Day 158 - How Fish is Made
SPOOKY MONTH!, Horror, Short and Free ·
Skeeter’s Take:
Today is going to be a tough one.
Here’s the thing with this Flash Forward project - our main goal with this was to do a “review” a day. That’s it. That’s essentially the heart of it. But as this has gone on, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to ride the line of “do I want to explain everything that happens in this game” or “do I want to use this opportunity to recommend games to people so they can experience the games themselves”. I’ve been more inclined to use this space to recommend games vs spoiling them.
There are some games that I recommend that I would never expect the player to sit through (AKA Space) and those kinds of games I don’t feel like I’m robbing the player of an experience if I explain then. But then, there are some games that I feel would be doing a disservice to the game and the player if I tried to explain it to you - some games I feel need to be experienced first, and then discussed later.
How Fish Is Made falls into this category for me. This is a game I want you to play before I spoil anything for you. I think by not playing the game yourself, the whole concept is weakened and you as the player would be missing out on a big part of the “point” of the game. It’d be like if I sat here and tried to explain The Stanley Parable to you - you’d be able to understand the concept but the player experience is arguably the most important part and can’t really be described - you sort of have to experience it yourself. These are both games that use their medium to deliver an experience you can’t get in other forms of media - Other than the choose your own adventure books, video games are one of the few mediums that give the consumer the power of choice. And that idea is utilized in How Fish Is Made extremely well.
I’ll see if Sam agrees (he might hate this, I don’t know!), but I’m considering proposing double-days for games like this. We could explain the general concept for the game, tell you we like it, and then come back and have a full spoiler discussion on a later day.
How Fish Is Made is an atmospheric walking flopping simulator.
The player is thrust into the role of a nameless fish that has just been thrown into the belly of a maze-like machine. This machine is heavily implied to be some sort of fish processing plant.
You aren’t quite sure what you’re doing here, or how you got here, but there are other fish trapped in this mechanical labyrinth. Every fish you come across is struggling with one important decision:
UP or DOWN?
This one choice seems to be consuming the thoughts of every fish you come across. :
Some fish will ask you what your decision is going to be:
Some will tell you they know the correct answer (it’s DOWN, obviously):
Others will ask your advice on what choice they should make:
The player is left in the dark exactly what the outcome of this decision entails. All we know is there is an UP and there is a DOWN. Even the fish you talk to that are struggling with this decision don’t even seem to know what they are deciding - just that they have to choose: UP or DOWN. It seems that upon reaching the end of this machine-maze, the choice must be made.
This is a bit of a side note, but each fish has so much personality given to them in their few lines - it really adds a lot to characterize them:
Now, you’re probably asking “Ok, but what is this game about?”. So far, I’ve only explained that you are a fish that’s flipping through a giant metal corridor and you come across some other fish that talk about choosing UP or DOWN. So, what the hell is this game? The thing about How Fish Is Made is that the whole concept of the game falls in place with the ending, which I don’t want to spoil. Not yet, at least. Again, maybe we can come back and discuss further after we’ve given you the chance to play it yourself! I’m just making the decision to not spoil it right now. Maybe Sam will feel like spoiling it for you! Who knows!? The future is uncertain!
I can say, I think it’s an absolutely incredible game. I know I rip hard on walking simulators, but when you play a fish and flop instead! WOW! Completely changes the game! For real, though, I think the concepts, the atmosphere, the writing and the point (I believe) the game is trying to make are all excellent, and somehow the PS1 art didn’t seem distracting like it has in other games that use the style. It feels appropriate here, somehow.
And, I know I talked a lot about not spoiling anything, but I have to tease one thing - my favorite part from this game:
Look, if that screenshot isn’t enough to convince you to go play this I don’t think anything will.
Fantastic.
P.S. I forgot to mention that I played this directly off the heels of Mouthwashing (which came out like a week ago - go check it out). Wrong Organ is the developer of both How Fish Is Made and Mouthwashing, and I’ve kind of been obsessing over Mouthwashing the past few days after I played it. Just want to mention that if you do end up playing this and enjoying it, check out Mouthwashing as well - consider this my official Mouthwashing recommendation. I’m hoping Sam and I can find a day to discuss Mouthwashing, but I would recommend going into it as blind as possible.
I’m a certified Wrong Organ fanboy now. I have played two absolute banger games from them in the past few days and wish they had more. I’ll be following their future games with great interest. A breath of fresh air in an otherwise often stale genre.
Recommend: I fucking love this game. I fucking love Mouthwashing. I fucking love Wrong Organ. Good.
Replay Percentage Chance: 100%
Time Played: 65 minutes
Sam’s Take:
If one of us was going to hate this game, it’d be me. I’m very tired of the early PS1 3D aesthetic, I’m not nearly as into horror as Skeeter, and I’m VERY picky about games with overt comedy in them. I also played this game while alt tabbing out every 30 seconds to download Mass Effect mods because my friend group is about to start a playthrough using my PC. It’s also the middle of the day and we haven’t bought any curtains for the office window yet, so it’s absolutely the worst possible time to be playing a horror themed game. How Fish is Made had every single possible thing going against it for me, so when I say that this game fucking rules, know that it has succeeded against great adversity.
Skeeter already described most of the gameplay, and it’s really as simple as he said, you flop around and talk to these creatures. Well, usually talk. Sometimes you just stand in awe of their throne of inspiration.
The atmosphere goes back and forth between the innards of a machine and an organic being. I was thinking about that Banjo-Kazooie level that takes place in and around a large mechanical fish.
The game balances its oppressively large fleshy-industrial atmosphere with funny dialogue coming out of the mouths of disgusting fish. The loop simple, flop down a creepy hallway, find a room with a disgusting fish, talk to the disgusting fish about either going UP or DOWN, then continue on your way. Occasionally the fish will make you question your upwards or downwards position, but the real friends just want to make sure that you are aligned with ambition, so that’s nice of them.
We’ll get more into it in our spoiler review tomorrow, but the game is both a satire of video game choice much like The Stanley Parable, while also having something to say about the power of having a community when having to make a scary choice without enough information. Every fish you meet, friendly or unfriendly, in a quaint room or an imposing room, they all will eventually have to make the same choice, and no matter how much they try to convince themselves otherwise, they also can’t possibly know what’s right. There are plenty of allusions and metaphors to be deciphered here, but I don’t think the game is going for anything too specific. It’s just fish trying to convince themselves and each other that they’re making the right choice, but at least they have each other.
It’s the perfect blend of short enough to play in one session, creepy enough atmosphere to put you in a horror headspace, and funny enough to contrast that worldspace and give me multiple belly laughs. Sprinkled on top of all this is just enough heartfelt commentary on the power of comradery during dark times, to really elevate How Fish is Made into something that can stick with you on multiple levels. The parts are all excellent, and work together in a way to create something even greater. A silly game by true professionals.
I’ll leave it there for now and get deeper into specific moments and themes in tomorrow’s review. For now all I will say is click that Link to Game below and give it a shot. I can’t recommend it enough.
Recommend: Absolutely
Replay Percentage Chance: 100%
Time Played: 30 Minutes
Random Review