How to Fish is a chaotic co-op fishing sim where spider crabs will absolutely ruin you

How to Fish, the multiplayer fishing sim from Dazed Games, has been quietly building a reputation as one of the best games to play with friends who have nothing to lose and no regard for each other's wellbeing. Up to five players drop onto an island, catch fish and crustaceans, beat them to death with their bare hands or a knife, and sell the haul to a lonely fisherman on the dock for coins. It sounds simple — because it is, and that's exactly the point.

The core loop has you starting with a basic fishing rod, upgrading your gear with coins, and using bait like half a hotdog or an empty beer can to attract different catches. Friendly fire is on, which means your session will inevitably involve at least one fist fight before anyone catches anything. The real escalation comes when you use a beer can as bait and accidentally summon the spider crab — a full-on boss fight complete with a dramatic music shift and a massive health bar. The crab hits hard, seagulls will literally carry your corpse off into the sunset if you die, and your teammates can slap you back to life if someone stays alive long enough to act as medic. Later progression unlocks weapons including a sniper rifle and other guns, suggesting the spider crab is just the beginning of the island's hostility.

How to Fish sits in a growing niche of deliberately silly co-op games — think Overcooked or Lethal Company — where the fun comes less from mechanical depth and more from the chaos of putting friends in a stressful situation with blunt objects. The boss structure gives the game a progression hook that stops it from feeling like a pure sandbox, and the friendly-fire toggle means every session has a built-in conflict engine even before the crabs show up.

The game has already picked up momentum among co-op groups looking for something low-stakes but genuinely funny. One session was enough to have the reviewer planning a return run specifically to settle the score with the spider crab — and to find out what a fishing-rod-wielding player does with a sniper rifle.