Fishticuffs

About This Game

Fishticuffs is a bullet hell fishing roguelite.

You cast your hook into the ocean in order to harvest fish and treasure. But the fish are not bassic creatures, they will not be harvested withtrout putting up a fight. As a wise man once said: “The best defense is a lot of bullets”. Looking at the behaviour of the fish, they seem to have writ this quote into the very bedrock of their culture, if their determination to krill you is any indication.

Whale you descend through each level you have the opportunity to swell your coffers like a pufferfish, by grabbing treasure and harvesting fish. But of course this must be considered against the risk of damage that may be inherent to attacking these aquatic adversaries and seeking these submurged shinies. Maybe it is best to battle anemone for monetary reward. Or perhaps it is a difficult situation beyond your equipment that you should not fall for: hook, line or sinker.

Among the underwater world are items for you to find and wield. Some of them you will find offered up to you for free on a silver platter as though you’re not a fisherman but a nobleman in an esteemed restaurant. Others will require payment, for there are some in this world who understand that everything is worth some fee. As your skill waxes you will find ways to coral ever more items into your item purse, amassing an uncodly amount of power.

If your hook is slain, the voyage begins anew, with nothing taken from one run to the next other than your own expertise and knowledge. Your mind attunad to the ways of the game, learning how to maximise your power and wealth via items, how to skate around the bullets of the fish to stay unharmed. Different enemy patterns and items will appear on each run, so your ability to improvise will be tried.

Some of these items are simplistic such as shark blades that grant you more damage, and a wrench that repairs your hook. Others are more complex like a parasite that causes some fish to explode into homing fisshiles, and a “gun bender” that causes fish to sometimes accidentally shoot themselves. Most items will stack if you collect more than one, so hoarding fifty knives will kill most fish in one hit, and fifty gun benders will almost guarantee fish to self-shoot.

To start a run from death takes mere seconds. You may die, and before you know it you’ll be able to clam an item on the next run and be bonking fish left right and centre.
In only a few minutes you’ll know the flavour of the run: Whether it is characterised by an abundance of friendly fisshiles blowfishing up everything within line of sight; or swimming in so much health and self-repair that the idea of your mortality is a red herring; or enough treasure and wealth that when you retire you can ignore goldfish and buy a platinumfish instead.
Shortly after you’ll have a verdict on whether you win or lose the run, normally you won’t take fifteen minutes from beginning to end.