It's super repetitive and extremely dull at times, but I have to admit I'm hooked.

Maybe it's because after playing the Sea of Thieves beta I just wanted to spend time on a boat again. Maybe it's because since Zelda N64 I will play any game that lets you go fishing. Maybe it's my general curiosity about weird sim games. Or maybe, deep down, I've always wanting to play a fish-gutting minigame. Whatever the reason, I've spent the morning playing Fishing: Barents Sea, a commercial fishing simulator, and despite plenty of gripes (they'll be listed below) I'm sort of in love with it.

I begin my game at the lowest rung of the commercial fishing profession. My boat is small and slow, and can only carry a few long fishing lines (longlines, they're called) that I can barely afford to bait with shrimp and crab. Checking the map, I'm shown the most likely areas to catch fish, chug over to them, and drop my buoys and lines in. Then it's just the small matter of waiting for about twelve or fourteen hours for fish to become hooked, at which point I return to haul them into the boat.

Thing is, there's not a whole lot to do while waiting. I entertain myself by sprinting around my boat, and while I'm somewhat amused by my character's almost sarcastic jogging animation on the very small ship, it just doesn't eat up much time.

More info and more game videos here