Mornin’! Nice day for fishing ain’t it!
Nice Day for Fishing is a game made by FusionPlay and published by Team17 and features Viva La Dirt League in what is their first realisation into gaming. Viva La Dirt League or known as (VLDL) area group of guys well known for their online skits across social media based on Dungeons & Dragons.
If you do not recognise them by name you may likely have seen their skits before, the skits involve funny real life situations of npc’s and quest givers that mocks and ridicules game quests.
I’m no stranger to playing games that have been realised by a famous content creators, the AVGN game was one I played and enjoyed and knowing who VLDL were and being a fan of fishing in games I was eager to give Nice Day for Fishing a fair shot.
Nice Day for Fishing is a retro adventure featuring amazing pixel graphics and has you slowly navigate the small village of Honeywood, after the Village is attacked by an evil sea monster you begin by fishing small fish in the village, gaining EXP which increases your capability to get larger fish, you can use money to get better armour and you will slowly navigate the slightly bigger and wider world. The main focus here is the references and humour to VLDL and there are plenty of references that fans of them will enjoy, even if you’re not well versed with them I would say the game is still hilarious. I was a fan of Eugene who was mocked for his pathetic crying and I found this funny even without context, when I watched back the skit and episode that it was from it made me go back and watch all of them. All other members of VLDL are here and if you are aware of them you will automatically know who they are in the game, especially as their voices occupy the characters.
As you play as Baelin a man that is happy to do any task given to him, his comrades don’t help much in fighting but will guide him into doing mundane but usually helpful side quests which slowly open up more of the game. The game as you expect has a main emphasis on fishing. While the first fish you catch is as simple as mashing X and then not doing anything while the fish is attacking, the fish do soon become progressively harder to catch, catching fish is where the real RPG element comes in, defeating evil orcs in the overworld just isn’t a thing for a lowly fisherman and your quest to get rid of them sends them running rather than defeating them, catching fish however has you using skills to weaken them as you tap X to reel them in, you can eventually defend their incoming attacks and use other abilities. You have both a health and stamina bar, the health refers to the actual fishing line and should this reach 0 your catch will break the pole and you will lose the fish, the stamina bar refers to the skills you use such as using a heal on the rod should its health or durability as of a better word fall low so while you can use stamina potions to restore stamina mid battle the main focus is on the health of the rod which is actually determined by Baelins health. There are also various upgrades such as hats that give bonus upgrades with hilariously the floral hat giving the better stats early on.
The varying gameplay elements that slowly become available really do expand the game in such a way that makes the fishing in the game fun, while it takes a long time to get your rod back if you cast it down to the bottom you can get it back quickly a lot quicker not too far into the game although some aspects like trying to fish up a crate can have you mindlessly trying to fish in the correct spot as you do, eventually you need to wrestle with other elements such as currents which can alter on the go meaning you have to time your casts specifically. I would say the biggest gripe I have the game is the endless back and fourth between maps, even with the ship this isn’t a simple quick voyage.
Overall I thoroughly have enjoyed my time with Nice Day for Fishing, as I have seen a few of the Skits already I understood what was going on but as some of them I weren’t aware of I still found them funny and overall the game as a whole is charming and tongue-in-cheek.
A PlayStation 5 code was provided by Team 17. This This article is featured on
