Instead of wishlisting its game, the developer of my favorite Next Fest demo wants you to play anyone else’s: ‘There are some genuinely great creators in this fest who deserve the attention’

Of the thousands of demos on offer during the current Next Fest, I’ve far and away been most fond of About Fishing, The Water Museum’s downright Lynchian “fishing mystery game” of surrealist, psychological angling that’s eerie, absurd, and endearing in equal measure. My tackle box has a conspiracy board inside it, the town church has a prison ward in the basement, and I can commune with caught fish to retrieve submerged clues from waterways.

It’s magnificent, and it is entirely, precisely my shit. But despite it being the traditional goal of Next Fest participants, About Fishing developer The Water Museum doesn’t seem particularly concerned about whether I wishlist the game or not.

In a Steam news post that coincided with the start of Next Fest earlier this week, Water Museum developer Kevin said it’s a great time for players to try the About Fishing demo. But then he made an unconventional ask:

“After you’re done—you don’t have to wishlist it,” Kevin said. “Just promise me you’ll find another demo that looks interesting and give it a go. There are some genuinely great creators in this fest who deserve the attention. Take your time with it.”

Kevin continues to suggest we then turn off the computer, go outside, and maybe enjoy a nice tree. (Having gone on a lovely walk this morning, I can personally confirm the efficacy of the looking-at-tree meta.)

Considering that wishlisting is conventionally understood as one of the most valuable things a potential customer can do ahead of a Steam launch, The Water Museum’s declaration that we should actually just find another cool game is a surprising act of developer solidarity. It probably helps, however, that About Fishing has already secured an audience of eager players: On June 11, The Water Museum announced via a Steam post that About Fishing had lured 100,000 users into wishlisting.

Get it? Lured. Like in fishing.

While The Water Museum might be too pure to tell you to wishlist its game, I urge you to try it for yourself if you think you’d enjoy seeing its unsettlingly detailed textures stretched over entirely too few polygons, doing Wanted-style bullet curving on your fishing hook mid-cast to execute hyper-precise angling, or being told by your ethereal grandfather that “the fish around here might’ve been the last witnesses to a murder.”

If not, then check out one of the 4,400 other demos. As Kevin said, there are plenty of playtests worth your attention.

About Fishing is set to launch sometime later this year.