When the heroes of Azerim  mysteriously vanish, an evil force threatens to take over the lands! Baelin the  fisherman NPC must rise up to defend the town of Honeywood the only way he  knows how! However, something's different... Baelin's no longer an NPC but...  an Adventurer! Can you handle your new found responsibility?! Battle fish with  precision timing and magic spells, upgrade your abilities, defeat evil and  rebuild Honeywood.

Morning! Nice day for fishing ain’t  it! Huh-ah!

Game Title: Nice Day For Fishing

Developer: FusionPlay

Publisher: Team17

Release date: May 29, 2025 

OS: Windows 10/11 - PC

Platform: Steam/Switch/PS5

Price: $19.99 – Base Game (DLC free for pre-orders)

What Is It 

A sidescrolling adventure RPG based on the popular web series, Epic NPC Man by Viva La Dirt League. It is set in Azerim, the world in the pretend video game, Skycraft. Featuring all your (my) favorites, including Baelin, Greg the garlic farmer, Bodger, and more. While the game is not fully voiced, the voice actors provide many of the catch phrases that we (me) have all come to love.

The Mostly Good

Story

The story, while lacking depth, does not lack for humor and callbacks to the web series. Basically, all the adventurers have disappeared and an evil is trying to take over the land. With all the adventurers missing there is only one NPC brave enough to save the town of Honeywood and the world of Azerim. That man is Bodger…ok, just kidding. A man who loses his grandfather’s hammer every 13.5 seconds is not hero material. However, Baelin, who was just on his way to go fishing, is elected the interim adventurer after Honeywood is attacked. He handles the challenge the only way he knows how, by fishing. He also is tasked with retrieving Bodger's hammer every 13.5 seconds.

Quests

Because Nice Day For Fishing is a video game based on a web series that is based on a pretend MMORPG, the quests are pretty standard, purposely so. There are a lot of fetch quests, which I am never crazy about. However, there is a meaning for all the silly quests in NDFF, and that is to harken back to the ridiculousness of the series. While the quests may be basic and repetitive, that is the point. So much of the game includes aspects from the show and all of the silliness to be had. I do not want to give too much away but Bodger’s grandfather’s hammer has a starring role in the quests.

Humor

The game, like the series it is based on, is hilarious. There are so many Easter eggs, I do wonder if players who have never seen an episode of Epic NPC Man will be somewhat confused. If only there was a source material that they could rely on to get them up to speed. Oh, what? There’s this web series called Epic NPC Man they could watch? Problem solved (seriously go watch it).

All the favorite NPCs are included and all have a voiced line or two. They are all as over the top as I expected. Bodger and Greg have funny banter, most of it text based, Fred and Freda are still arguing, Eugene is still crying, Bernard and Charles are still mugging, and best of all Baelin is still fishing.

Nice Day For Fishing, like Epic NPC Man, is a tongue in cheek look at the going ons inside of a video game world and the absurdity of the characters. I love that we get to experience the game world from the point of view of an NPC and not just any NPC but the one who only has one line and I don't mean the one on his fishing pole. What is that line? Let’s just say he really likes fishing.

Achievements

I know there are a lot of achievement hunters out there and NDFF does not disappoint. There are twenty-five achievements to be had. While I am here for the fun, the limited number may mean that even I can get (catch) them all. Maybe.

Visuals

The pixelated side scrolling visuals of Nice Day For Fishing, are quaint, with old time charm, and perfectly encapsulates the whimsical nature of Honeywood. The game is cutesy with many small details pulled from the series and scattered about the world. I am happy that the developers chose pixelated graphics over flashy ones as they work with the lore of this world so well. Not to mention, there is a lot of garlic. Do we need to see hundreds of bulbs of 3D garlic? I think not. Queue the sad Greg noises.

Audio 

While the game is not heavy on voiced lines, they are all well done and are sure to get a chuckle out of fans and newbies to the world of Azerim alike. However, what I want to touch on is the music, which is the same music used for Epic NPC Man. I am thrilled it was included as it sets the tone so well, and because I have been watching the series for a couple of years, is rather comforting. It is also beautifully done. The Honeywood theme song (is it a theme song?) makes me happy and I enjoy listening to it. It is a mood and a great one at that.

Not All Is Well

Controls/Mechanics

Nice Day For Fishing is best played with a controller, which is a bit of a letdown as I prefer to use a mouse and keyboard, which I did attempt so I would have a comparison. The keyboard controls are hard to master and somewhat clunky. The controller does a much better job. However, I do have a few issues with the controls. Accessing spells (left trigger) and items (right trigger) is far from intuitive and after fifteen hours of gameplay, I still have trouble with the interface. Once I managed to pull up the menus for each of these, it was still a chore to work my way around to choose what I needed, and even then I often did not do it correctly. At this time there is no control scheme listed to help those who (me) might need to refer back for guidance.

Then there is blocking, which is a part of combat/fishing. You begin by casting your line and reeling in the fish. The fish then turns in the opposite direction, which means it is going to attack. The player must press the correlating button to activate their block rather than just holding the button down. Unfortunately, it took time to realize (I know skill issue) that I needed to wait to hear a certain sound before activating. Once I realized what I was doing wrong, it became much easier. Hold on, I am not finished. I said you cannot hold down to block, except when you can. Bosses have normal and special attacks. When they use the basic attack, the properly timed button press is needed. When they employ their special attack, holding down the button is often used. What happens if they throw a special attack at you and then immediately after a basic one? Well, unless you have the reflexes of a thing that has really good reflexes, you get hit. I do not have great reflexes. I got hit a lot (I know, still a skill issue). 

Fishing

Fishing is fun, though it does become tedious as all combat is fishing based. However, that is not the issue. The problem I have is that different fish need different types of bait. There is no way to keep track of this aside from the player keeping their own log (as in keeping notes by using pen and paper or creating a text document). Once a fish is caught, there should really be a way to keep track of what bait is needed for it. There are many fish and many quests involving catching fish, which means it is not easy to remember which likes what. It would be beneficial to have a codex implemented to include pertinent information such as this.

Another issue with fishing is the magnet. You receive a magnet to pull up treasure from the depths below. However, oftentimes, the fish would still bite. I could not figure out how to stop this from happening and it became quite frustrating (did I mention 90% of the game is fishing?). Attempting to carefully avoid the fish is not always simple, as what you are trying to grab could be surrounded by gluttonous finned dillholes (gillholes?), who will eat just about anything. The only option, once the fish is on the line, is to reel them in or let them go, which returns your line back to you. It then requires you to cast your line again. And again. And again. Is it a nice day for fishing? Is it, Baelin? 

AutoSave

This is my biggest gripe with Nice Day For Fishing, as it would be for any game that only employed one autosave slot. Yes, you read that correctly, it is only autosave and only one slot. If you wanted to start a new game, it will rewrite the old save. It is an RPG and has many quests that need completing to advance the story. What happens if a save becomes corrupted and there is no manual save to load? Ooh Ooh Mr. Kotter (look it up), pick me, pick me, I know the answer! I know because I recently experienced it with another game after spending hours playing. The save is just gone. There is no recovering a corrupted save and the player loses hours of time sunk into the game, which can lead not only to frustration but to rage quitting the game entirely. Nice Day For Fishing is such a gem, I would hate that to happen to anyone. I am sure Baelin would not be happy about losing all the fish he acquired either. That man has secrets and trust me, you do not want to be on the receiving end of his ire when he snaps.

Conclusion

To Fish or not to Fish

Nice Day For Fishing plays like a love letter to all the fans of Epic NPC Man. The premise of the show is a humorous take on what happens in the world of MMORPGs, much of the time from the perspective of NPCs. The game is infused with charm and silliness and I was enthralled for hours at a time, which is unusual for me. I needed to finish one more quest, uncover another Easter egg, and just wanted to play in the world that I have come to love by being a fan of Epic NPC Man.

However, I do wonder if the game would appeal to those who are not aware of the web series, because the game world is so infused with references from Epic NPC Man. Fortunately, there is a good game contained within but it does become repetitive. Even though the repetitiveness and fetch quests are purposeful (Bodger's hammer), they may not be appreciated. I think, if I was not a fan, I might become disillusioned quickly. Thank goodness I am a fan. 

Yay Or Nay

Yay. Definitely a Yay and not just because I’m a fangirl, though I am not denying I am. The game is adorable and quirky. The pluses far outweigh the negatives. Inside jokes aside, I feel anyone could pick up the game and enjoy it without knowing where Greg’s sheep have disappeared to, or why Bodger’s hammer is always in the well, or why Eugene never stops crying (seriously, can someone give the poor guy a hug or maybe gag him). In fact, I feel it will intrigue those who have never seen Epic NPC Man to check it out. The game gave me the warm and fuzzies and I adored the simplicity. Baelin may not be the hero Honeywood deserves but he is the hero Honeywood needs.

B+ 

I love the world and the game. The controls could be better implemented, the lack of manual saves is disappointing, and gameplay can become repetitive rather quickly, but the Nice Day For Fishing oozes charm and humor, and sometimes that's enough. I experienced a lot of giggling while playing and saying "Oh there's so and so, oh he's doing that again, oh man Bodger is such an idiot." I cannot wait to get back out there and cast my line some more because it’s a nice day for fishing, ain’t it?