My favourite fishing minigames all come from Zelda titles. I love the Red Lion’s silly cranking crane in The Wind Waker, despite the fact that it’s less of a minigame and more of a ‘press a button to dredge a treasure chest from the depths’ game. It was the rock of the boat as it struggled against the weight of your treasure and the sound of the winch creaking that made it feel so good. It also had the added bonus of being marked on an actual treasure map, which made it feel so much more exciting.
Then there’s the fishing game in Link’s Awakening. This one is more involved, as you cast your line, jiggle your bait, and reel in to catch a big fish, piece of heart, or other useful goodie. I spent hours standing next to Koholint’s pond, hoping more than believing I could beat my own record.
Whether it’s the basic rhythm game of Pokemon titles where you’re tapping A for hours to be rewarded with a Magikarp, or dangling your line to catch a boss in Terraria, fishing minigames are a core part of gaming culture. In 2023, however, they’re going mainstream and taking the limelight for themselves.
First up was Dredge, a game all about ocean fishing. Okay, it was a little bit about abyssal horrors beyond comprehension and uncovering the mysteries of the ocean, but it was mostly about fishing. You bought all manner of rods and trawling nets in order to complete your not-PokeDex of ocean life, you saw whales breaching and great aquatic beasts attacking, and you caught some lobsters in your little lobster pots.
Dredge was so efficient in its oceanic horror that I feared for my life on an IRL ocean fishing trip, worrying what the terrors the oncoming fog was hiding while I failed to catch a single mackerel on the edges of the Atlantic. It says a lot that a game made me feel that way, but that’s besides the point. Dredge was 2023’s first indie fishing game, and it has recently been followed by Dave the Diver.
Technically you don’t do any fishing in Dave the Diver. I’m sure some fishing purists are seething right now, faces growing redder than a snapper as they read this paragraph. Sure, Dave doesn’t use a rod to catch his fish, but neither does a lobster fisherman and he’s still considered a fisherman. It’s irrelevant anyway, Dave the Diver is at least half fishing game. The bit where you dive into the Blue Hole and fill your bag with fish, eels, and sharks is fishing, whether you use a harpoon, sniper rifle, or taser to catch them. The other half is a cooking sim, but that is, again, irrelevant.
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Dave the Diver is great fun, and has many similarities to Dredge. It’s another water-based game where you catch creatures and fill up a not-PokeDex, changing things up by serving them as sushi rather than selling them to the fishmonger. There’s also a similar dark tension to both games, as something troubling bubbles in the deep. Dave the Diver is a little more lighthearted about things than Dredge, but the parallels are clear.
The two indie fishing games have very distinct art styles, different presentations, and plenty of differing mechanics, but they’re part of a movement. These are probably my two favourite indie games I’ve played this year, and are part of a fishing renaissance. Gone are the days when fishing enthusiasts had to settle for hardcore simulators like Bassmaster – we have all sorts of experiences to uncover now. If the success of Dredge and Dave the Diver do anything to the industry, I hope they encourage more indie devs to make interesting fishing games. Fishing is a vibe, but nobody wants to sit on a riverbank for hours on end, so let’s see what indie devs have in store.