How to Fish is available now on Steam, and Dazed Games has apparently decided that ordinary fishing was missing guns, explosives, boss fights, gambling, trick shots, and three friends making terrible decisions at the same time.
The physics-based fishing game launched on August 20, 2026, and its first wave of Steam reviews is already Overwhelmingly Positive. So what exactly are thousands of players doing to these poor fish?
TL;DR – How to Fish
Table of Contents
How to Fish is available now on Steam
How to Fish launched on Steam on August 20, 2026. It is a first-person physics-based fishing game for one to four players, with both single-player and online co-op supported.
Steam is running a 38% introductory discount until August 27. On the Polish storefront, that currently drops the price from 24.99 zł to 15.49 zł.
The early response is already substantial. At the time of our August 21 check, the official Steam page showed 96% positive reviews from 1,383 players, enough for an Overwhelmingly Positive rating. Steam Community was simultaneously showing more than 12,000 people in-game.
Those numbers will obviously move, but they make one thing clear: this strange little fishing trip has found an audience very quickly.
If you want to see how it compares with more conventional angling games, our Best Fishing Games for PC guide covers everything from realistic simulators to much stranger takes on the genre.
How does How to Fish actually work?
The setup is wonderfully stupid in the best possible way.
You are out drinking and boating when things go predictably wrong and you crash onto a small island. Getting home means learning how to fish, although Dazed Games has a fairly loose definition of what counts as fishing.
The basic progression loop is simple:
- catch or kill fish,
- sell your catch for money,
- buy better equipment and weapons,
- complete quests,
- defeat bosses,
- reach new islands with stronger creatures and better gear.
That structure gives How to Fish much more forward momentum than a traditional fishing simulator. You are not settling down beside one peaceful lake and optimizing bait for six hours. Every island is another step in an escalating progression system.
Fishing rods are only the beginning
The obvious gimmick is that fish do not need to be defeated using a fishing rod alone.
You begin with very little. As money starts coming in, the game introduces better gear and increasingly ridiculous weapons. Players report progressing from fists and melee weapons to handguns, shotguns, sniper rifles, and explosives.
The physics system turns that arsenal into more than a damage upgrade. Fish can be thrown into the air and shot before landing, and successful trick shots reward additional money.
Steam players specifically highlight quick scopes, spinning shots, and other unnecessarily elaborate ways of turning dinner into a multiplier.
Even wildlife gets involved. Several reviews mention birds swooping in to steal freshly caught fish, which can immediately turn a peaceful fishing trip into an improvised anti-air operation.
Islands, bosses, rare fish, and progression
Money is what keeps the loop moving. Better catches fund better equipment, which helps you survive the next island and deal with more dangerous creatures.
Progression is gated by quests and boss encounters. Beat them and new islands become available, bringing tougher enemies and more powerful gear.
There is also a collection layer. Every type of fish can have a rare variant, giving completionists a reason to keep revisiting the ecosystem instead of simply farming whichever catch has the best price.
And because apparently firearms were not enough, you can also gamble with your fish and in-game resources. The Steam page explicitly notes that this does not involve real money.
That mixture of fishing, collecting, selling, upgrades, bosses, and questionable financial decisions puts it closer to games such as DAVE THE DIVER than a pure simulator. If that kind of genre mash-up is your thing, our Games Like DREDGE guide has more fishing games that refuse to stay inside the normal genre boundaries.
Why co-op is such a big part of the appeal
You can play How to Fish alone, but much of the early enthusiasm revolves around its four-player online co-op.
The physics, explosives, stolen fish, gambling, trick shots, and boss fights create exactly the sort of situations that become funnier when several players are making the problem worse at once.
This is one of the main distinctions between How to Fish and something like DREDGE. DREDGE builds tension through isolation and atmosphere. How to Fish wants someone in your Discord call to throw a fish into the air while another player attempts to shoot it with a sniper rifle.
Both are fishing games. Their understanding of workplace safety is somewhat different.
What are players saying about How to Fish?
The early Steam user reviews are overwhelmingly enthusiastic, and several themes keep repeating.
One of the strongest compliments is that How to Fish does not feel like a sleepy fishing simulator. Players are talking about shotgun fishing, stolen crabs, chaotic bosses, casinos, and increasingly stupid ways to make money.
That is exactly the identity Dazed Games seems to have aimed for.
What are players criticizing?
The launch is not completely spotless.
A few early Steam discussions report black or grey screens, problems joining friends, and occasional startup issues. One player also complained about boss music continuing after death.
Performance can apparently fall apart if players abuse explosives on an absurd scale, although a review describing around 100 simultaneous dynamite bundles is probably closer to stress testing than normal fishing behavior.
The more meaningful gameplay complaint concerns solo boss balance. Multiple players have reported struggling with the first boss even after upgrading, suggesting that encounters may currently feel harsher without a co-op group.
These are first-day reports rather than proof of widespread problems, so they are worth watching rather than treating as a verdict on the game.
Games like How to Fish on G2A.COM
At the time of checking, we could not find a clean active G2A.COM offer for How to Fish itself. There are, however, several active fishing games that overlap with different parts of its formula.
For an even broader selection, see our Best Fishing Games for PC roundup. DAVE THE DIVER fans can also check our In the Jungle DLC breakdown.
Looking for a better deal on your next catch?
G2A Plus lets you collect Plus Points on eligible purchases and use them toward future orders, helping regular marketplace shoppers get more value over time.
How to Fish FAQ
Is How to Fish out now?
Yes. How to Fish released on Steam on August 20, 2026.
Is How to Fish multiplayer?
Yes. It supports online co-op for up to four players. You can also play alone.
What do you actually do in How to Fish?
You catch and kill fish, sell them for money, buy better equipment and weapons, complete quests, fight bosses, collect rare fish variants, and progress to new islands.
Can you use guns in How to Fish?
Yes. Weapons become a major part of progression, and players report using handguns, shotguns, sniper rifles, melee weapons, and explosives against aquatic targets.
Does How to Fish have bosses?
Yes. Boss fights are part of progression and help unlock access to new islands.
What are Steam players saying about How to Fish?
Early reception is extremely positive. Players particularly praise the chaotic co-op, unusual fishing mechanics, weapons, trick shots, humor, and value for the price. Some players have reported technical problems and difficult solo boss encounters.
Does How to Fish support Polish?
Yes. Steam currently lists Polish among the game’s 16 supported languages.
Fishing season just got heavily armed
How to Fish succeeds because it understands its joke and then builds an actual progression game around it.
Shooting a fish with a shotgun is funny once. Shooting it out of the air for a trick-shot multiplier, selling it, buying a better weapon, gambling the money away, fighting a boss, and then doing the whole thing with three friends is a gameplay loop.
The first-day Steam reception suggests players are getting exactly what they expected from Dazed Games: a cheap, chaotic co-op game that takes fishing seriously only when doing so makes the next stupid idea even funnier.