Epic NPC Man’s Nice Day For Fishing; where you are Baelin, an NPC fisherman who suddenly turns into a fabled adventurer. You use your fishing line as your weapon and battle fish, hunt for treasure, and adventure through the deep unknown in this unique fishing-RPG. The world of Azerim is based on Viva La Dirt League‘s Epic NPC Man series and is their very first video game and is published by Team 17 Ltd.
Story & Immersion
Interesting, albeit “typical” 4th wall breaking Doesn’t take itself seriously
Poor pacing due many fetch quests(Which is technically part of the gag, but quickly wears out its welcome)
Nice Day for Fishing is game about the world of Azerim, where Baelin and company know that they are NPCs for adventurers, providing quests and services for them to help the adventurers complete their main quest. All of the sudden, a chest is opened and within it a scroll appears that forces all the gamers out of Azerim leaving only one, Baelin. This seemingly useless fisherman NPC suddenly becomes the sole adventurer and thus the only one that can save the village of Honeywood. This fourth wall breaking premise is really fun, especially as a gamer playing a game about a game’s NPC! It really takes you back to old school MMORPGs where the story and quest structure is interesting at first, but overall quite basic, which is not necessarily a bad thing; bad guy shows up and threatens the world, and NPC-turned-adventurer comes in to save the day!
It’s a short adventure, about 10 hours long (14 for completionists) though at times, felt longer than it should due to drawn out quest lines that negatively affects pacing. As a fan of Viva La Dirt League, I was incredibly happy to see the characters in game form, complete with iconic quest line, such as Bodger & his missing hammer.
Graphics & Sound
3 main fishing locations with 4 levels of depth in each Very “rpg” like sound effects & BGM Loop feels very short, and feels repetitive Fun voice acted parts by the Viva La Dirt League Very limited voice acting and are basically just SFX “Battle” effects can get too busy
The presentation and world recognition are probably the game’s main selling points. It looks and sounds great. The game has 3 main fishing locations that looks distinctly different from each other and there’s 4 levels of depth in each location. Each fish design is well done and many of them are fictional fish which parody RPG elements like Mimics. The sound effects are also well done and will feel nostalgic for RPG fans. The biggest negatives about them are just I wish there were more in the sound department because the loop can feel repetitive over time while grinding for fish. Furthermore, the voice acted parts are just short sound clips, which is unfortunate due to the fact that the characters are already being played by the VLDL guys and they should’ve just voice acted more of the game, at the very least, the main quest line.
Gameplay
Fishing battle RPG is a fantastic idea Very engaging gameplay. Flashy graphics can interfere & may cause you to miss defence/parry windows A large collection of weapons + accessories, Many missing User Interface/Menus Adventure on foot, ship, and fishing line Level design can almost feel like dungeon delving like classic RPGs, but… This happens late in the game and is under-utilized Egregious back tracking and fetch quests
The idea is there, and the genre is something I should love (fishing mini games+rpg), but the overall execution, shallow features, and overall gameplay hurt it. You are a fisherman so instead of using typical weapons fighting the big baddies, you are saving the world by fishing! It’s an engaging “battle” system that you need to pay attention to. You have your attack phase allowing you to do basic attacks and/or spells and a defence phase where you focus on defending or parrying while punishing you if aren’t paying attention and accidentally attack. This battle system is surprisingly deep and potentially difficult; luckily your health and stamina replenishes after every fight, allowing you to go all out each encounter.
At first, “traversing” with your fishing line is tedious because you only have vertical control, potentially wasting your time if you missed the mark. However, half way into the game you receive horizontal control of your line by taking advantage of water currents. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get cool, where it feels like you are controlling the line as you traverse through the dungeon, until the final fishing depth in the game. This dungeon traversal aspect felt so interesting and unique but was incredibly under-utilized. The game felt slow, though not in an intentional way like a cozy game would.
Other features missing that would really sell the ode to MMOs or RPGs in general is the lack of good user interface and menus. Your main menu is barebones; you have access to your inventory, gear and basic stats. You can’t even see what your spells are unless you are currently in battle or talking to this 1 NPC. No detailed quest log or no bestiary/fish list unless you’re speaking to that 1 NPC. This is really inconvenient because some fish are not easy to get to, and when you finally encounter it, you may have the wrong bait on your hook. A quest log with a clue of what bait the fish likes or a list that you can refer to easily is sorely missed.
Lastly, your map has no interactivity. No zoom, no markers, and no area labels. This is really inconvenient especially for resource items you need to constantly come back to in order to rebuild Honeywood or find certain fish. This is truly an odd choice especially for a Role Playing Game that parodies classics.
Final Thoughts
To conclude, Nice Day for Fishing has very unique premise and foundation, though bogged down with tedious gameplay and missing gameplay features that are typically found in this genre. Add a point if you’re into Viva La Dirt League, maybe, but otherwise, I hope they make a second game and deliver a better overall product.
This game was released on May 29th, 2025 and was played on PlayStation 5 Pro.
It’s currently available on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Steam
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