Fishing is an activity that seems alluringe, but not every person interested in the hobby has the opportunity to pursue it -- or wants to endure its messier aspects. If the romance and serenity of fishing are what draws you to it from time to time, then video games might be the perfect environment to answer that call. And while there are a lot of fishing simulators out there, some of which are really realistic, the atmosphere and general vibes of the sport are also present in fishing minigames.
Everyone loves a good fishing minigame, so it's no surprise that many great titles feature one -- in fact, there are hundreds of such minigames out there, so let's take a look and check which ones are worth your valuable time.
Genshin Impact
In a way, fishing is where everything began for Genshin Impact. In the game's storyline, the protagonist fished their trusty travel companion Paimon out of the water while attempting to catch dinner, kicking off their remarkable journey together. The actual fishing minigame was added to the open-world RPG as part of an update after launch and is fairly simple.
Players find a fishing spot, choose the correct bait for the species of fish they spotted and then cast their lines, waiting for a bite. Then they attempt to reel it back on land, applying only the necessary amount of force to stay within a projected area of the fishing gauge until the catch is exhausted. What's great about fishing in Genshin Impact is that it allows you to work towards some valuable rewards, such as exclusive weapons and aquarium displays for your personal housing, and that it's the perfect excuse to spend more time relaxing in some of the most picturesque spots of Teyvat, retreading some of your earliest steps in this world and inducing a generous portion of nostalgia.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Fishing in Animal Crossing goes beyond merely passing the time -- it's a way of life. Seriously, there are players who do literally nothing but catch fish, and they kind of have a point, although the minigame itself is quite basic: You find a dark spot in the water, cast your line and time your button presses to catch.
It's the aftermath that's interesting. You can either donate the fish to the museum to create a display, sell them for cash, or set them up in tanks around your island, adding to its overall flair. There are even quarterly fishing competitions, which can net players a cash injection and other neat rewards.
Far Cry 6
Leading a violent revolution and fending off assassination attempts is pretty tiring, so the least you can do for yourself is to get some quality relaxation time in. Sure, there's a corrupt despot to topple, a bloody civil war is raging around you and the fate of an entire nation is in your hands... but there are barracuda to catch, and they won't land in a bucket of ice out of their own volition. The stark contrast between what's happening in the game and the tranquility of the fishing experience is one of the charms of this particular example.
The fishing minigame in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening isn't a requirement to finish the game, but it's worth dabbling in regardless. The fishing itself is fairly straightforward, but as one of the few minigames presented entirely from a 2D perspective, there's a standout quality to it.
Additionally, the Nintendo Switch version of the game makes textbook use of the system's HD Rumble feature, with nibbles, bites and line tension all being represented through the functionality. Now this is immersion.
Final Fantasy XV
Whether you hate or love the direction Final Fantasy XV took the legendary series in, its fishing minigame is one of the best -- and there are so many fish to catch. A wide variety of baits, rods, reels and lines need to be used to collect all 100 fish species and become a master angler. And where a lot of fishing minigames focus on simplicity, Final Fantasy XV's take on it is so deep that Square Enix ended up evolving the system into its own standalone game for PSVR, Monster of the Deep.
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
Fishing is a staple of the Like a Dragon franchise (formerly known as Yakuza), but Yakuza 6's spin on it wasrefreshing -- instead of casting lines and waiting for a bite, protagonist Kiryu is going spearfishing. This fishing minigame feels like an on-rails shooter, with Kiryu throwing spears left, right and center in the series' signature overblown, high-energy fashion.
Sea of Thieves
Rare and Microsoft have built one of the best pirate games ever in Sea of Thieves and fishing is, naturally, something a bored sailor will get up to when there's downtime between all the swashbuckling and drinking. Similar to Final Fantasy XV, Sea of Thieves' fishing is a surprisingly in-depth minigame and comes with a great variety of fish and bait options.
Perhaps the best thing about it, though, is that you can cook up your bounty afterwards and use it to keep yourself going during the game's intense battles. Just don't immerse yourself too much in fishing -- you don't want to get caught with your pants down when another crew pulls up for a broadside.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a fantastic game for many reasons, but its fishing minigame has to be among the top of the list. Seeing Kirby sitting there in a little fishing hat and trying to catch increasingly large fish is cute enough, but it's also a decent way to earn cash in the game.
Where it really shines, though, is in multiplayer mode -- you can bring a second player in on the fun and transform the tranquil experience into an oddly competitive duel to reel in the biggest catch. It's got that fun quality of making you shout at your friend across the couch, mocking their skills and feeling overly triumphant about catching a fish that's just slightly bigger than theirs.
Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley's fishing minigame is the Dark Souls of fishing minigames -- it's for masochists. If you'd like to punish yourself, casting your lines in this otherwise wholesome life sim game is a fine way to go about it.
Keeping the colored bar around the fish you're catching is a nail-biting challenge, and it's made all the more harrowing by knowing you may only have a few days left to catch the species you're after before the current season ends.
Zenless Zone Zero
Zenless Zone Zero is the newest game on this list and its fishing minigame is even more recent, as it was added in an update after launch. It's not inherently complicated or challenging -- casting a line and waiting for the right moment to start reeling in your prey is common enough. The rest of the process is essentially about following the quick-time-event instructions on the screen -- a great way to bring the fishing minigame in line with the core game's combat mechanics.
What's cool about ZZZ's fishing is that there are special sub-species of all fish, which appear as shiny silhouettes below the water's surface and immediately fire up those collection-focused neurons in your brain. Pulling stuff out of the water is already a primal instinct for us, but make it shiny and we're basically going feral.