Somewhere in the communal YouTube comedy skit, light RPG, and fishing simulator pond swims Nice Day for Fishing. Developed by FusionPlay and published by Team17, it translates the humour of Viva La Dirt League’s Epic NPC Man series into an actual game that starts off very strong, with a lot of promise. 

I’d watched a bit of Viva La Dirt League’s content before, not enough to call myself a superfan, but enough to pick up the references. Nice Day for Fishing genuinely is just Epic NPC Man: The Game, which is honestly delightful. It’s silly, whimsical, and a loving riff on your average MMO questline. If you’re familiar with their work, you’ll also pick up on plenty of inside jokes and references to their sketches. But even if you’ve never seen any of it before, don’t worry. It’ll still hold up as a charming, funny adventure in its own right, never taking itself seriously. It does get a bit grating, after a time, but more on that later.

Because you’re a fishing NPC, everything can be solved via fishing. It’s the core mechanic of the game, and, to begin with, it’s simple but satisfying. You cast your line and, if you’ve picked the right bait, a fish will automatically chomp at your hook when it gets close. Once the sucker is hooked, the fight begins. You flip-flop between attacking and defending, holding down the attack button to chip away at the fish’s health while it’s your turn to attack, then defending when the fish turns around to signal it’s their turn to attack. You can hold the defend button for safety to guarantee you take less damage from the fish’s attacks, or you can opt to press the defend button at the last possible moment to block the attack perfectly, and to take even less damage. Then, it’s back to attacking, and the loop continues till either you or the fish hits zero health. 

To add some variety to the fishing combat, you’ve also got access to spells, which you unlock over time. These use a stamina bar and give you access to big damage bursts, damage over time debuffs, or helpful buffs. It adds some much-needed variety to the otherwise monotonous flow of reeling and reacting, but even so, it doesn’t completely negate the feeling of repetition.

The good news is that the map is genuinely interesting. Each fishing zone has its own unique shape, filled with tight caves and crevices to explore. A lot of my enjoyment came from seeing how far down I could fish. Your rod starts off pretty standard, with a short reach, but after a few upgrades to both your line and lure (including enchanting a piece of garlic to push past darkness, obviously), you gain the ability to go further and fish deeper to explore more of the underwater world. You’ll make use of underwater currents kicked off by a fish god early in the story to push your lure into new areas, uncovering quest items and rare fish. Later, you’ll unlock a lure you can move about to give you complete control, letting you explore every inch of the map. It’s definitely a highlight, getting access to a new depth. 

Boss fights, too, offer a refreshing change of pace from the otherwise repetitive quests. These aren’t just back-and-forth fights with tiny fish. They require more focus and sharper timing to defend against attacks that get more and more difficult as you progress through the phases.

You can stock up on potions and collect consumables scattered throughout the map to give yourself an edge in a boss fight, but there’s an unfortunate catch. If you die during a boss attempt, you lose those consumables and have to go hunt them down again. Which wouldn’t be an issue if some of them, especially the regeneration item, didn’t take too long to respawn. But, they do. When I was struggling with the Lich boss, burning through items to ultimately fail, having to wait around for essential resources to reappear really killed my momentum. It was just incredibly frustrating.