While simple in design, A Girl Adrift is a quaint indie idle game where the player finds a young girl at sea on a raft all alone with nothing but a fishing rod. Adding a layer of mystery, the game does not start out with many pretexts except that the world has been covered in water, and she must fish to survive. Here’s why you should add it to your game wishlist.
Like the low-effort aspect of peaceful games? In addition to its design, the gameplay itself is simple and easygoing. The player is meant to fish as much as they can, casting out a line and tapping rapidly while not losing stamina to successfully bring the fish in. Players don’t get much for the fish except for the experience of catching specific types, but items dropped from fish can be sold for more currency later.
Bringing back the good ole Cookie Clicker twist, A Girl Adrift can be summed down to a tap simulator where players can spend most of their time fishing and getting fish cake slices to use as level-up materials. These fish cakes can increase the speed time that the fishing rod has when reeling in as well as the attack numbers used against the fish to decrease its stamina.
Other currencies exist in the world such as pearls that are collected by doing quests that further the storyline and map that the player is able to traverse. They can also be rewarded for bringing the Alchemist potions. The player’s raft and character can also be further customized and expanded on by adding lanterns to draw more fish and different styles of fishing rods with special characteristics. Getting these skins and add-on’s can be achieved through collecting pearls from quests and the Alchemist.
The world is built piece by piece by exploration. It starts in culturally-beautiful Hong Kong and Hokkaido with exaggerated creative fish to be found at each location unique to that fishing spot such as Dumpling Fish, Cherry Blossom Carp and Sashimi shark. As the story continues, so does the map. There are hundreds of fish the player can discover as it expands to Australia and further west.
It’s a sweet and peaceful idle game to give a try if you’re looking to spend some time on it every now and again with low commitments and adorable outfits and customizable boats to unlock. With a fishing system a bit more forgiving than in Stardew Valley and Genshin Impact, it makes for a very peaceful experience.
Jordan is a student studying Digital and Print Journalism at the University of North Texas. After discovering how much fun gaming journalism can be, she hopes to make a career in it once she graduates. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys playing games such as Genshin Impact, Ace Attorney, and Fire Emblem or watching Murder, She Wrote late at night on weekdays.
