The gameplay loop of Webfishing is a fairly simple one: the player catches fish in various bodies of water using a fishing rod, sells the fish they catch, and then buys upgrades to facilitate catching more fish. The upgrades vary from bait types, rod stats, bobbers, and fishing buddies which allow the player to obtain rarer fish, more money per cast, more fish over time, and even special fishing loot like treasure chests which provide free cosmetics.
Webfishing is a $4.99 chatroom fishing game developed and published by lamedeveloper via Steam on Oct. 11th, 2024. The first of their games to reach Steam, Webfishing is a casual title designed to be cozy and relaxing with over 100 fish to catch, massive multiplayer interactivity, character customization, and various miscellaneous toys to play with. lamdeveloper is an indie developer whose previous standalone work has been limited to itch.io releases that range from bullethell roguelikes to shopping survivals to Undertale-esque block matching games. However, Webfishing is the breakout star of their catalogue with over 46,000 reviews on Steam that lean towards overwhelming positivity.
The player controls an Animal Crossing-esque avatar, identifiable in the customization menu as either a dog or a cat depending on the player’s choice the differences between which have very few gameplay effects beyond cosmetic appeal—dogs can bark and cats can meow, but neither have any effect on fishing. The customization is fairly simple where fur color, fur pattern, facial features, and clothing make up the majority of customizable elements for the player’s avatar, yet many of these are locked behind the previously mentioned treasure chests and in-game currency which is obtained from selling fish. Whether the player is interested in obtaining these cosmetics or not, the treasure chests and money obtained from fishing mean the player will naturally collect a wide variety simply by playing the game and there exist no competitive or economic incentives in the game beyond what the player might insist upon for themself.
The world of Webfishing is a beach large enough to act as a sandbox environment for fishing and the various toys available, including chalk to draw on the ground with as well as instruments to play. There are a few indoor areas that load separately from the main world, but the world is generally minimal and takes many pointers from Animal Crossing in its aesthetic.
The main draw of Webfishing is not the fishing necessarily as much as it is the chatroom aspect. When starting the game, the player is prompted to join a lobby of their choosing, create a new lobby, or start a solo play lobby. While the solo play lobby will have everything any other lobby has, including full access to fishing mechanics, toys, and customization, this is not the primary way players are intended to play the game, and a solo lobby can feel quite lonely knowing that the game is designed as an online multiplayer experience. Character customization, toys, and showing off fish caught are all designed with multiplayer interaction in mind; therefore, joining a multiplayer lobby or creating a multiplayer lobby gives a more fully realized Webfishing experience. Lobbies can be password protected or open to the public, meaning Webfishing welcomes exclusive friend groups looking only to hang out together in a virtual space as well as those looking to play with strangers or even a mix of both friends and random players.
Like any chatroom or forum, regulated or not, public Webfishing lobbies suffer from griefers and trolls. Dedicated LGBTQ+ lobbies see the occasional incurrence by xenophobic vitriol and some lobbies are even created and named to incite hostility between players. That being said, this is more of a problem with the internet as a whole rather than Webfishing itself, and standard recourse exists for players, including both a block option and a report option. However, in time spent playing the game, it appears the community is overall welcoming and relatively wholesome. Additionally, besides chatting, there are very few ways to actively grief other players in-game, so blocking and reporting are perfectly enough to facilitate hostile players.
As expected of an indie title, Webfishing still has a few kinks that need to be ironed out—framerate issues are noticeable when lots of players from different places in the world all connect to the same lobby, and cosmetics as well as the chat may take minutes to load after joining a lobby. Additionally, it appears that while changes made to the game’s settings are saved, they are not applied on startup, and going to the settings menu each time is necessary to enforce one’s personal settings, such as playing in borderless windowed mode. However, the game is still being updated to address these internal issues in part because of its massive success on Steam.
Where approachability is concerned, Webfishing is as friendly as it comes with basic movement controls and a single button for fishing. Accessibility settings also exist even for this simple game, and an autoclicker option is provided for those who may have trouble reeling in fish. For anyone looking for a casual title to play with friends or a place to make new online acquaintances, Webfishing is perfect for gamers and non-gamers alike.