact, Last Dream Fishing Arcade, with its charming pixel graphics, is visually appealing, and the silly, cute fish add a fun element to exploration. But, the game is in a strange place. It’s grindy and decent enough, but not everyone will be willing to invest 20 hours into unlocking everything in a simple game with limited content.

To conclude, Last Dream Fishing Arcade is definitely worth checking out. It’s well thought out, offering 5 adjustable difficulty levels, over 80 achievements, and an unlockable challenge mode, which provides plenty of replayability. However, the journey to get there can be quite tiresome. The game doesn’t end once you win the Gaia Championship; you can continue your quest to become the new God of Fishers in New Game+ mode or start fresh in Reborn mode, where you keep all your fishing equipment, items, and accessories for a more relaxed experience.

That said, I do wish it were easier to gain points and unlock characters. I might just be terrible at the game, savoring every moment while also getting frustrated when I couldn’t catch a bigger fish—because, honestly, they put up quite a fight. Last Dream Fishing Arcade was fun, and you might find it enjoyable too, as long as you’re okay with the fact that it’s not a perfect game.

Review copy provided by the publisher

3.6

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Black Salt Games, formed by Nadia Thorne, Joel Mason, and Alex Richie, began their journey with three game prototypes. They tested these prototypes with colleagues and friends, and Dredge stood out due to its unique blend of fishing and horror elements. The other prototypes included a real-time strategy game and a stealth vehicle game, but they felt Dredge had the most potential.

The development process involved refining the game from its initial concept, which was inspired by games like Papers, Please. The core idea—combining cosmic horror with fishing—remained consistent, but the game evolved significantly. Early versions of Dredge had a top-down, turn-based mechanic, but the team shifted to a real-time system to reduce stress and enhance gameplay.

Art and design played a crucial role. Due to time constraints, the game’s early prototypes featured blocky, low-poly graphics. This style evolved into a more detailed but still stylized look, balancing simplicity with a sense of unease. The water shader, an essential feature of the game, went through many iterations to create a visually appealing and functional water effect.

The game’s world is divided into biomes, each with its own unique theme and challenges. The Marrows serve as the starting area, familiarizing players with the game. As players progress, they encounter Gale Cliffs, Stella Basin, Twisted Strand, and Devil’s Spine, each inspired by different environments and featuring distinct threats. The biomes were designed to be explored in any order, similar to Breath of the Wild, allowing players to experience the game’s world in a flexible manner.

In hindsight, one aspect of Dredge that could have been improved is its world structure. The game loads everything in one large scene, which has led to performance issues, especially on the Switch. Initially, the team lacked the expertise and time to implement more advanced streaming techniques for world loading. This decision has become problematic as the game’s content grew.

Dredge explores cosmic horror by building tension rather than relying on jump scares. Players face risks if they venture out at night or damage their boat, creating a sense of anxiety. The game’s atmosphere is designed to make night-time navigation nerve-wracking, with limited visibility and unsettling audio cues that heighten the tension. The team aimed to create a spooky atmosphere rather than a traditional horror game.

The design of fish in Dredge combines real-world knowledge with creative alterations. The team used Wikipedia and their expertise to select fish types suited to different biomes in the game. They also adapted these fish to fit the game’s aesthetic by making them more grotesque and fitting the game’s cosmic horror theme. This careful design helps create a more immersive and eerie experience.

Another challenge was integrating a harpoon mechanic, which was eventually abandoned. The team decided it did not fit with the game's cosmic horror theme and would have altered the intended experience.

Securing funding was another hurdle. Black Salt Games initially planned to self-publish but eventually secured a deal with Team 17. Their successful pitch and positive pre-launch buzz helped them achieve significant sales, exceeding their initial targets. If you want to hear more about the game itself, you can watch the documentary below.

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Building Relationships is a game that takes the concept of dating to a whole new level. Instead of playing as a human or an animal, you play as a house. Yes, a house. It's a quirky twist that adds a whole new dimension to the game. As a house, you'll roll, jump, and wave-dash your way around an island filled with secrets. You'll explore the island, meet other houses, and even go on dates with them. It's like a dating simulator, but with houses instead of humans.

The game features a charming, hand-drawn art style that contributes to its cheerful character. The island is filled with fun and quirky characters, each with their own personality and oddities. However, Building Relationships is not just about romance. If you're not interested in the dating scene, you can always go fishing. But instead of catching fish, you'll be catching cars. This strange twist adds to the overall charm of the game.

Building Relationships does not yet have a specific release date, but it will be available for PC via Steam.

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Johnson is known for a growing number of video game adaptations, including the upcoming Netflix animated series Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, as well as projects in development based on Sega's Streets of Rage, ToeJam & Earl and Hazelight's It Takes Two. Story Kitchen executives Mike Goldberg, Timothy I. Stevenson and Dan Jevons are working in collaboration with Johnson on the realization of the movie.

Dredge was released in March 2023 and quickly became a huge hit, reaching over one million copies sold in about six months. Black Salt Games stated that the title completely exceeded their internal expectations, as the studio originally predicted sales of 100,000 units in the first year after launch.

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The story follows a man who left the chaotic city life to start a new chapter in a peaceful fishing village. In that village, life is simpler: people build farms, make equipment, grow vegetables and it is a place where fishing is the main passion. Local fishing tournaments are very competitive, and it is prestigious to be at the top of the list of the best fishermen in the village. An interesting story is circulating among the inhabitants about an elusive, gigantic fish that only the bravest fishermen will try to catch.

Each faction comes with its own unique style and personality; mingle with locals from each group, soak up different vibes and prepare for various events by joining the faction that suits you best. Additionally, you can upgrade your fishing rods, unlock additional inventory space by upgrading your home, and transform your plot of land to put all other farms to shame. This village isn't just about catching fish, it's about building your fishing empire.

Fisherman's Palace will release in the Early Access version, which will contain a large number of fish, building materials, seeds, bait and a completed main story. During this phase, new features such as improved fishing systems, new models, locations, buildings and NPCs will be added. The goal is to improve the game to make it more enjoyable, provide more replayability, and extend the duration of gameplay.

This title still doesn't have a specific release date, but it will be available for PC via Steam sometime this year.

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What makes Whisker Waters special among RPGs is its unique and creative focus on fishing. Players will use different fishing tools and techniques to explore the semi-open world, complete quests and catch a variety of fish. Each fish has its own unique behavior, making the fishing experience challenging.

In Whisker Waters, cats, bears and birds live together in harmony. Join them, befriend and help the locals and win great prizes and unlock gear to use on your journey. Each turn represents a new chapter, with different regions having their own special story. They invite you to become part of their adventures, discover mysteries and enjoy company.

Whisker Waters will launch for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam on April 19.

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