A BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT hard to judge this game because it's an around 20 minute adventure game that boasts more themes and thought and environmental atmosphere than it does interactivity beyond talkin to fish and watchin an isopod rock the mic
But. ILL! T R Y!! ahem
How Fish Is Made is one of those games thats more of a thinkpiece and an experience than something you can see yourself replaying over and over again unless youre in a really particular sort of mood, its a very unique way to present how all living things cope with death and the fear of conviction and choice in multitudes of different ways
people like having choice until the strings attached start glistening in the void
I think that it's pretty safe to say that it never actually ever mattered if you chose up or down, left or right, blue or red, because at the end of the day we are all just Going Through
S o m e t h i n g
We are all living beings going at it in the grand scheme of existence, and that sucks.. but it's also ok! and sometimes it's not.
If it seems like im walking in circles quickly thats just because thats the meat of life, we make our own fate
we make our own meaning
we create and destroy and etc etc, this game does a nice job of planting the seed of doubt in your head while also representing how that seed can come in many different shapes and sizes, the path youre currently on in life may seem scary and then you wonder if you picked something else then itd be a nicer path
but then you notice how many people got fucked over on that other path

Some grass is always greener typa shit, but it all comes down to perspective and as eloquent as the writing is at times, i think its sad many will probably just think this game is just trying to be some stick-in-the-ass walking simulator trying to just be art or something. Like its scary to reflect on mortality, many people say they dont fear death, like pleadingly insistent wanting you to validate that they dont fear death or vice versa and it simply does not matter lmfao.
Nihilism in todays culture is always attempted to be portrayed as this really one dimensional "haw haw nothing matters!" shit by people that just dont Get It
but the beauty of it all Should be that nothing matters, so youre in the reigns and you cultivate what you feel Should be there
And as you get further along, and even forget about this review inevitably after reading it, youll still have moments where youll be like "there has to be more to this" or "i can make more of this.. right?" because the inevitability of time's march is a conveyer belt forward, not a finite mold, so go nuts
dance a little on it, drag your ass, clap your hands, finger guns, because the illusionary aspect of your free choice is free because its your own alone.. but hey atleast me saying all that nulls out any fears anyone could have about the future without relapsing thought right?... Right????..........................................................................................







right...?

final thoughts: I picked up, the isopod dance shoulda been on spotify, trypophobia warning just incase, this game is free, and thats all i got see ya

When I was little I went fishing in a boat on a lake with my grandpa and I ended up catching 7 or 8 fish or something like that and he didn't catch a single one.

This review will probably outlast me.

I love my grandpa.

O surrealismo consegue brincar com nossa realidade a ponto de quebrá-la?

“O Surrealismo é destrutivo, mas ele destrói apenas o que ele considera ser grilhões que limitam nossa visão.” - Salvador Dalí

Para mim, o surrealismo é, na verdade, nossa mais fiel janela à realidade.

Você enxerga seu pensamento? Essa voz em tua mente, sequer consegue ouvi-la, como ela se parece? Essa imagem que vê é a mesma que enxerga ao olhar no espelho ou uma imagem que tem de mim? Como você forma essa raiva que sente? Essa confusão, essa dúvida ou esse amor?

Nosso pensamento pode ter cheiro, gosto, cor e até textura, mas é completamente livre de forma. Enquanto a arte luta para formar pensamentos, o surrealismo abraça a liberdade e, portanto, se torna mais real ao imaginário, à própria expressão.

Uma arte, porém, consegue transmitir sensações tal qual pensamentos conseguem, por isso sentimos a arte. E também, tal qual pensamentos, não precisamos de intenções, personalidade e nem justificativa. A arte "é" sem um porquê. Apesar da crítica e artistas buscarem as formas que entregam respostas, alguns movimentos se livram disso e, portanto, para mim, conseguem de fato ser.

Uma arte viva é real, uma arte viva é fiel ao imaginário que a criou, sem forma, mesmo que contenha, em si, formas.

Vamos para o início do Renascimento e o que acreditamos ser a semente do movimento surrealista (que viria muitos anos depois): Vamos buscar Bosch em suas artes horrendas, nojentas e livres.

"Pouco se sabe da vida de Bosch" é o que vamos ler em qualquer livro e artigo falando dele, alguns com um tom lamentável sobre esse fato, outros, com os quais eu concordo, acreditam que não precisamos saber da vida dele, já que sua arte fala por si, então vou mostrar para vocês como eu ouço a vida de Bosch através de sua arte.

Bosch enxerga um mundo horrendamente brilhante. O cristianismo medieval parece tomar conta de tudo e é extremamente gráfico em seu terror. Se observamos obras como o Jardim de Delícias e a Tentação de Santo Antônio, vemos a forma mais próxima do religioso, mas que ainda assim distorcem a realidade com criaturas grotescas e o uso dos planos e perspectivas que causam uma confusão imediata. A mente de Bosch parece ser livre dos pregos religiosos, mesmo que dentro do contexto cristão, e isso pode ser visto (até como um toque pagão) em suas obras ainda mais surreais como a Visão de Tondal. Enquanto artistas buscavam os grilhões da realidade, as artes de Bosch conseguem quebrar os limites físicos que tomamos como canônicos e incorporam a mitologia e a criatividade, ou melhor, realidade, de um imaginário único e pessoal. Bosch se entendia? Talvez a falta de entendimento tenha trazido esses conflitos que deram vida a essas obras e as libertaram, enfim. Mas, essas obras responderam aos seus conflitos ou os ampliaram? A expressão e o imaginário em papel conseguem acalentar Bosch?

Para mim, não existe arte mais viva do que a livre de forma. Somente a arte tem a capacidade de tornar vivo o plano imaginário. Se este não tem grilhões, por que insistimos em colocá-los (seja em autoria ou consumo)?

Quando joguei How Fish Are Made, eu vivi uma obra surrealista livre de forma, mas que formou sensações extremamente reais em mim. Como a arte é poderosa, não?

A priori, vivi o dilema das decisões, essas que constantemente nos fazem sentir o ambiente grotesco, o cheiro de peixe morto se confunde com a ferrugem, e estamos então nas entranhas de um organismo horrendamente vivo. O mundo é horrível, mas podemos escolher não ser. Podemos escolher ser melhores do que tudo isso. Eu estava convicto desde o começo da minha escolha e a abracei até o fim.

A filosofia de design do museu aqui funciona perfeitamente. Jogar esse jogo é como um passeio no museu ou até mesmo em um parque temático, em que cada sala temos um encontro e nos vemos cada vez mais livres de forma.

Ao final do capítulo um, tomei minha decisão.

No capítulo seguinte, eu fazia parte do ambiente. De uma forma visceral, eu era a gordura residual da podridão daquele ambiente. Meu papel agora não era apenas tomar a decisão, já a tinha tomado, mas agora estava no momento de levar minha decisão a outras pessoas.

Eu me vi perdido. Minhas decisões, minhas escolhas, elas muitas vezes são só minhas, mas suas consequências não são. Elas transbordam. Eu queria que essas decisões tivessem formas. Ter a confiança, medo e esperança uma imagem e forma limitada, eu conseguiria lê-las, entendê-las e resolvê-las. Mas não têm forma alguma. Vou levando um a um em minhas decisões, planos e, no final, o que vai restar de mim? É esse sabor que eu passo? Esse cheiro, essa sensação de metal com sangue?

"É temporário, até que eu consiga resolver tudo."

Como colocar isso em uma forma? Como colocar o tempo que perdi, que fiz outros perderem, como colocar a esperança e o medo que a acompanha em 4 arestas? Ou em 16 botões?

O surrealismo responde com forma alguma. Eu quero abraçar isso como esse jogo abraçou. Obrigado, How Fish Is Made, por ser minha resposta agora. Obrigado, Bosch, por não se entender e obrigado ao surrealismo e à arte por serem livres, tal qual nosso imaginário que deve ser para sempre.

I definitely related a lot to what this game was trying to convey with the message of making choices. Most of my life I’ve always wanted to hold off making big decisions because of the uncertainty of it all. I’ve since been a lot better at making choices without freezing up but it’s still something I need to work on as well as most people.
This game is able to convey a lot of that feeling of uncertainty, panic, blind faith and just overall fear behind decision making in just 20 min. It also conveys this in the strangest way possible through the form of a flopping fish. I feel that any game that is able to get their point across despite being so utterly bizarre has achieved its goal in a way that other stories with similar messages have not. There is absolutely no reason not to check this game out as it’s so short and free. I feel you will only gain something out of playing it and if not you at least get to experience something truly odd.

Oh so that's how they make them huh?

How fish is made is about a lot of things, is about fear, is about choice, is about acceptance... And triying to tackle so many things in so little time hinders it.

The game is striking visually, it has a certain look that works really great, putting an unique spin into the ''fleshy-mechanical'' look. It's crude in both its world and its characters, which I actually really liked. Gameplay wise is just a walking... well, rather splashing simulator, you move forward and interact with the fish you come across, which, being a game that so short and focused on the visuals and dialogue, it makes perfect sense.

Unfortunately it still has a lot of focused with all of things it wants to tell, and at some parts it can just feel weird for the sake of weird (tho I'll never forget the isopod dance). However, there's one theme across the entire experience, and that's the theme of ideals and decision; the whole game, all characters are determined by the decision of going UP or DOWN. There are those convinced in their ideals, tho those clearly chose a lack of sense of intelligence; and those that are unsure, this idea is present right until the very end of the game, and it is very interesting, but the ending itself out is very confusing and while interesting, it doesn't seem to say something clear for itself.

That's my biggest problem with the game honestly, it has sticking visuals, funny dialogue and it can be interesting to theorise about, but itself it doesn't seem to tackle a greater idea or express a particular way of thinking, tho I guess that could be the point...

Either way, it's still a barely half an hour long experience that it's pretty bizarre and even scary that will leave you thinking a bit after you finish it, which being a university project and as short as it is, it's honestly pretty surprising.

Let's see what choice you make, and whathever that is...


''Oh yes, you'll be buried with it''.

Life is full of choices, many of which being ones we don't exactly know the outcome of, we ask around, we try gathering all the information we can about whether the choice we make will be the right one, but in the end, we often cannot find the feeling of certainty we're looking for, since our own experiences and perspectives will shape the personal outcomes of what we decide nonetheless. In the end, it's often a case where the choice itself might be significant, but what matters more is possessing the conviction required to not be paralysed by indecisiveness, to at least attempt making a choice rather than wallowing around, hoping that one day a sudden flash of inspiration will give you all the answers. What makes it all the more difficult and confusing however, is that once forced to gain a vague idea of the direction you want to go, it becomes far, far harder to justify changing your mind, even if deep down you know that there's absolutely no bearing on the choice beyond going with your gut and sticking to your guns based on an impulse decision you made a long time ago. How Fish Is Made is ultimately a game that manages to convey so much about the uncertainties faced in life and the nature of choice, in general and the fact that this is all done through a game where you're just some fish flopping through these visceral, surreal environments just chatting to other random fish along the way is a great example of why I absolutely adore art. So much can be said and explored through even the most abstract, outlandish of means, it's really something special.

Sometimes we have to make up meaning to cope with the pain

The plastic slowly choking you is your crown
The parasite that ate your tongue wanted to be your friend

Don't try to change anything about your situation.
The machine can't talk to you. Don't try talking to it.
Those who try to escape get crushed.

You have grown complacent.
Even when you're back in the water you're still flapping around like on land.

Do you want to go up or down?

So, how IS fish made? Hell if i know.

I just know that I found this surrealist-existentialist PS1-aesthetic thought exercise in the meaning of choice and its consequences more intriguing than I thought I would.

While the finer details of the narrative still elude me, I did appreciate the intensely creepy atmosphere of the place we find ourselves in, somehow both organic as well as metallic. The dialogue walks a fine line between profundity and absurdity, and - as far as I know at least - no other game features an almost 3 minute musical number by an isopod with a top hat about the nature of rotten meat and being tormented by choices we don't understand. Hell, the game even has two endings.

If I had to criticise something, I'd say that a game running on PS1 graphics doesn't really have an excuse for consistent frame drops on a relatively modern PC.

Really fun and cool game tho, goes from start to finish in under half an hour. Heavy Trypophobia trigger warning tho.