Gamers take their fishing minigames quite seriously. Save for the upcoming indie game Moonglow Bay, the activity is rarely used as the main feature in video games and instead acts as one piece to an ensemble of tasks. It's become quite the popular past-time, as well, with many gamers opting to go fishing instead of other essential duties. Even during last night's IndieLand Opening Ceremony, host Jirard "The Completionist" Khalil spent the last few minutes he had with Sea of Stars playing the fishing minigame at the viewers' request.
During this time, developer Sabotage showed off just how much detail has gone into the activity, much like every ounce of Sea of Stars in general. Unlike other fishing minigames, which are either too simplistic or overly complicated, Sea of Stars gets it right in the sweet spot, keeping the past-time engaging while the mechanics aren't as easy to grasp as games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Popular Fishing Minigames
One of the earlier examples of fishing mechanics comes from the original Animal Crossing, and it quickly became a popular way players made bells as some common fish would go for as much as 3,000 bells while bugs of the same value were much harder to find. Animal Crossing: New Horizons has since balanced that out, but fishing still remains the more popular activity for some players. Players simply cast their lines and wait for a fish to notice. Once it does, it'll bite at the hook a number of times before latching on; then the player must press A to reel it back in. There is some timing involved, and some players woefully reel their lines in too early and miss out on valuable fish, but it's overall a charmingly simple minigame perfect for the relaxed style of Animal Crossing.
Conversely, Stardew Valley's fishing mechanic is impossibly difficult for some players, but it's necessary for completing some major objectives in the farming sim, such as the Community Center. After swiftly reacting to a fish catching the hook, players must keep the bobber's threshold around the fish, and each species of fish has a different swimming pattern that can be fast and tricky to catch or slow and easy. Regardless, some players struggle with the reaction timing enough that they were never able to get the rhythm down. Lots of players also had a difficult time with Final Fantasy 15's minigame, but it served no purpose to the main game, so many opted out of participating completely.
Sea of Stars' Fishing Minigame
Sea of Stars is one of the most hyped indie games currently in development, and though it won't release until 2022, its preview at IndieLand's Opening Ceremony showed polished mechanics including the fishing minigame. It's not overly complicated, but still requires enough still to keep players interested in the task.
With one button, the 'action' button, players will cast the line out; the action button is used to perform each step needed, making it easy to grasp. While the bobber is in the air, interestingly, players will hit the action button again to descend the line down to the water. This way, they can time when the bobber will fall depending on the fish's location. A circle will appear when the bobber lands in the water, and if there are fish, they'll grab onto the hook.
Then, similar to fishing in Animal Crossing, players will reel the line in with the action button. However, they must also steer it into the reeling zone, which grows thinner the closer the fish gets to the player characters. This way, each aspect of the fishing mechanic is fully immersive without being too difficult. Khalil struggled with the fishing a bit at first, but this was likely due to the fact that the game does not yet have instructions or tutorials programmed in yet, but it should at launch. While it may only be a small part of the game as a whole, it's likely to entice fans of fishing minigames when Sea of Stars finally releases.
Sea of Stars launches in 2022 for console and PC.