[DoctorEldritch]

Hello Legion Gamers!

It's a new week, and with it, comes a new Steam fest, this time focused around a rather specific activity: it's Steam Fishing Fest 2025 🎣

This one is all about fishing. Personally, I do not do any fishing irl, even though my family had some ties to the global fishing industry through my grandfather; long ago, he was in charge of a fleet of Fish Processing Vessels, and also enjoyed fishing recreationally. A hobby that, to date, has not passed down to any of his descendants 😅

Maybe this is why I do not particularly like fishing simulators as games either. Not that I actively dislike them, but for me, they need to have more than just fishing. For example, Dregde with its Lovecraftian motifs, or Dave the Diver with its humorous stories and homages to popular culture, I enjoyed very much. Speaking of, both of these have some discounts, among other games. Some, like Fishing Planet, are even Free to Play:



What sets this fest slightly apart from the other, though, is that, probably because fishing is a bit of a niche genre, some of the newest fishing games arranged for their release to be during this fest, so that those new games would make a bigger splash (get it? because fish splash... You can't have a post about fishing fest and not have a couple of dad puns here and there 😅)

Take Cast n Chill, for example: it was just released, and is offering a release discount as a part of this fest already. @Telomina, maybe take a look at this one, it promises to be "idle cosy fishing". Idles is not really my thing, but you like cosy games, and the pixel art in this one is quite majestic, I am tempted to try it out for the art alone. Or if not, there is (also a brand new release) Desktop Fishing that would allow you to have a fishing frog companion on your desktop during streams (that's where the fish live! 😅)

Not sure how popular fishing games would be among us here, I don't think we ever talked about this particular genre. Still, I'll tag everyone to be safe: @GoLLuM13, @DracoTarot, @SKYTRiXSHA, @ZaidH, @miskkie, @uptjackmalo, @tntiseverywere, @ChristianRasmussen, @AgariciRo and @RatlleRo I'll tag you all in case you see something worth catching 😉

See anything that you like?

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch Many thanks for the tag.

[Telomina]

I'm not the biggest fan of fishing, or idle games (except for two when I do art) so think I'll sit this one out. I can hear a distant cheer from my backlog as I write this...

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot You're welcome. Not sure if digital fishing is your thing 😅

But there is Dredge among these, so that's encouraging.

[DoctorEldritch]

@Telomina I want to say it is certainly not for everybody (just as irl fishing, now that I think about it).

My guess is that Steam may have put this fest here because we're now at the end of the irl fishing season. For example, in the UK, the fishing season is from 15 March to 15 June, so it has just ended. Maybe Steam wanted to say: "Didn't get enough fishing this season? We got you!" or somesuch, this could be the rationale behind this. But that's just me guessing 😅

[Telomina]

@DoctorEldritch interesting theory. I believe that the swedish fishing season is a bit later...or maybe that's just when my mom prefers to go 😂😂

[DoctorEldritch]

@Telomina It may depend on regional laws and how strict they are, or maybe what license you have. In some places, you can only fish at certain times, and outside those times, it is against the law and a "fishing curfew" is enforced, especially if the fish population is dwindling. For example, in Europe, it is illegal to fish for European eels, their population has declined by 90% in the last 50 years, and now they are a critically endangered species. If you catch one, even during the allowed fishing season, the law dictates that you let it back into the river unharmed.

But other places or other fish may be more relaxed about when it is allowed to fish.

[tntiseverywere]

Ahhhh fishing... one of my favorites event in games ! I still remember the day i won Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza in WoW :D

[ChristianRasmussen]

@DoctorEldritch Dave the diver is quite fun. It is more an explore and adventure as a diver. So you are mostly in the water.

[DoctorEldritch]

@ChristianRasmussen True that it may be suited to be called a diving simulator, but fishing is a big part of DtD still. It is indeed quite fun, I tried it out when it came out, but then I took a break when it started to release all those colabs with Godzilla and Yakuza and Dredge and whatnot, and now I am waiting for them to release that big Jungle DLC they are working on.