The Indie Informer

A string of baby ducks follow their mother down the creek, undisturbed as my old rickety boat rattles by. I stop my boat at a rocky hillside, near a small waterfall. The baby ducks play in the splash and spray of the cascade. With my dog by my side, I pulled out my fishing rod and cast off. A three-point buck approaches the river bank, and my dog woofs. Under the water, fish nibble at my carefully chosen bait. I’m hoping to catch a walleye — a great, big walleye that’ll earn me the trophy spot on the tackle shop wall. Rusty, the man who runs the shop, says I’ll never be able to catch one big enough, over 20 pounds, with the old, worn-out gear I’ve got. I proved him wrong.

Developer Wombat Brawler describes Cast N Chill, which was released on June 16, as a “cozy idle (and active) fishing game.” It’s simple: Head out on a boat, rod in hand and dog by your side, and cast off. When my bait hits the water, the game’s perspective shifts so I can see what’s going on beneath the surface. That extends to the sound, too, which becomes brilliantly muted by the bubbles of the water, as if I’m underwater myself. 

The simplicity is part of the draw, but the stunning environments — detailed pixel art lakes and rivers, meticulously animated fish, and serene sound design — is what makes Cast N Chill more than just a fishing game. Fish are caught and sold to the local bait and tackle shop, which is where new bait and gear are purchased; new bait means attracting different fish, and better gear means reeling in bigger catches. New areas of the map will be slowly unlocked, allowing access to more of Cast N Chill’s alluring environments. It’s slow, and it’s meant to be. (You may have guessed that from the Chill in Cast N Chill.) There’s a lot of waiting around, as is customary in fishing. There’s some fiddling to be done with rod and bait combinations, figuring out the best way to lure in a catch. But it’s mostly waiting, reeling, and then doing that again — something I’ve happily done for more than three hours so far of playing the game.

Despite all the waiting, that is the game’s active mode; if you’d like to take a more passive role in Cast N Chill, there’s an idle mode to flick on. This removes every active bit from the game; the game plays itself, and instead acts as the perfect, playable screensaver. I’ve had Cast N Chill open alongside Google Docs as I write, enjoying the sounds of birds chirping and my bobber hitting the water, the way the trees reflect off the surface of the water. Every so often, I’ll click over to the game and take over the reel to pull in a brown trout or smallmouth bass, or to give my dog a good ol’ pat.