In Nice Day For Fishing, you play as Baelin, a man whose hobbies include standing completely still, mumbling half-thoughts, and unintentionally becoming the saviour of a town nobody asked you to save. Set in a place with more NPCs than common sense, you’ll embark on a quest involving bait, button mashing and the slow existential dread of realising you’ve spent two hours catching a pixelated trout with a backstory.
Gaming Heaven
The game has a charming, lo-fi pixel-art style that manages to evoke Super Mario Bros, assuming you’ve recently hit your head. The music is bouncy and whimsical, in the same way elevator music is bouncy and whimsical after 40 minutes. There are a few genuinely funny lines – usually involving Freda verbally eviscerating her husband Fred, a relationship dynamic that deserves its own spinoff sitcom.
There’s also an oddly calming satisfaction in slowly upgrading your fishing rod until it resembles something you’d be arrested for carrying in public.
Gaming Hell
The fishing itself, tragically, is the centrepiece. It consists of “attack the fish” followed by “defend from the fish,” which feels less like angling and more like legally questionable animal abuse. Navigation underwater involves guiding a hook through water currents in what can best be described as “irritatingly imprecise hook ballet.” The quest system is classic MMORPG fetch-quest drudgery, peppered with item collection and polite regret.
Humour relies heavily on references to other games, which is fine if you enjoy being constantly reminded of better titles you could be playing.
Final Judgement
Nice Day For Fishing is a pleasant-looking exercise in mild tedium. Like actual fishing, it’s peaceful, repetitive, and occasionally makes you question your life choices. Fun in the way spreadsheets are fun – if they contained more trout.
