About Fishing Demands You Solve Murders and Mermaids, If You Can Stand the Actual Fishing
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
The new demo for angler-detective mystery About Fishing offers a brilliant, creepy rural world and clever puzzle mechanics, even if the actual fishing mechanics prove frustrating to master.
There is a distinct art to making mundane activities feel deeply unsettling in video games. Following the developer's earlier work with Arctic Eggs, the team behind About Fishing uses its latest playable demo to blend a moody rural mystery with active mechanical friction. According to Rock Paper Shotgun deputy editor James Archer, the new demo leans hard into a creepy coastal atmosphere filled with missing persons, strange mermaid lore, and surprisingly ominous wildlife. It is the kind of world-building that instantly hooks narrative-driven players who love diving into weird, story-heavy indies on their PCs and consoles.
The catch, quite literally, is the fishing itself. Much like managing a frying pan in Arctic Eggs, About Fishing deliberately avoids a relaxing idle loop in favor of precise peripheral wrestling and tricky cast trajectories. Early impressions point to some frustrating physics when attempting to navigate snags and reel in stubborn catches, often hampered by tight camera angles and unpredictable line movement. For a game all about angling, the actual act of catching fish risks becoming the chore you endure just to see what happens next in the story.
Fortunately, the game redeems its titular mechanic by turning captured fish into underwater drones for puzzle solving and exploration. Using successfully landed fish as direct-control scouts adds a genuinely clever layer to the gameplay, transforming random line snags into tactical tools for navigating sunken environments. With a compelling atmosphere that balances dark mystery and bizarre touches like a thoroughly menacing goose, this title is shaping up to be an easy recommendation for anyone willing to tolerate a bit of bait and tackle trouble.
Tags: About Fishing, Rock Paper Shotgun, PC Gaming, Indie Games, Demo Impressions
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun