Game Analysis of "How Fish is Made"

Game Summary

Main Game

You spawn into the game as, quite literally, a fish out of water in some sort of mysterious mechcanical landscape. In front of you another fish stands, or more accurately flops, and warns you of the most important choice in your little fish life: UP or DOWN. This quandry is the crux of the game, as every fish who enters this place must decide for themselves eventually.

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You proceed into the next room and meet two more of your fellow sardines, both of which have strong opinions on which direction you should choose. The first fish, a restless sardine with a red soda tab around its jaw, excitedly proclaims that up is the only correct answer, at least in its opinion, is UP. It makes sure that you agree with it's choice, as it wants you to make the right choice too. Just across the room lies another fish, this one an introspective sardine with a blue plastic six pack ring around its body, who boasts about its intellect and thought process, all of which lead to the true choice: DOWN. This fish does not attempt to convince you if you disagree, as it believes you would be a fool to doubt its knowledge. Now you may have realized the same thing as me by now, both fish are both so confident in what the right choice is, but both disagree with each other and refuse to even humor the opposite opinion. Later down the line you encounter a third sardine, who is faced with a conundrum and filled with uncertainty. Its entire family has chosen to go upwards, but its best friend has chosen downwards, and it has no clue who to follow. It asks you for advice, and finds conviction to back whichever choice you choose, however later it asks if you are also going the same way, and if not it once again is filled with fear about the future.

a fish entangled in a net brags about his throne of inspiration a fish entangled in a net brags about his throne of inspiration a fish entangled in a net brags about his throne of inspiration

Now it is time for your first descent, this time into a pit that looks eerily akin to a stomach tube. You fall and fall until you emerge into a dark room that looks comfortably mechanical once more. Behind you there is a fish that is revelling in, what it sees as, the holiness of this situation. The sardine goes on and on about how even though no one here can understand what lies at the end of UP or DOWN it must mean something grand. This fish does not give an opinion on which direction is the right choice, so you continue to the next hallway, where, this time you meet yet other sardine, who is, very unfortunately, stuck between 2 gears that open the next set of doors. It says that it does not know the answer to what direction is best but it does know that you absolutely should not press the button to open the doors. Tragically the game does require you to progress, so you spare this sardine the pressure of making a choice and press the button, squeezing him into several pieces. You once again proceed, this time encountering two creatures, one a sardine and one a parasite who serves as its tongue. They sing a little song about how you can only make the best of your situation and attempt to cheer you up from your grim fate, and once again, you proceed to the next area. Here you are presented with a pile of lifeless fish that you must flop past to enter the final few zones before you must make your inevitable choice

a fish entangled in a net brags about his throne of inspiration a fish entangled in a net brags about his throne of inspiration a pile of dead fish

You flop pass through another dark hallway with what appear to be ominous plants, and eventually come across a fish who confronts you about your choices, not just your final choice, but how you've acted up until this point. Have you stayed true to your original choice? Have you lied to the other fish about what you will do? Are you still 100% that you are making the right choice? After questioning you the fish laughs and says that these are not important questions in the end. You proceed onwards and meet your last fishy friend, who talks about how it was always the big fish in the sea and it feels silly to be so scared now, and reveals that it has been tracking how many fish chose UP and how many chose DOWN. It offers you a proposition, you choose which direction it goes and in turn it will tell you how it goes. It thanks you for giving it one last chance to feel important and will tell you "it feels soft" if you sent it DOWN and "it feels " if you choose UP, all before going silent.

a fish entangled in a net brags about his throne of inspiration a fish entangled in a net brags about his throne of inspiration a fish entangled in a net brags about his throne of inspiration

Now the moment of truth. During my first playthrough I stuck loosely to the plan of going downwards, however in these final moments I did have a flicker of doubt in my mind. In the end I chose to follow my ally downwards and achieved the fate of being served on a plate in a resturant somewhere, along with my fellow sardines. If I had gone upwards I would've instead assimilated with a mass of rotting fishy flesh, which is an equally unsavory fate.

Expansion: Last One and Then Another

The creators of this game later went on to create Mouthwashing, a game that has sparked in popularity within the past month or two, however they originally created an expansion to How Fish Is Made to promote it. Here you are a surivor of the machine, in an unknown place where you are given two options: LEAVE or CONSUME. You cannot leave. You roll around absorbing the parts of your fellow fishes' bodies, all so you can further grow and consume. Eventually your adventures in consumption lead you to a heavily bandaged man, who is never introduced, but looks identical to Curly from Mouthwashing. Essentially you are stuck in this loop until you have consumed enough to make your "body" large enough to consume Curly. After doing this an ad for Mouthwashing plays and the fish with a parastic tongue from eariler urges you to add the game to your wishlist.

a fish entangled in a net brags about his throne of inspiration a fish entangled in a net brags about his throne of inspiration a fish entangled in a net brags about his throne of inspiration

Game Analysis

Aesthetics

This game does a terrific job combining the visuals of both the organic and the mechanical to create a uniquely eerie setting. My particular favorite implementation of this is a particular hallway in which it resembles both a mechcanical track and an organic digestion system. The game also has a tendency towards either red or green lighting, which even in a mechanical setting draws back to organic life.

hallway that looks like a digestion system

Gameplay

This game certainly feels like you are a fish out of water with the controls at times, as precise movement is difficult and it took a bit of practice to get the hang of things. You only have two options, movement via WASD and interaction through either the space bar or C key. You control the camera with the mouse, which I imagine would be smoother with a real mouse and not a mousepad, however I did not have that option. Essentially your only two actions are eihter to talk with other fish and to proceed forward. I believe that this helps sell the atmosphere of the game, as fish can't do a whole lot, and the lack of control furthers the feeling of a march to your inevitable fate.

Characters

You meet a lot of different fish in this game and although you only see one of them twice (if you count the DLC ending) they all represent something different along your journey. The first two fish represent blind conviction and faith, without listening to the other side, and even though they may not be as superior as they believe themselves to be, they are not afraid of what comes after their choice. Apart from these fish we do not meet any fish who is certain of their choice, and although these fish may be incorrect in their judgement, at least they are not scared or in denial like the rest. The third fish is afraid of making his choice, as he is a follower, and has no idea who to follow when his friend and family are split. This fish may think he is smart, gathering the opinions of others, but in reality all he does is run from having to make the choice himself. The fourth fish observes another fallen fish who's life has been claimed by the machine, however instead of acknowledging his fear he turns to a belief that the machine is holy, and even though we do not understand it, surely we are lucky to be in it's clutches.

Commentary

I think that is it relatively easy to say that this game is not about your final choice. At the end of the day, you will die or suffer regardless of which direction you take. The game is about the process of making a choice, not the actual choice itself, and all the different perspectives. Looking at the two endings of the game I would go a step further and say that perhaps this games is about the importance of strong conviction, as you suffer in both endings, however you either die at peace with your fellow sardines or you live in an uncoordinated mass of fish flesh forevermore. Both options are not ideal, but the fishy flesh mass specifically highlights the horror of indecision.