Another Fisherman’s Tale Review

April 22, 2023

A Fisherman’s Tale is still one of my favorite puzzle games in Virtual Reality, so I was super excited when Another Fisherman’s Tale was announced. My biggest worry was could it live up to the creativity of the original, I have had the chance to play the sequel – so, did it live up to the first?

STORY

Another Fisherman’s Tale is a sequel that tells the story of Bob, as you search for the truth about his past, while unraveling Nina’s childhood and the stories she was told by Bob. So, although it is a sequel to the game, you are going to be spending time reliving Bob’s past.

GAMEPLAY

As with the original you are going to get a puzzle game, but they have taken a different approach to this time – which for me was required as the mind-bending puzzles used in the original worked for the story in that game.

This game will see Bob’s own body becoming the key component of the puzzles, as the story plays out in model worlds built by Bob for Nina. This allows them to get creative in the way they have with your body parts being key to the puzzles as in essence you are controlling a model toy of Bob and not Bob himself.

The main element is going to be using different body part attachments to progress, which will see you in most cases replacing your hands with ones needed for the task ahead. Be this detaching and controlling your normal hands separately, a claw to cut things, a pirate hook to climb or a mechanical hand to control cranes or replacing your legs with a fishes tale to swim underwater.

Outside of these you are also going to remove your head as well, this is sometimes required as part of the puzzles and sometimes just get a better view of the puzzle or your detached hands. This does become a bit trippy at times, when you remove your head but still control your body.

Taking this approach to the puzzles has allowed Innerspace to get really creative with the puzzles again, and this is something they certainly excel at going by this and the original.

PRESENTATION

As aforementioned you are going to control Bob through model worlds, so like the first they have been able to get creative with the levels and gave you a lot places to explore. However, at times you can see you are controlling him around models as you might see things from the outside world like a rubber duck or big power tools. With colours being able to pop, the textures looking nice and suiting the model hand-painted look – and although these are playing out in model worlds, you are immersed in the game.

The voice acting is outstanding for every character and event in the game and with the added sea shanty’s for part of the game, it’s all fantastic. With sounds, environmental noises and background music (when required) that suits each level perfectly they really couldn’t do much more or any better with the audio.

COMFORT/CONTROLS

You can play this adventure either seated or standing, I did test both modes and again found no advantage of playing in either mode, but personally I just played it seated. They have also allowed for free locomotion, teleport or mixed, with the inclusion of vignettes for those who require them and smooth or snap turning.

For movement you will be using the analogues, triggers will launch your hands and holding them with the normal hands will allow you to control them – with the movement angle being determined by the position of your own hands. Outside of these the grab button will be used to interact with objects or call your hands back if detached and the triangle and circle button together will launch your head and call it back.

Haptics are handled well, with the controller haptics activating on launching your hands or interacting with objects, with a slight haptic rumble when moving your detached hand. Head haptics are most prevalent went detaching and recalling your head to your body, which adds to the immersion.

LONGEVITY

The team have increased the playtime with Another Fisherman’s Tale, which was great to see as this was the only element of the first that let me down. The game took me around three-hours to get through, and as with the first I cannot imagine myself going back and playing it again – more because I have seen the story and figured out all of the puzzles. However, it is a great game to show people what VR is capable of.

REVIEWED USING PLAYSTATION VR 2

For the purposes of transparency, this review was created using a review code provided by the company or their respective PR company. The use of a press code does not affect my judgement of the product.

REVIEW OVERVIEW

The team at Innerspace have done it again and made a mind-bending and outstanding puzzle game, in ways that are only possible with Virtual Reality. Taking a different approach to the puzzles compared to the first, but still making them as enjoyable – really showing they know how to make a great puzzle game. With an interesting look in to the past of Bob via a great story, accompanied by great voice acting to bring the story to life in the model worlds. With everything this game does it deserves to be up their with the original in my favorite VR puzzle games, so of course for me this is a must buy.