How to Fish Review: Is It Worth It?
Is How to Fish actually worth buying? Here's what the numbers, the Steam review score, and the game's own launch performance say — separate from the hype.
Steam Reception
How to Fish launched to an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating on Steam, holding around 95% positive across more than 9,000 reviews shortly after release. That's an unusually strong score for any game, let alone one from a two-person studio, and it's held steady rather than dropping off as the initial hype wave passed — generally a good sign that the game delivers past its trailer.
Launch Numbers
Those player numbers briefly put How to Fish ahead of established live titles like Palworld, Rust, and Apex Legends at their own respective peaks during that same week — a genuinely rare outcome for a brand-new indie release, and part of why How to Fish has been covered as one of 2026's breakout "friendslop" games: cheap, physics-driven, chaos-first co-op titles built to be streamed and played loudly with friends.
What Reviewers and Players Like
- Physics comedy. The core fishing-and-combat loop generates a constant stream of unscripted, funny moments — a bad cast, a fumbled dynamite throw, a fish that goes flying instead of getting caught.
- Low price, high replay value in co-op. At under $8, splitting the cost with three friends makes How to Fish one of the cheapest ways to get a full session of co-op chaos going.
- Real progression, not just a sandbox. Islands, bosses, and a genuine gear-upgrade loop give the game more structure than a pure physics-toy would have.
- Runs well even on modest hardware. Steam Deck support and low system requirements mean the game isn't gatekept by needing a strong PC.
Longevity
Because How to Fish is only days old at the time of writing, long-term content additions (new islands, weapons, or events) aren't yet part of the track record — only the launch content is. Dazed Games' active presence on Discord and social media is a reasonably good signal that support will continue, but treat any claims about a specific post-launch roadmap elsewhere online with caution until Dazed Games confirms it directly.
Who How to Fish Is (and Isn't) For
How to Fish is built for groups — it's at its best with two to four players on voice chat, treating it more like a party game than a traditional single-player experience. If you're looking for a deep, mechanically demanding fishing simulator, or a game you'll mostly play solo, it may feel thinner; the appeal here is largely social chaos rather than simulation depth.
Value for Money
At $7.99 (or roughly $4.95 during the launch discount), How to Fish undercuts most co-op games on price while matching or beating many of them on review score. Split four ways for a co-op session, it's a genuinely low-risk purchase — even a group that only gets a couple of hours of enjoyment out of it has spent less than the price of a single movie ticket each.
How to Fish vs. Similar Games
How to Fish sits in the same general space as other physics-driven co-op hits like Webfishing, though the two differ meaningfully in tone and focus: How to Fish leans harder into combat, weapons, and an economy-driven progression loop, while other games in the genre lean more toward pure vibes and low-stakes fishing. If you enjoyed the "cheap, chaotic, co-op physics game that blows up on Steam" pattern from past breakout indie hits, How to Fish is a strong fit for that same itch.
Fair Criticisms to Weigh
- Co-op-focused design limits solo appeal. The social chaos that makes How to Fish shine is largely absent when you're playing alone.
- PC/Steam-only, for now. Friend groups split across PC and console can't currently play together, since there's no crossplay and no confirmed console release date yet.
- Long-term content depth is still an open question. With five islands and a strong initial loop, the game clearly has legs for a first playthrough with friends; how much replay value it holds once every island and boss is cleared is something only time (and future content updates) will really answer, given how new the release still is.
Is How to Fish Worth Buying?
Verdict: yes, for the audience it's built for. At under $8 with a near-95% positive review score and a genuine progression loop layered on top of its physics comedy, How to Fish is an easy recommendation if you have friends to play it with. It's a much easier "maybe" if you're planning to play entirely solo, since the game's biggest strength — shared chaos with other people — is exactly what solo play misses out on.
Ready to jump in? Start with the beginner guide, or check price & platform availability before you buy.
Page last updated: 2026-08-27