There’s lots of fun to be had in Nice Day for Fishing, which combines a unique fishing system with some fun humor. The way you progress through the story can get pretty repetitive, but the boss fights and pleasant story make the game worth checking out.
Credit: FusionPlay
Nice Day for Fishing
Developer: FusionPlay
Price: $20
Platform: PS5 (reviewed), Nintendo Switch, and PC.
MonsterVine was provided with a PS5 code for review
Nice Day for Fishing immediately caught my attention as a fishing minigame enjoyer. From Sonic Adventure’s Big the Cat levels to Final Fantasy XV’s fishing game, I’ve enjoyed many fishing mechanics across the medium. This title manages to stand out even among the many fishing games I’ve tried out, even if the overall structure can wear a bit thin as it goes on.
The gameplay of Nice Day for Fishing is impressively detailed. It starts out very simple, with you wearing down a fish’s HP by attacking/reeling in when it faces one direction and blocking or parrying its attacks when it faces the other way. Soon enough, you’re using spells to deal passive damage, buff yourself, do special attacks, and more. The more different types of fish you catch, the more spells you’re given, fleshing out the fishing system and making it satisfyingly strategic.
Credit: FusionPlay
There’s also equipment to unlock and purchase that boosts your stats or spell effectiveness, as well as an entire town to upgrade as you go by using items you can fish up. It feels as though you’re always getting better and better at fishing as you level up and gain new skills and equipment, which is quite satisfying.
“It’s exciting to take on these huge monstrosities as a fisherman.“
The core concept of Nice Day for Fishing’s narrative is that you’re an NPC in an MMO who is forced to become a hero. Lots of comedy comes from the fact that your character, Baelin, can only say a few generic phrases and is essentially only capable of jumping, walking, and catching fish. Most of the characters are very goofy and lean into the comedic concept, which spices up the straightforward gameplay structure.
Credit: FusionPlay
This is handy, as the story’s progression gets a bit old as it goes. Since this is set in an MMO, I suppose it’s fitting that most of the game is made up of fetch quests. Despite this thematic symmetry, this structure doesn’t work as well in Nice Day for Fishing, as a lot of your time is taken up by just running back and forth between four or so screens to retrieve items or fish. It can start to drag as the game goes on, so I’d recommend taking breaks every once in a while to keep it feeling fresh.
Nice Day for Fishing has neat boss fights.
The one thing that really breaks the game up is the boss fights, which see you taking on massive enemies using all your amassed skills and trained timing. It’s exciting to take on these huge monstrosities as a fisherman, and the fact that you can continually attack without consequence, unlike in regular fishing battles, changes the pace of combat a bit.
Credit: FusionPlay
The visual style of Nice Day for Fishing is quite charming, as it has a Maplestory-esque pixel art look that definitely brought me back in time. There’s limited voice acting, but what is there is very enthusiastic and fits in well with the silly world, while the music is suitably medieval for the game’s setting.
The Final Word
Nice Day for Fishing is an interesting and enjoyable fishing game that takes advantage of its funny concept and surprisingly deep mechanics to create a surprisingly unique fishing game. It can be fairly repetitive with its fetch quests, but it’s still a worthwhile venture for those whose interest is piqued.
MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
