Clawfish is a chill crane game where you fish in an arcade

The Clawfish Arcade is accessible by prepare, a small boardwalk venue surrounded by dreamlike fog and many clear, blue water. It’s open solely to me, the lone wanderer that’s free to skip stones off the dock, speak with the native seagull, or stuff cash into the arcade’s three crane video games.

Clawfish, from developer David Czarnowski, was launched in June alongside the Healthful Recreation Direct — a showcase for unbiased video video games. I downloaded the sport simply days in the past, when it was listed as a featured sport on Itch.io, and was instantly . Although I don’t have a lot of a keenness for fishing now, I grew up close by a lake in the midst of a metropolis, and I spent sweltering days with my ft hanging off the dock, fishing line in hand. There’s one thing so nostalgic for me about fishing video games, and I discover it arduous to not at the very least check out each I come throughout. Clawfish took the expectations I had about each fishing video games and crane video games and mixed them for a very charming expertise: a one-hour jaunt, from machine to machine, on the empty docks.

Picture: David Czarnowski

There’s extra to do in Clawfish than play crane video games, every of which modifications the mechanic of catching fish barely. (Although the core of it stays the identical: Wrap your claw round a fish to catch and dump it again into the ocean.) The world has totally different little areas to discover, accessible by boat, with issues to work together with. I discussed a few of these earlier than: skipping stones, chatting with a seagull, and consuming tea from a merchandising machine. These are little touches that make the world really feel particular and distinctive, an alternate universe model of the dock I spent my childhood on.

Clawfish’s major exercise is, after all, the crane video games. In complete, the machines are stocked with totally different fish, beneath 30 of them. They’re not essentially arduous to catch, like real-life crane video games that usually really feel rigged in opposition to the participant, however there’s a undoubtedly a talent to be taught in perfecting the catch. It’s designed to play in a single sitting, so there’s no save button — should you don’t catch all of the fish in a single go, you’ll have to start out up once more when arriving, once more, on the arcade. And but, once I’ve performed, I haven’t felt stress to hurry myself to catch all fish inside no matter period of time I had. I’ve discovered it a pleasant area to pop in on throughout my lunch break, the place I can leisurely catch fish whereas consuming my lunch. It’s like somewhat dreamy lunchtime trip.

Clawfish is on the market on Mac and Home windows PC by way of itch.io and Steam for $3.