Luna's Fishing Garden

Luna's Fishing Garden is a really relaxed game with a ton of character and charm.

While games can be conduits for all kinds of things, from questions to experiences, they can also be casual, gentle experiences, designed for fun and enjoyment over anything. Luna’s Fishing Garden is just that, and it came at just the right time for me, amongst assignments, shift work, and responsibilities piled high. Luna’s Fishing Garden was a beautiful diversion. A full playthrough took me two and a half hours.

For starters, it’s gorgeous. Pixelated art style with bright colours and vibrant, characters are cute and memorable, even the fruit and helpful birds are eye-catching and just enjoyable. The environment feels satisfying. 

The core gameplay loop involves clearing land, planting fruit trees, and fishing. The developers realised that not everyone would be looking for a challenging fishing minigame in their cosy mug-of-hot-chocolate of a game, so there are two options – challenging or relaxing. I played it on ‘relaxing’ because I’m typically not very good at fishing minigames (or anything requiring rhythm) and I just wanted a peaceful time. This mode hit a great balance between being non-stressful and still requiring you as the player to do something. I think the “challenging” mode would have taken me much longer to complete. 

It also has one of my favourite things in games – collecting. Take one of everything to Nigel the parrot and he’ll upgrade your backpack. Something primal in my brain generates dopamine when I get to check things off a list. I don’t even need a tangible reward, honestly. I enjoy it. Silly lizard brain. 

Luna’s Fishing Garden has so much to love. A grumpy fox in a cloak, travel via balloon or leaf, hire kakapo or capybara helpers…I was so charmed. The game also manages to carry a pro-environmental message without being overly moralising, which I think has its place in games but not ones that are designed to be relaxing. I want to feel coddled, not sad about the fate of the world Luna’s Fishing Garden strikes a great balance. You get a sense of the issue in so far as it is needed for the plot, but no more than that. 

The game has a defined end point after the plot, but it also lets you keep playing if you wish. I really like this aspect – there was a chunk of land I never developed in my playthrough, and it was nice to be able to keep playing and plant more trees and hire more helpers. It was truly perfect for keeping my hands busy while I listened to a podcast, in a calm and relaxing way. I’ve often used Minecraft for this in the past, but Luna’s Fishing Garden has a very different quality to it. 

The only downside is that Luna’s Fishing Garden is an idler in some ways. You have to wait for your helpers to gather timber to progress, which does take some time. I found myself zoning out on occasion. I don’t think I would have minded this if I had known beforehand, but I was frustrated when it first came up. Not nearly enough to put me off – it hardly bothered me enough to be worth mentioning, but as I said, I wish I had known in advance. 

I firmly believe that not all games have to be emotional and deep affairs while maintaining the status of “games as art”. Art can be powerful and moving, but it can also be fun and nice. Luna’s Fishing Garden is nothing if not nice, not in a damning-with-faint-praise way, but in the “we all need nice things in our life” kind of way. If you need something peaceful, fun, and joyful, I highly recommend Luna’s Fishing Garden.

• Game: Luna’s Fishing Garden

• Publisher: Coldwild Games/illufinch

• Developer: Coldwild Games

• Platforms: PC, Mac, Switch, Android