How to Fish Updates: Patch Notes & Game Changes

New difficulty settings

Difficulty can now be changed in both the main menu and during a game. Normal keeps the previous default behavior.

• Easy: all creatures have 25% less health and deal 50% less damage.
• Hard: all creatures have 25% more health and deal 25% more damage.
• Difficulty is a player setting, not a separate island route.

Connection and save changes

The main menu now shows a short Steam connection diagnostic. A red Steam Relay label means the connection failed during initialization; the developer directs players to the Community Discord common-bugs channel for help.

• The patch includes another attempted fix for corrupted saves.
• For remaining load or weapon-equipping crashes, use the official Community Discord troubleshooting instructions.
• Restart Steam if the patch does not appear.

What changed

• PlayStation controller glyphs should now display correctly.
• The fire sizzling sound now responds to the FX volume slider.
• This was a small bug-fix patch; it did not add a new creature, island or weapon.

Save-file handling

The game now checks a save before trying to load it. This also addresses false servers appearing with the name Game Name.

• The game no longer saves the server or local state when the application crashes.
• Saving occurs when using Save, Main Menu or Quit.
• An automatic save still runs once per minute to limit lost progress after a crash.

New multiplayer and control options

• Invert the X and Y look axes.
• Host a private lobby that can only be joined by invitation.
• Change session type in server settings while in-game; a restart is required after changing it.
• The minimum locked FPS option changed from 50 to 30.

Important fixes

• Island travel can no longer bypass intended unlock progression.
• Slot-machine skins no longer disappear while rolling at 4K resolution.
• The all-Drip-creatures achievement should unlock on the final required Drip instead of requiring one extra.
• Joining players can no longer instantly end the game for the host.

Gameplay changes

• Lobbies now support up to eight players.
• Pufferfish was nerfed.
• Whale was nerfed.
• The intended route to the final island is easier to see.

Launch fixes

• Addresses black screens when joining a lobby and gray screens at startup.
• Fixes persistent boss timers, underwater main-menu effects and revive text.
• Special characters are no longer allowed in server names because they could break saves.
• The final-boss bare-hands achievement is fixed for all players.

The milestone

An official Steam announcement reported one million players within two days of launch. The developer also confirmed that more content and bug fixes are planned, but did not announce a dated roadmap.

• Check the page update date when a route or price behaves differently.
• Use patch notes for mechanical changes.
• Include the game build number when reporting a correction.

Launch facts

• Release date: August 20, 2026.
• Developer and publisher: Dazed Games.
• The launch store listing described single-player and online co-op for up to four players; Patch 1.0.4 subsequently raised lobby support to eight players.
• Platform requirement published on Steam: Windows 10 or newer.
• The official Steam listing includes 28 achievements and 16 supported interface languages.

What the game is

How to Fish is a physics-based fishing adventure in which players catch creatures, defeat them with an expanding weapon set, sell them, complete quests, fight bosses and move through new islands. The official store also identifies rare variants, trick-shot income and in-game gambling as repeat-play systems.