If peaceful fishing simulators put you to sleep, How to Fish takes a very different approach. The new co-op game turns the supposedly relaxing hobby into a physics-driven sandbox where players can catch fish, beat them up, sell them for cash, buy increasingly ridiculous weapons and even gamble their earnings.
Released on August 20, 2026, by Dazed Games, How to Fish supports up to four players and has already earned an “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating from Steam users. Its appeal comes from a deliberately chaotic combination of fishing, combat, progression and multiplayer mayhem.
The premise is simple enough. While drinking and boating, your character crashes into a small island and ends up stranded without any equipment. Getting home means learning how to fish, earning money from your catches and gradually acquiring the gear needed to reach new islands.
The game does not take long to abandon anything resembling conventional fishing. Players can turn their catches into weapons, perform absurd trick shots for extra money, fight bosses and deal with seagulls that are determined to steal their hard-earned fish.
How To Fish Turns Fishing Into A Physics-Powered Shooter
The first few moments of How to Fish are deliberately basic. You start with no gear or weapons and have to catch fish before selling them for enough money to improve your equipment. That progression quickly opens up a much stranger arsenal.
Players can begin by punching fish, then spend their earnings on knives, handguns, shotguns and sniper rifles. Weapons can also be upgraded with attachments and different types of ammunition, turning the act of catching a fish into something closer to an arcade shooting challenge.
The physics system is where much of the game’s comedy comes from. After pulling a fish out of the water, players can launch it into the air and attempt trick shots. Successful shots, including quick scopes and 360 no-scopes, increase the amount of money earned from the catch.
The islands also become more dangerous as players progress. Completing quests and defeating bosses unlocks new areas containing tougher creatures, better equipment and new fish to discover. Players can also hunt for rare variants of the different fish, giving the progression system another goal beyond simply making money.
Seagulls provide another source of chaos. The birds can swoop down and steal catches from players, but the game gives you the option of turning the tables and attempting to hit the thieves with your own trick shots.
The multiplayer design makes those systems even more unpredictable. Up to four players can explore the islands together, fish, fight enemies, complete quests and experiment with the game’s physics. That leaves plenty of room for the kind of ridiculous moments that are difficult to manufacture in a traditional fishing simulator.
The Fish Casino And What You Need To Run It
Money is not only useful for weapons and equipment. How to Fish also includes a fish casino where players can gamble their earnings in the hope of making enough money to fund their next round of upgrades.
That combination gives the game a progression loop built around catching fish, selling them, taking risks with the profits and using the rewards to reach more dangerous islands. The result is less about mastering realistic fishing and more about seeing how far the game’s deliberately chaotic systems can be pushed.
The technical requirements are also relatively modest. The minimum specifications call for Windows 10 or later, 8 GB of RAM, an Intel Core i5-5257U or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 processor, and a GeForce GTX 1050 or AMD RX 460-class graphics card. Players also need 1 GB of available storage and a broadband internet connection.
How to Fish is built around a very simple idea: fish, kill fish, sell fish, buy better gear and cause increasingly ridiculous trouble with your friends. That unusual combination appears to be exactly what has helped the game stand out among Steam’s latest co-op releases.