What is the cutest type of eyeball? This question has plagued the games industry since Nintendo first allowed millions of unsupervised children to play god with Mii avatars and their customisable peepers. In low-stakes fishing game Webfishing, you can give your fuzzy avatar one of 33 styles of eye (I counted). This is the mark of a solid Animal Crossing-like. There’s a lot of other character creation bits and bobs, of course, but you’ll have to catch a bunch of bass and sell the haul to unlock every boopable nose and bleppy smile.
As fishing minigames go, the one here is just simple enough to keep you casting off. You have to hold down the left mouse button to reel in the catch, then click a few extra times when the fishing meter hits a snag. There are some other elements if you upgrade your rod, like clicking swift pop-ups for extra cash. But at its basic level, this is an accessible, easy-going day at the lake. And you’re surrounded by other players as you go about it.
There’s a quest board with lists of fish types to catch, rewarding you with cash and clothes. You can buy a “fishing buddy” who will auto-catch fish for you in your downtime. And in keeping with fishing game tradition, you will not only catch sturgeon, pike, octopus, and salmon, but also plastic trash, snails, useless tiddlers, and the occasional old boot. You can buy a six-pack of beer and a fistful of scratchcards down in the dodgy dock shop, then spend all your time frivolously scratching away your earnings. The annoyed look your avatar gets when they lose is adorable.
It’s essentially the fishing minigame of every MMO distilled into its own distinct, cutesy hangout zone. When players chat they jabber in that recognisable Animal Crossing style babble (you can change the pitch and speed of this nonsense voice in the options). You can also type “/wag” into the chat to make your tail wag, and buy chalk with which to draw images on the ground by the hub. There are musical instruments for sale that you can program with your own chords, and there are tambourines too, just to annoy everyone.
It’s been quite a good month for Animal Crossing style relax-o-zones. Kind Words 2 offers a small diorama town to explore while sending and receiving letters of sympathy from other players. Amber Isle is a crafting-heavy and kids-friendly Animal Crossing with dinosaurs. And now this lets you enjoy the peaceful life of reeling in fresh bluefish while a pink Shiba Inu next to you tries to remember the Stardew Valley theme on their guitar. I am not accounting for the griefers who will inevitably play Wonderwall.
Webfishing first appeared a couple of years ago on Itch. But it’s been remade for Steam and the lapsed servers have been revived this week. It’s also invitingly cheap, at less than £5. For the chance to fill up another video game aquarium with rare monsters, that’s not bad. Just don’t forget to invest in a good pair of eyes.