Fishing Paradiso

Developer: Odencat | Publisher: Odencat | Release Date: 2022 | Genre: Casual / Adventure / Indie | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

There have been many depictions of heaven before, but a tiny deserted island with an annoying little bird for company is generally not one of them. However, that is precisely where the protagonist of Fishing Paradiso find themselves after shuffling their mortal coil. Unfortunately, heaven also appears to be lacking food and shelter, but thankfully there’s an old fishing rod lying nearby that is the key to solving all your problems.

Fishing Paradiso is a cozy fishing RPG by Odencat that was initially released on iOS and Android. Thankfully, this PC version comes with a few enhancements in addition to including all the previously released content. The biggest addition is the new widescreen visuals, but the PC version also sports Steam Achievements as well as full gamepad support. Your primary goal remains the same, though, catch as many of the over 100 different types of fish as you can while making some friends and decorating your house in between.

Initially, your character only has access to a few fishing spots, but completing missions that involve catching fish of specified quality and quantities, more open up. Along with the main story quests, players will also receive side missions from friends that can be completed. Doing these not only brings in more cash but also increases your friendship meter. Fishing Paradiso is a very narrative-driven game, and doing the side quests allows players to learn more about the large cast of supporting characters, including their hopes and dreams.

To keep track of everything, players are handed a skyPhone early in the game, which can be used to navigate between fishing spots, upgrade their fishing skills, check out all the types of fish they have caught before, look at their friend list, and what requests they have and see what dishes can be made at Bear’s Restuarant. The latter is a bit of a cross-over with Odencats’ previous game, Bear’s Restuarant, and involves getting the right ingredients for Bear to cook meals that your friends then share. Players can only pick which dishes to make and not who will eat them, but these short story scenes provide a humorous interlude to all the fishing. Although Fishing Paradiso is somewhat of a sequel to Bear’s Restuarant, it is also not essential to have played that game either to enjoy this one.

From a gameplay perspective, Fishing Paradiso is extremely simple but also very addictive. Players select a fishing spot, aim the direction in which to cast their line, and then select the strength of the cast. A visual cue appears when a fish bites, and players must then reel it without putting too much tension on the line or running out of stamina.

Successfully reeling in a fish rewards players with coins, which can be spent on upgrading six different skills. Upgrading “Tension” and “Stamina” makes it easier to reel in fish without them getting away, while “Throw” determines how far out players can cast their line. Upgrading “Charm” increases the likelihood of fish taking a bite, and finally, “Big Hunter” increases the odds of luring bigger fish onto your hook. These are the only things that determine players’ success rate, as there are no new rods or reels to unlock or even bait to worry about. However, it does take a while to upgrade everything, as each skill has five upgrade slots to fill before unlocking the option to advance to the next tier, and there are multiple tiers for each. Thankfully, completing side quests brings in extra money, and occasionally a coin bonus mode is also activated that doubles the income from catches for a short time.

Visually, Fishing Paradiso features charming 2D pixel art for everything. In addition to the increasingly unique assortment of fish, the cast of characters is also quite eclectic. From a bear and a cat running a restaurant to a talking blue bird, a kappa, and more, all of the characters have their own unique look, personalities, and often tragic backstories. All the fish are represented by a limited selection of silhouettes when underwater, but players are shown a sprite of how they look when caught. The silhouettes are color coded for convenience, though, with blue ones representing fish that has to be caught for the main mission and red for side quests. Each fishing location also has three different areas, which are unlocked by completing the story missions. These initially include the usual assortment of lakes and lagoons, but towards the end, there are some that are a lot more exotic.

The audio in Fishing Paradiso is good, with upbeat music tracks for each location. Unsurprisingly, there’s no voice acting, which is to be expected from a narrative-driven indie game with such a large cast of characters. The dialogue is very good, too, for the most part, but can read a little stilted in places. Nevertheless, despite how whimsical it starts out, the story does veer off in a few unexpected directions. The controls worked well using a keyboard and mouse or gamepad, with the overall experience being very relaxing.

Fishing Paradiso is not a particularly challenging game, but the charming cast of characters, intriguing storyline, and lack of time limits kept us coming back for more. The home customization mode, which allows players to decorate their house using items and furniture gifted by their friends in the game, is also a nice distraction. Although objects can only be placed in set spots, there is a massive assortment of them and many different themes that can be explored. Some players might find the gameplay a little too simplistic, especially compared to other fishing games on the market, while for others, this will be the biggest draw. The game certainly doesn’t skimp on content, though, and hooked players will find plenty of reasons to keep coming back for more.