Cast N Chill Review

After a particularly draining day at work, I can find it difficult to reach for a video game as my chosen method of relaxation. Despite it being a medium that I love deeply, there’s a level of interactivity that games require that can be too demanding for my depleted self. By the same token, I try to avoid mindless scrolling and incessant rewatching, leaving me in a limbo of inactivity that makes the whole situation worse.

I wasn’t expecting my remedy to come in the form of digital fishing, but having spent a few weeks with the debut title from Aussie-based, two-person studio Wombat Brawler, that’s exactly where I find myself.

Cast n Chill is a pixel-art fishing game that strips away all forms of friction, leaving the player to simply take in the beautiful scenery and haul in some fish. Randomising your pixelised angler and choosing the breed of your canine companion (I went with a corgi) is all the preamble you’ll face before you’re bobbing around in a rowboat out on a lake. With a button press, you cast your line as the camera plunges beneath the surface of the water, revealing a variety of fish darting about in the shallows.

I’m not a fan of fishing, but this might just win me over

When you get a bite, holding the same button will reel in your prospective prize, though you’ll need to stop reeling when you see the fish fight, lest you cause your line break. Successfully see through the simple-yet-satisfying back and forth and you’ll land the fish, recording its size and weight in your logbook. You can move across the lake to find different spots to fish, filling your cooler with catches before heading to the dock to make some cash from its contents.

Selling your aquatic trophies to a friendly merchant at the dock, you’re able to purchase better rods, reels, lures, and hooks that allow you to bag bigger and rarer fish. Sell enough fish, and avoid ordering avocado toast, and you can even purchase yourself a faster boat with an expanded capacity for catches.

Once you’ve filled out enough of your logbook, or if you just fancy a sea change, you can purchase a license to fish in a new area. There are 13 different fishing spots total, each with its own set of sea creatures ready and waiting to be caught. You’ll need to explore each location to catch and log each of the 50 different varieties of fish in the game and continue fishing at each spot to find the 13 legendary fish that only appear at certain times of day.

It’s not glamorous, but it’s a living

While the mention of logbooks and legendary fish would reasonably make you assume that I kept coming back to Cast n Chill for the thrill of the catch, I can promise you that I’m no nautical Ash Ketchum looking to hook ‘em all. You won’t find a lengthy challenge to fill your log here; in fact, there isn’t even that much to do once you’ve caught each of the scaly swimmers. And that’s the point.

Instead of chasing a score or overcoming foes, Cast n Chill just wants you to enjoy tranquillity and relax, and that’s exceedingly easy when the lakes you’re on look as stunning as they do. Each of the 13 bodies of water and their surrounds are flawlessly beautiful. Varied and vibrant colour pallets bring life to what might be the most striking pixel art I’ve ever seen. Layered backdrops give the limited areas a huge amount of depth, allowing you and your furry friend to exist in what feels like a far larger natural world.

Specific attention needs to be awarded to the water. Not only is the transition from the radiant world above to the more muted world below impressive, but the reflections on the water’s surface make it hard to play the game between taking another screenshot.

Every lake is teeming with potential trophies

So beautiful is this game that you might want to leave it running on a second screen, which is handy, because Cast n Chill happens to be an idle game as well as an active one. If you’re unfamiliar, this means that the game will continue to play itself if left untouched. Move away from your desk, leave the game running on another monitor, or put your portable PC down while you do something else and your fisherman will automatically continue to fish and sell, albeit with a slightly decreased payout per catch.

As soon as the game detects an input, you’re back in control, letting you pick up from where you left off, just with some extra cash in your back pocket. The appeal of leaving the game running goes beyond the monetary, as it’s just so damn nice to look at in motion, not to mention the calming effect of the lo-fi bluegrass soundtrack. Settings will even let you tweak how active you want the idle mode to be, giving you control over when it kicks in and what kind of fish it can catch, leaving trophies and legendary fish in the lakes for you to catch when you choose to come back.

Final Thoughts

Sensational in its simplicity, Cast n Chill’s two-button gameplay loop and customisable idle mode feel remedial to those looking to disassociate and destress from a long day. Class-leading pixel art that depicts nature’s beauty and a subtle and soothing southern-tinged score combine to create an interactable screensaver that just wants to help you unwind. Willing to meet you on your own terms without demanding a single thing, Cast n Chill will undoubtedly be my go-to tool for relaxation going forward.

Reviewed on PC  // Review code supplied by publisher

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