The best fishing minigames right now

Fishing feels extra special when it’s something you choose to do inside a bigger game

For some, they’re the main reason to play the game, and for others, they’re simply a distraction once the main game gets a little too tiring. Either way, everyone loves a fishing minigame, and there are hundreds of them out there across a wide variety of games. Sure, there are plenty of games where the main game is all about fishing, but fishing is a little more special when it’s something you choose to do, not something you have to do.

We’ve scoured the depths of the ocean floor to fish up this list of eight of the best fishing minigames in gaming today.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch)

The fishing minigame in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening isn’t required to finish the game like a lot of other activities in the game are, but it’s still worth doing. Fishing itself is fairly straightforward: you cast your line, wait for a fish to bite, and then carefully reel it back in while keeping an eye on the direction of the fish so you don’t snap your line.

It’s a very simple affair, but it makes the list for a couple of reasons. The first is that it’s one of the few fishing minigames presented from a 2D perspective, which is an interesting idea for a fishing minigame. The second is that the Switch version of the game makes fantastic use of the console’s HD Rumble feature, with nibbles, bites, and line tension all being represented using the nifty feature. 

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Fishing in Animal Crossing is not just a fun way to pass the time, it’s a way of life. There are some players for whom the only worthwhile activity in New Horizons is fishing, and the game provides plenty of reasons to do so.

The fishing minigame is very basic: simply find a dark spot in the water, cast your line, and time your button presses to catch. It’s what you do with the fish that counts — you can either donate the fish to the museum to create a lovely display, sell them for cash, or set them up in tanks around your Island. Plus there’s quarterly fishing competitions, which can net players huge amounts of cash and neat rewards. 

Final Fantasy XV

Final Fantasy XV’s fishing minigame is one of the best parts of the game, and there’s 100 different fish to catch. With a wide range of baits, rods, reels, and lines to choose from, this probably has the most depth (pun intended) of any fishing minigame in the list.

It’s widely regarded as one of the most entertaining minigames in video games history, and it’s easy to spend hours just casting lines and catching fish. In fact, the fishing minigame in FFXV was so good that Square Enix spun the minigame off into its own standalone PSVR game, called Monster of the Deep. 

Far Cry 6

In between the revolution and the shooting and assassination attempts, sometimes you just need to kick back and relax with a bit of fishing. That’s the experience on offer in Far Cry 6, and it’s one of the most tranquil and relaxing experiences in all of gaming.

Sure, there’s a corrupt Central American despot to topple, people are dying by the thousands fighting a brutal civil war, and the very fate of an entire country is in your hands… but there are barracuda to catch, and they’re not going to catch themselves. 

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

Most Yakuza games have some sort of fishing minigame in them, with the side activity first being introduced in Yakuza 3. For the most part, they’ve been your basic fishing game, with nothing particularly special or unique about them. Yakuza 6 did things a little differently, though.

It features an absolutely bonkers spearfishing minigame that’s less a fishing game than it is an on-rails shooter, with protagonist Kiryu firing spears at tropical fish like they were terrorists in Time Crisis. It’s exactly the kind of over-the-top, high-energy activity you’d expect from the Yakuza series, and we hope that Sega fishes it out of the archives for a future game.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a wonderful game for many reasons, but its fishing minigame has to be among the top of those reasons. Seeing Kirby sitting there in his little fishing hat and trying to catch increasingly large fish is cute enough, but it’s also a half-decent way to earn money in the game.

The best part is that you can play it multiplayer, with the second player taking the role of Waddle Dee. It’s supposed to be a chill, relaxed experience, but it’s very easy to get uncomfortably competitive about it, competing with each other to catch the biggest fish. Within minutes you’ll be shouting at each other over a single point difference in fish size, because whoever catches the biggest fish will have their catch immortalized forever on a notice board in town. 

Stardew Valley

There aren’t any fishing minigames in the Dark Souls series, but if you’re keen on punishing yourself with an intense fishing experience, Stardew Valley is the way to go. Trying to keep the coloured bar around the fish you’re catching is a nail-biting experience, and it’s made all the more harrowing by knowing you might only have a few days left to catch a specific fish before the season ends. 

Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves has everything a wannabe pirate could want: sailing, naval combat, lots of alcohol and singing, and islands to explore. But what if you’re not cut out for the pirate life? What if swashbuckling and pillaging just isn’t for you? Well, that’s where fishing comes in.

It’s a surprisingly in-depth minigame, with plenty of fish to catch and cook and quite a few bait options for catching different fish. Of course, your relaxing fishing vacation could all come to an end when another ship turns up and blows you to smithereens, but that’s all part of the life of a pirate.