It is a truth universally acknowledged that a good video game must be in want of a fishing minigame. The time-honored side activity has been featured in everything from Final Fantasy XV to Hello Kitty: Island Adventure as a brief reprieve from the main story. The trouble is that whenever a fishing minigame pops up I find myself neglecting everything else, even saving the world, in favor of casting a line. That is, unless the fishing minigame sucks.
Indie RPG Sea Fantasy is here to solve that problem. Developed by METASLA, Sea Fantasy takes the fishing minigame and turns it into the main event. Gone are turn-based battles, random encounters, and multi-colored mages. There is still an appropriately nonsense story about saving the world from it’s imminent destruction, but this time you’ll be doing it through the power of fishing. Don’t ask too many questions as to how that works. While Sea Fantasy’s charming pixel-graphics pay homage to classic RPGs, the mechanical core of the game draws inspiration from an unexpected source: Stardew Valley.
The ever-popular life sim eschews the belief that fishing is a leisurely activity and therefore should be simple, which makes it the perfect pick for METSLA to take guidance from. Rather than the one or two button press affairs found in many RPG minigames, Sea Fantasy requires skill and perseverance. Timing is everything. A marker moves along a horizontal bar in which a target zone of varying size is placed. Stopping the marker when it is in the target zone deals damage to any potential catches. Depending on the creature (called SeaAZ) the target zone may be much smaller and damage won’t make as big a dent in the health bar. There is also a countdown timer that warns that the enemy will bite back with its own damage dealing attack. This leads to long drawn out battles between you and the SeaAZ that feel like they were pulled straight out of The Old Man and the Sea.
Don’t expect to reel in these monsters right away. Instead, Sea Fantasy‘s early hours pit players against small fish which grant experience every time a successful catch is made. Each level grants skill points to use on upgrading stats like attack, health, and how large the target zone is during fishing. Rods and hooks, which can be mixed and matched to create unique loadouts tailored to each SeaAZ, also improve stats on a case by case situation.
This turns Sea Fantasy’s fishing into a much more strategic experience that encourages smart distribution of skill points as well as proper preparation of equipment. That palpable sense of steady improvement that comes from grinding and learning the ins and outs finally pays off when I manage to land an elusive catch I’ve been hunting. Even with the right gear and a high level, capturing SeaAZ never turns into an easy task thanks to constant twists on the core fishing loop.
One of the only flaws of Stardew Valley’s fishing is the lack of variety. While the game ramps up how fast and erratic fish move on the bar, they all have the same basic behavior. Sea Fantasy avoids a similar pitfall by once again pulling from its RPG inspirations, specifically how those games design varied enemies. One SeaZ will make bubbles appear on the fishing bar that, if not hit with the marker before a countdown reaches zero, will explode and deal damage. Another SeaAZ makes you hit one of three rocks with your marker to determine if the target will be smaller, larger, or the same as it usually is. These are only two of the 104 unique SeaAZ that populate Sea Fantasy’s watery world.
Sea Fantasy‘s decision to weave traditional RPG design into fishing is made in service of one thing: excitement. The enemy of any good fishing game, mini or otherwise, is boredom. The second the player feels like making a successful catch is too easy or too monotonous, you’ve lost them. Sea Fantasy works overtime to keep you on the hook. Even the short main story (which takes roughly eight hours) is in service of this philosophy. It’s long enough to teach you the fundamentals of Sea Fantasy’s systems, but doesn’t overstay its welcome. This means you have more time for what really matters: reeling in the next big catch.
Sea Fantasy is available now on PC.
