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TOKYO, JAPAN: November 6th, in the year of our Lord 2021 - Japanese indie developer Odencat Inc. announced today that their angling RPG, Fishing Paradiso, will be coming to Nintendo Switch™ and PC via Steam early next year. The game is a spiritual sequel to Odencat’s previous award-winning title, Bear’s Restaurant, which also saw an enhanced release on Steam just last month. Like with that release, the developer confirms that this new and improved definitive version will feature full widescreen display and controller support, plus an “all-new exciting feature” that they’re keeping under wraps for the time being. The Steam page is already available and you can wishlist the game now!

From its vibrant pixelated aesthetic to its refreshingly simple gameplay loop, Fishing Paradiso is a love letter to the classic games of our youth, back when the days were long and our worries were few. There are no convoluted mechanics to master—just kick back, catch some fish, and level up your gear as you fulfill requests and advance the story at your own pace.

And what a story it is! What immediately sets Fishing Paradiso apart from other titles in the genre is the game’s setting: our protagonist awakens one day in Heaven—as in, literal paradise! In the afterlife, he’ll discover many strange and wondrous varieties of fish to collect, and a diverse cast of recently deceased souls to befriend—many of whom will be familiar faces to those who’ve played Bear’s Restaurant.

Plus, with the help of a mystical gadget known as the “skyPhone,” life after death couldn’t be more convenient. With the push of a button, our hero can teleport between the game’s various fishing spots, upgrade his rod, review his fish collection, and even keep in touch with the many denizens of the afterlife he encounters on his adventure. This really IS the good life!

By forging relationships with these characters, players can unlock little scenes and side-stories for each in addition to the main plot. With more than twenty different characters to befriend, ranging from an anthropomorphic cat, to a flirtatious lumberjack, to a reformed gangster, and even a mythical kappa, they’re certainly an eclectic bunch! Fans of Bear’s Restaurant will be sure to enjoy the many returning characters from that game as well.

Players will even have the chance to deck out their own private cabana with a wide variety of furniture! Decorate it however you wish so you can be a good host to your new friends whenever they stop by to tell you whatever’s on their minds. And what’s more, we’re even adding some new music and an all-new exciting feature for the Switch™ and Steam versions that we can’t show off quite yet, but we just know you’re going to love! With the game launching in early 2022, it won’t be long before console and PC users can see for themselves what over 1.3 million mobile players are raving about.

Developer Comment

What kind of place do you think heaven might be?

I asked myself this question many times during the initial drafting phases for this game. After all, we’re told in life that heaven is the land of eternal happiness. But we humans come in all shapes and sizes, and happiness means different things to different people. Even in the realm of fiction, crafting an ideal paradise that truly lives up to the name for everyone is a daunting prospect, but the world of Fishing Paradiso represents the answer I ultimately arrived at.

At the end of the day, it’s a game about the simple pleasures in life, and I hope you’ll enjoy going fishing and getting to know some new friends in this laidback world. But who knows—maybe it’ll also make you think a little more about what your own personal heaven might look like. That could be fun too, don’t you think?

No word on a physical copy version of this game on this system(s) in the US at this time. Families are required to pay for Internet usage fees to download this game. For more information click here.

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