I have, once again, taken the bait. Along with the launch of Skyrim Anniversary Edition, Skyrim Special Edition received an update recently to celebrate the game’s 10th birthday, and it introduced something rather important: Skyrim’s first official fishing minigame. It’s a Creation Club add-on complete with fishing mechanics, quests and special rewards. And so, with the promise of fantastical fish in mind, last weekend I found myself trundling down a mountain in the back of a familiar cart.
The reason I was so excited for this addition – beyond the mere appeal of something new being added to Skyrim – is that I’m an amateur angler myself. Ever since I was a tiddler I’ve been float fishing for pollock and bass: I’ve tried my hand at coarse fishing, spinning for trout in Scottish lochs, and even fly fishing (with varying degrees of success). Over the past year I had great success as a mackerel angler in Brighton, bringing in table fare for my extremely appreciative flatmates. All of which meant I was eager to see what Skyrim’s mystical waters had to offer.
A vast number of games boast fishing minigames, of course, and there are equally myriad ways to implement the act of fishing. Some games opt for a more “arcadey”, intense version of fishing – Animal Crossing: New Horizons makes little attempt to emulate real fishing techniques, but provides challenge through float placement and tricky timing windows for bites. Other games take a more peaceful approach, encouraging anglers to admire their surroundings. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a great example of this, as while its fishing minigame provides a fair bit of depth (including bait selection and reeling techniques), it’s also not afraid to make the player wait and soak up the game’s atmosphere.
Skyrim’s fishing minigame, unfortunately, doesn’t provide mechanical depth, intensity, or a calm mood. It’s stuck in something of a watery limbo.
Now, I don’t want to be too harsh on poor Skyrim here: this is a retrofitted feature for a ten-year-old game. It was never going to provide the mechanics of a specialist fishing title, or the staggering attention to detail of something like Red Dead Redemption 2. Yet I still think more could have been done to highlight Skyrim’s scenery and atmosphere.
If Skyrim’s fishing minigame wasn’t designed with high-octane action or in-depth mechanics in mind, then I wish it could have at least nailed the feel of fishing. One of the key problems is pacing. Bait fishing is characterised by long stretches of waiting, followed by frantic moments of adrenaline as you scramble to bring in a fish. But in Skyrim’s minigame, fish continuously splash and nibble on the line, constantly demanding your attention. The minigame then skips the most exciting part of fishing – reeling in and actually landing the fish – to immediately place the fish in your pocket. This stage should be the climax of the minigame: instead, it’s pretty much non-existent. Even holding down a button, or being required to button mash, would have helped replicate this feeling.