Pros: This game literally got me to get off my butt and go fishing with my dad in real life. Like, it just made it seem fun and chill and enjoyable and reminded me how much I wanted to spend time with my dad. Art is gorgeous. Cons: Real life did not include a cat (o dog) to pet on my fishing trip. Game created unreal expectations.

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to Cast n Chill, and he'll chill for a lifetime. Beautiful art, a relaxed atmosphere, and gameplay that's engaging with the option to idle n chill. It feels like you're fishing inside of a Bierstadt painting. The amount of work it must've taken to add this much detail both above and below the water is incredible. It's relaxing to watch day turn to night and get lost in the pixels. I've been playing since the demo came out last month and the devs clearly listened to the feedback. You can tell a lot of love went into this game and it's well worth your time.

"Buy a man eat fish, He day. Teach fish man, To a lifetime."

I went into Cast and Chill hoping for a relaxing and engaging experience, but unfortunately, it just didn’t click with me. While I can appreciate the cozy vibe it was aiming for, several aspects held the game back from being enjoyable. First, the gameplay loop felt incredibly shallow. The fishing mechanic, which is supposed to be the core of the experience, becomes repetitive very quickly. There’s little variation, challenge, or reward to keep things interesting over time. It ends up feeling more like a chore than a chill activity. Second, the "chill" aspect, which should be a strong point, almost felt too laid back to the point of boredom. There's a fine line between relaxing and disengaging, and this game often lands on the wrong side of it. I found myself zoning out rather than immersing myself. The lack of meaningful progression also stood out. Unlocks and upgrades felt cosmetic or inconsequential, and there wasn’t much of a story or emotional hook to keep me invested in the characters or world. For a game that emphasizes atmosphere, it felt oddly empty. In short, Cast and Chill might work for someone who wants a very passive experience, but for me, it lacked the depth, polish, and charm needed to make it enjoyable. Chill is great — but I still need a reason to care.

The pixel art is gorgeous, I could easily see myself spending hours in this game. Gonna play more when i wake up!

This is just idle game(sadly), btw pixel art is 10/10, im just not lover of idle games. But if you enjoy pixel art + idle games you should try this.(btw who says "its litterally says idle into description", i bough this game cuz genre that dev mentioned was Simulation and RPG but i found what have in game 1 button that makes game play itself this is not really simulator/rpg type game). This is my opinion, if you like this game its ok, just dont be mad cuz i dont like it LOL.

I like idle games, meaning you logoff and come back. I like grind games, where you repetitively do something with reward and make progress. However, this game is neither. It has a very gimmicky fishing system, albeit with wrongly names lures which confuse you. Add in you have to be fishing at certain times beyond the first lake. Therefore, it makes this less catch'n'chill and scour the internet for a guide to add 5% chance to a 2% chance to catch something game. Not fun, not balanced and not engaging either in active-play or the "idle" play where you go off screen. I mean seriously...it was like the game was "balance" for those 8-hour-game-running-in-background ways. Is this a cryptominor, probably more successful at that than catching fun. While the pixel are is beautiful, it does a horrible job of translating the fish into the S M L XL XXL sizes. They all mostly look the same, but as mentioned above the gimmic of perfect lure(wrongly named), rod, time of day and location make it VERY quickly beyond the starter "1 rod and 3 items" becomes a chore of a mess that is NOT CHILL or fun. Assume you'll get 4 hours of it if you try really hard to like this game if you are not a fisher and wanted to chill(then gave up.) If you're a fisher and can get around the lure names, the pixel problems...maybe >4 hours. (Add a hover over the fish so we know what they are, we can't understand your interpretation of what those 6 pixels are!)

Very inaccurate to real life fishing in the sense that in this game I actually CATCH THE FISH

Warning due to all the positive reviews. - the game has no story, no quest, nothing All you do is fish or let it idle and it fishes for you. Deliver the fish, upgrade gear or unlock maps and repeat. It is absolutely not worth the money they ask for this game. I let myself be deluded by the positive reviews. It is a waste of time and money. Positive aspects: - the graphic is fine since you can see it already in the screenshots - the music is very nice - doggie!!! But that is not enough to support that price for which you can buy a much bigger game at this point.

Very unrealistic fishing I don't think a 1 pound fish can break 20 pound line just because it's fighting hard and there's no drag The line just comes off the spool

My recently widowed 55yr Mother-in-Law, a couple of weeks ago, received a diagnosis of around a 10% 90-day mortality rate. She’s been wanting to go fishing while she can, but she has a lot of fatigue and concerns that make that difficult or impossible. I’ve been waiting for this game for her since seeing its demo. I bought it as soon as I saw it was available, figuring it would be good at least on the go for long Dr appointments or upcoming hospital stays. She’s also been taking a liking to our house cats — She said she’d have loved a Maine coon if she could have had one in her life. I saw the supporter DLC and had to have it for her (I usually don’t grab stuff like this, but the coincidence made it impossible to pass up). She’s absolutely loved it. She hasn’t played games in decades, since Mario brothers. It’s really helping her mind’s sharpness. She’s been so happy and excited with all of the different fishing options, fish types, the pretty pixel art that she’s never really seen before. It’s gorgeous art and day/night cycles, too! (I haven’t played that much myself for a review from me personally). She’s gonna be playing more soon! She’s hooked (ha-ha). The dev(s) have made her so very happy with this product. Thank you. The memories made here are priceless, and the starting value (with initial discount) an incredible deal.

Overpriced unfinished game hiding behind pretty visuals and 'chill' was in the title. 3,5/5⭐ PROS: ✅ Beautiful pixel art ✅ Decent calming music ✅ Cozy atmosphere, peaceful vibe ✅ Character and pet customization ✅ Fish collection CONS: ❌ Fishing lack of good feedback system. No "!" notification on bites, nothing to tells when to reel in, when to release — just guesswork and luck. Difficult for new players to get used to it. ❌ No way to cancel a bad cast. Hooked the wrong fish? Too bad — sit through it instead of just somehow re-casting immediately. ❌ Missing map button when sailing around (it supposed to go along with the fish record book). If you forget where you are while in the middle or on far side of the dock (which happens a lot for new players), you’ll have to slowly row all the way back just to available remind where you are again. Not really a big deal but inconvenient for forgetful players. ❌ UI is designed for touchscreens — feels clunky on PC. ❌ No weather system (yet). ❌ No BGM underwater. The moment camera dives down, the music disappears too. Not “peaceful” silence — more like “we forgot to add this part” silence. ❌ Rod and bait upgrades are meaningless. Even maxed out, they don’t make fishing easier — they just allow you to unlock and deal with tougher fish with not much of a change. Also fish might swim far away uncontrollably and break the line because of the janky reel in system, and they often swim off-screen too, especially when you're at the edge, which is really annoyed Edit: -Added missing details and re-rated. (Since I’ve now finished the game, so this is a 100% review at the time — future update patches aren’t considered here.) -Refreshed the writing and cut the sarcastic opening line (original one was too much, my bad — I wrote it while venting about the unfinished, unoptimized gameplay core after a couple of beers, and didn’t expect it to skyrocket with that many people agreeing) -Removed the comments net (since it caught some annoyed Nemo who keep ragebaiting me. And this not the first time tho — the CONS truths had already been pointed out by other reviewers before, I just experienced them myself and laid it all out at once)

Good start, quickly falls flat.

Cast n' Chill lives up to its name, its a chill fishing game that works well and has some extremely beautiful pixel art. There's a lot to love, so I'll start with the pros.

• Beautiful and intricate: The art is easily the highlight of this game, with large backgrounds that feature full day/night cycles and a great shading system. Underwater VFX look amazing, the fish look great, and the animations are good.
• Cozy and Chill: The beautiful art combined with the music creates an atmosphere that invites you to relax, and works well for destressing. I ended up having a good mood after logging off each time.
• Resizable: Windowed mode is truly windowed, you can resize the game to whatever you'd like. Great for stream-watching or essay-writing.
• Stuff to collect: 50 species across several locations, trophies for each, multiple baits, rods, and boats, there's plenty for the collector in this game.
• Simple, but still fun: The game doesn't bother reinventing the wheel with fishing mechanics, if it aint' broke don't fix it. They work decently (with some caveats that I will get to) and don't require too much attention, which is good for an idler game.
• Dog/Cat: Dogs and Kitties. Need I say more?

Unfortunately, there are quite a few cons.

• Shallow Progression: Despite being necessary to continue the game, each of the upgrades feel almost cosmetic when put into use. The fish is always in control, and most of the "Big Catches" that I got were because the fish ended up deciding to swim towards me. In some of the later areas, a maxed out rod with the correct bait will struggle to catch it's corresponding fish. Going back to early areas with upgraded equipment doesn't really change how the fish end up getting caught. The only upgrades that make a big difference are Fish Storage and Boat Speed, and each of these don't really interact with the main mechanics of the game.
• Shallow Progression (continued): The bait upgrades are also extremely superficial. 99% of baits will play the exact same way, with the only one changing my playstyle being topfishing. I'm generally ok with this (idle games aren't usually about expansive playstyles) but since other areas of progression are similarly shallow, this stands out much more.
• Mechanically annoying: As you start to catch larger fish, the mechanics become increasingly anti-player. The fish will swim away from you while not struggling, then struggle while moving toward you. Knowing when to release and when to reel is extremely difficult, as it can feel like every single time you go to reel the fish ends up struggling immediately upon clicking. There's really no feedback as to whether you are doing well during a catch, or whether the fish is driving you around. It often feels like you are just waiting to get a lucky moment where the fish struggles toward you.
• Offscreen Fish: As a small addition to the last point, fish will often swim off-screen or behind decorations that make catching a major annoyance.
• "Idle Mode" is not: The idle mode will only use one bait, and rarely catches fish. Since there are only a few of each species per trip, they will end up just casting lines that go nowhere. If they want to advertise this as an idler game, they will need to improve the idle AI quite a bit. I don't think it would be possible to progress very far while using idle mode. Edit: they have fixed this complaint in a recent patch.
• Very Short: I am at 4.9 hours and currently reaching the end of availible baits, and I'm pretty sure I already have the last Rod. I could be wrong, but it seems like the game is going to end soon. I usually avoid the "Dollar per Hour" formula because of games like Outer Wilds, which can deliver an unforgettable experience in a short amount of time, but this game is certainly not of that variation. Edit: I've beaten the game with all fish caught, 7.8 hours. Not a great price value.
• Terrible UI: Lots of wasted screen space with menus, it can be difficult to find the bait that you want to use. It does not make sense to be scrolling through individual rods/boats when there are only about 5 of each in the game, these could easily be put into a tiled menu for easier selection.
• Barebones settings: No audio sliders, FPS limiter stops at 144 and doesn't allow for a custom limit, no borderless option. Edit: They've added a Master Volume slider in a recent patch.

Do I recommend Cast n Chill?

It's fun. Despite all the complaints I think the foundation is extremely solid. Considering the developers have a roadmap in place already, I would not be surprised if they listened to the criticisms that were brought up. Most of my Cons can be fixed with some (admittedly hard) work, and it would be a real shame for the amazing pixel art to go to waste. Despite this, I cannot recommend Cast n Chill in its current state, for the reasons listed above.

as a minimum wage slave this game appeases the- " cave-man must fish" brain part of my brain and the - "i seek comfort and familiarity" part of my brain. if you played dredge on no spooky mode this games for you, and a bonus, the arts beautiful!

I want to like it but UI is to annoying. It's hard to like an idler that requires you to constantly change your pole and bait because nothing it biting while you are idling. All bait acts the same way and fish either bump or get hooked, no skill required to do anything.

Exactly like Dark Souls except more casting and more chilling.

The game has very little content for the price tag. I was expecting more, honestly this game should be valued at under $10. I will say the art looks good, just wish there was more content and that the price was a lower to reflect it's true value.

boring asf

too shallow

game was chill, just like the title says. i tried to enjoy it, but the tutorial absolutely sucks. prob just my lack of a brain, but I cant get any sort of progress. please do buy the game if it looks fun to you.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣠⣤⣶⣶⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⣾⣿⣿⣿⡿⠿⠧⢤⡤⣤⣤⡤⣀⡀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⢠⣾⣿⠿⢛⣉⣥⣴⡶⢂⣜⣷⣿⣿⣯⣽⢟⠬⣑⣢⡀ ⠀⠀⣴⣿⢟⣵⡾⠛⣉⢹⣿⠃⢸⣾⠋⠉⠀⠈⠡⢠⣾⣿⡿⠃ ⠀⣸⡿⣵⡟⢷⡏⠁⢔⠨⣻⣇⢸⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢋⡩⠭⠍⡳ ⢀⣿⢹⡟⠀⠈⠻⣦⣑⣡⣞⣤⣷⣷⣤⣀⣐⣒⣚⡋⠧⠗⠋⠁ ⠘⣿⢺⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⢉⣾⣿⠿⠛⠉⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⢻⠸⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⢾⡿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⢣⡹⡄⠀⠀⠀⠘⢇⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⡤⠖⡄⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠙⠫⣦⡀⠀⠀⠈⠀⠀⠉⠒⠤⢤⣤⣒⣩⢖⠀⡇⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢉⢷⡶⡤⠤⠤⣀⣀⣀⣀⣸⢖⣚⠡⢰⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠚⠗⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠳⣌⠻⣗⡒⠒⠸⡄⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠑⠪⠭⣉⣀⣸⠆⠀

If you want a decent therapeutic fishing game. You can buy a decent therapeutic fishing game.

FIRST!!!

I was so hooked by the trailer for this game, it certainly has beautiful visuals, a charming atmosphere and vibe. But for the price I really cant say I recommend it for the gameplay. The character customisation is a randomiser with your choice of pet, its cute but for something you'll be staring at for a while (given its an idler) I would have liked a different kind of customisation or additional options to buy outfits or accessories with the in game currency, it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. For an idle game, its okay especially if you have another tab or browser open next to the screen but I find it personally more distracting than anything as it requires a lot of attention frequently. The fishing mini game itself is a bit lacklustre and requires only one button to reel in essentially so there's very little challenge. What I found more annoying was the constant slow back and forth between the dock and the body of water you're in. There is no auto mode to go back unless you switch into idle, so you'll have to hold down a button and watch a good 20 seconds of a one way trip back to land. You'll find yourself going less with more upgrades and the visuals are very well done during but it felt annoying to constantly interrupt my chill fishing trip. Lastly, I thought Id just play the game using the idler and at the very least have a pretty screensaver, but you CANT see under the water or any of the fish while in idle mode??? So you're just staring at the background scenery while every 30 seconds or so your character gets a fish. Overall I did enjoy the art direction but the gameplay and even the idle mode just wasn't there for me, but if you're the kind of person that finds collectables addicting maybe this is the game for you.

Made my CPU overheat and caused my PC to shut down. Could not for the life of me figure out why. Restarted my PC, did a diagnostic test. Reopened the game. All progress lost. Refunded.