Like millions of you, I do enjoy the occasional Viva La Dirt League (VLDL) episode, and have wondered what a VLDL-themed Oblivion or Skyrim would be like. The YouTube channel, one that pokes fun at common video game tropes – from the likes of World of Warcraft, Skyrim, and PUBG – isn’t exactly what anyone would consider the pinnacle of whimsy and comedy. It does, however, feature some very memorable characters, and episodes that do often elicit a chuckle. My expectations from a VLDL’s game aka Nice Day for Fishing were along similar lines. I wasn’t expecting a ground-breaking RPG, but I was expecting a simple, fun adventure built on tried and tested fundamentals featuring VLDL’s most famous characters.
And for about 10 minutes, the game delivers on all those fronts. You meet Baradun who “Poortals awaaaay” whenever there’s trouble, Bodger whose grandfather’s hammer invariably ends up in the well just outside Honeywood, and of course the Epic NPC Man himself, Greg the garlic farmer who is obsessed with his garlic crop.
As any VLDL fan would expect given the title, you play Baelin, Honeywood’s fisherman, who, much like Hodor, only ever says, “Nice day for fishing, ain’t it” followed by a “h’hua.” Essentially, you are an NPC in a World of Warcraft-like game that is suddenly glitching. All the ‘heroes’ aka the players have been locked out, and it’s up to you, NPC fisherman Baelin, to restore the status quo by fishing your way to victory.
Quests are assigned by various other NPCs, including Greg and Eugene, but mostly by Baradun the mage. They’re usually silly and pointless, but not unexpected given the VLDL theme. The bulk of the game sees you running back and forth across the map competing these quests, which mostly involve (you guessed it) fishing. This includes not just fishing for fish, but also for resources, crabs, treasure chests, lost relics, deep-sea villains, undead sailors, and more. The constant back-and-forth is tedious enough in itself, but sadly, it’s the fishing part itself that well and truly sucks.
My favourite fishing game (or games involving fishing) by far is Far Cry 5, with Red Dead Redemption 2 coming a close second. Both games – released seven years ago – feature simple but compelling fishing mechanics. You find a body of water, make sure you have enough lure, toss your line and then dance with the fish till it’s caught. This dance largely involves countering the fish’s movement and reeling it in or paying out the line depending on the strain put by the fish. It’s interactive and fun, particularly because there’s clear visual feedback when things are going right (or wrong). Now hold that thought.
Nice Day for Fishing’s fishing sucks
Here’s how you fish in Nice Day for Fishing: Find a spot and toss your reel in with the appropriate lure – usually garlic and coconuts(?!). Once a fish bites, you enter a combat mode of sorts. On PC, you press E to attack when the fish is facing you, and hold Q to block or press and hold Q to parry at the appropriate time when the fish is facing the other way. Parrying is especially important because you have a limited health pool and some of the fish can deal heavy damage. Without parrying, you will not be able to catch the more difficult prey.
Now this method is itself silly on many levels, but making it worse is the lack of any visual feedback of block and parry windows. Without the right ring equipped – Nice Day for Fishing is indeed an RPG and hence has gear you can equip – you won’t be notified when to press Q or E, which brings parrying down to pure guesswork (unless you have good ears). To be clear, parrying feels very much like guesswork even with the right ring equipped.
This is tedious and far from rewarding, especially when dealing with late-game fish with massive health pools, not to mention the fact that the game is 95 percent fishing.
The rest of the meh
As for the rest, there’s not much to talk about. The entire game is just a series of fetch quests. You’re simply told to go from point A to point B, fish for a specific object, and return. There’s no autonomy, no sense of discovery, and progression is largely meaningless. I’ve already spent eight tedious hours in-game, and I’m loath to spend any more.
Nice Day for Fishing didn’t have to re-invent the proverbial (fishing?) wheel, but it tried anyway and failed. Subscribe to VLDL’s Patreon if you want to support the good work they’re doing on YouTube, but when it comes to gaming, give your money to a more deserving developer (Black Salt Games comes to mind).
Game reviewed on PC. Review code provided by publisher.
