10 best fishing games on Steam

Fishing games are a relaxing way to spend your time even if you’re not a real life fisherman. It can also be real exciting to hook a fish, fight it until you manage to land it and then you see how big you’re fish is. We’ve looked up most of the fishing games on Steam and here’s the 10 we consider the best. You can click on the game’s title below to go to the game’s Steam page.

10. SEGA Bass Fishing

Be warned! This is not for people looking for realistic fishing games. SEGA Bass Fishing is a pure arcade in SEGA style for those who look for an arcade fishing game. Though graphics are a bit dated (this being a port), the game is cheap to buy, it’s fun and addictive. In this fishing game as the name says everything revolves around Bass fishing. You have fourteen different lures, eight different fishing locations and four tournaments. Start off as an amateur and work your way up in the Masters Classic tournament. Simple but effective, the Steam review rating is a proof to that.

9. Just Fishing

This is essentially an arcade mobile game ported to Steam and it’s pretty much 2D. It’s free to play but we think it’s more free to pay (or p2w). It’s a huge grind to get any of the high end gear which is needed to land any of the big fish. For those looking to compete there are competitions and that’s about all there is to this game. We’ve included it in the top because this game runs even on very low end PC’s and that can be an advantage to some people.

8. Russian Fishing 4

Russian Fishing 4 is a pretty realistic fishing simulator that is free to play. But all the good points stop there. This game should be at the definition of grind in the dictionaries. You will need years of gameplay to progress in this game without paying real money. To buy any of the high end gear you will also need to grind for thousands of hours. Essentially if you are retired and have all the free time in the world this could be a good game for you. And buying all that high end gear is not a guarantee that you will be able to land bigger fish, there are lots of factors which influence if you can catch a fish or not. And even if you catch a big fish, sometimes you can sell it for less then small fish. What else can we say ? The game is set in a Russian environment/scenery and fish species are also adapted to this environment. That in itself can be a pro or a con depending on your taste. The game has some RPG elements to it which is somewhat unique in these types of games.

7. Ice Lakes

Ice Lakes is all about ice fishing. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but we can understand that some players like ice fishing more then any other type of fishing. Here it’s not about fighting the fish. It’s about choosing the right lure/bait and fishing conditions/location to land the biggest fish. The game offers both single player an multiplayer game modes. Regarding the technical aspects I can say that the graphics could have been better and the lack of a proper tutorial is somewhat annoying. There are 35 fish species, 23 open world maps, lots of competitions, online leaderboards, changing weather, extensive statistics and also battle royale mode. What can we say ? If you’re into ice fishing then this is the game for you!

6. Euro Fishing

This Dovetail Games product that is just a base game created to sell DLC’s once you’re hooked into the game. The game is somewhat realistic but we think it’s limited by concentrating as it’s name says on Euro Fishing. Not every fisherman is into Carp fishing, some people prefer a much bigger variety of fish and this game is not for them. Yes there are some other species as well like Catfish but the game is centered on Carp fishing. The graphics are not bad but the overall execution is poor. There are known bugs in the game that were not fixed. Instead the publisher released a bunch of DLC’s and that’s it. Each DLC is a different lake where you can fish for Carp, Catfish, Tench, Bream and Roach. Oh and I forgot – Koi Carp. As of 2019 the devs seems to have stopped developing the game and released no more DLC’s. This might be because they have another fishing game – see position 4.

5. Fishing: Barents Sea

This is a different kind of fishing game. It is centered around commercial fishing with all kinds of boats/ships. Basically you take the helm of your very own fishing boat and explore the vast Barents Sea. Fishing is done from ships either via line fishing or net fishing. You start with a very small ship in which you do all kinds of tasks like gutting fish. Then when you have enough money you can get the bigger ships and all the upgrades for them. The game can seem a bit of a grind sometimes but if you like games with slow progression and exploration then this game can be a blast. And it has a very relaxing feel to it – exploring the sea, catching fish, admiring wildlife. It also has at the moment two DLC’s, one with five additional ships and one with a new type of catch: King Crab. This introduces crab fishing, a new fishing mechanic and two additional ships. We feel that although the game has some bugs (the developer is active and fixing them) this is a unique game which is worth considering if you can get accustomed to the slow pace everything is happening.

4. Fishing Sim World®: Pro Tour

This is another Dovetail Games creation. It seems it is the successor of Euro Fishing (position 6). You know the drill, they release the game with limited content and then they start pumping out the DLC’s. However this game is interesting because it’s one of the few that has a career feature in single player – this is the single reason why we would buy this game. The fishing aspect is somewhat more on the realistic side (not an arcade game). Other then this it has the usual fish species, unlike Euro Fishing here you have a higher number of fish species and it has multiplayer. We must also mention boats, online tournaments and licensed equipment. Regarding graphics, it is good but you can often see all kinds of glitches. Developers should really focus on fixing bugs and not on releasing DLC after DLC.

3. Professional Fishing

It’s another free to play game with built in leveling system to make you level as slow as possible and to force you to pay for DLC’s. It has good graphics and beautiful scenery although we could often observe FPS drops on our high end gaming rig. You have several fishing locations and a store where you can buy gear. We didn’t test many locations, just the first one but I can say that fish were biting like crazy. Not very realistic, I could even say arcade here and I wouldn’t be far from the truth. Besides having multiplayer one interesting feature is that you can put up a tent and you can also buy an ATV to move from one place to another. Of course to sell more ATV’s they made walking on foot a pain (very slow). To level up you can expect a very long grind unless you buy some advantages (VIP) with real money.

2. Ultimate Fishing Simulator

Ultimate Fishing Simulator is a fun and well put together fishing simulator. It has some gear and fishing locations built into the base game and additional fishing locations are offered as DLC’s. The developer is active and releases new content on a regular basis either as free updates to the game or as paid DLC’s. Regarding gameplay in our opinion the game has some arcade feel to it. The underwater camera which shows you when the fish bites doesn’t help in this sense – although it can be turned off. Another “built in cheat” is the hunter vision which shows you were fish are under the water (something like an X-ray machine). As a real life fisherman I can tell you that fishing trips sometimes can end with no fish caught. Not so in Ultimate Fishing Simulator. Here the fish always bite, no matter what you do. So this is not very realistic but we can understand that it’s not fun to sit for hours without any result. If you want a game where fish always bites then this is it. Another weak point is the amount of fishing gear and bait/lures – somewhat limited in our opinion. One noteworthy feature is that you can also practice ice fishing in this game. You also have multiplayer but it’s somewhat limited. Overall we think it deserves the second place.

1. Fishing Planet

While we know this will be a controversial first place we think that Fishing Planet is the most comprehensive game of them all. It offers the player a multitude of fishing locations from North America and Europe and what’s most important it has fishing methods for all tastes: float fishing, lure fishing, bottom fishing, top-water fishing – it has them all. It also offers fishing from several types of boats: kayaks, motorboats, bass boats. The game can be played either alone or with friends via multiplayer and offers in-game competitions. The developer is active and releases new content from time to time. It is free to play however it has a leveling system that makes it difficult to progress without paying real money for Premium or for additional perks such as access to fishing locations and fishing gear. The game’s economy is in our opinion it’s biggest flaw and can lead to a very long grind if you’re not willing to spend money on the game. However if you can get past that it can be a very relaxing game to play and it is the most realistic simulation of fishing, taking into consideration fishing conditions (weather), location and used equipment and bait/lure.

Tell us your Top 10

Most likely you have your own opinion about the best fishing games. Leave a comment below and tell us your Top 10!