Image via imissmyfriends.studio
Fishbowl is an unusual experience that, on the surface, looks like a life sim, but is more of a brief visual novel where your day-to-day choices for Alo determines what happens next for her. And boy, does she need it. She’s not just dealing with one major life change and type of potential trauma, but three. It’s an examination of a life and how someone moves forward when dealing with different types of stress, as well as an examination of how small actions and interactions can change your life. Aside from a little tedium, it can feel cathartic helping someone move forward and heal.
Alo is going through a lot. She’s only 21, so she’s just become an adult. She’s gotten her first major job, which entailed a move to a new city. She doesn’t know anyone there, beyond meeting the landlady. COVID started, resulting in remote work and social distancing. Oh, and her grandmother died, and she wasn’t able to see her right before it happened. And as a result of that and the current cultural situation, her family’s tea shop looks like it might close. She’s uncertain about her position, wants to be home, can’t write like she used to, and experiences nightmares every night. After a shipment from her mom of some of the things her Jaja left her arrives and a small goldfish toy she named Paplet and used to love is in it, it comes to life. Over the next month, her interactions with the toy, her job, the people she can connect to virtually, and items in her home can help shape the course of her life.
There is so much happening to Alo at once in Fishbowl that it almost seems unbelievable, and it’s absolutely overwhelming. If it had just been a tale about dealing with grief while far from home, that would have been traumatic enough, but we’re also watching a young woman who doesn’t have much faith in herself get accustomed to an incredible job (that she clearly does deserve), adjusting to life on her own, and handling the measures you need to stay safe during a pandemic. Her grief over her family’s loss does feel like the focal point, with imissmyfriends.studio sort of prioritizing that element of the story, but the 30 virtual days do spend a lot of time dealing with all of these combined elements and the way they can weigh on an individual in a way that makes sense.
Each day, there will be both scripted and unscripted events for Alo to encounter. Some of them involve Paplet and seeing past members with Jaja and other people important to Alo. Going through the editing minigame, which involves sorting items constantly moving into the right spots and deleting errors, is another and provides a means of seeing her interact with new coworkers. A friend or family member will usually call. There will be packages from Jaja’s home to sort as you go through the things she left behind. Optional activities are also possible, like eating meals, cleaning up, binge watching shows, doom scrolling social media, trying to write, and bathing. All of these can influence Alo’s mental state, which is also represented by bars and visual cues. Some are more neutral, but there are also ones with clouds overhead to suggest depression and a growing plant to signal optimism.
A thing that struck me is, as I started Fishbowl and learned how each kind of action influenced Alo’s current mood, I often felt afraid to do anything. Since her responses to people are tied to that, you can be locked out of selections if she’s too upset. Since you have no idea how different things in her apartment will affect her until you do interact with them, I found myself going out of my way to engage in repetitive (positive) activities to keep her spirits up. Likewise, if you’re hoping for more negative reactions, those can be walled off by her being in too good of a mood. (Though frankly, it seemed easier to bring her down.) It is something you become aware of very early on, since as the game begins Alo isn’t in a good place. However, since many of the positive actions are repetitive ones that can also be tied to quick-time event style interactions, that also can drag things out a bit.
While for the most part Fishbowl is a exploration game and visual novel that prioritizes choosing what Alo does and how she responds to people, there are some minigames. The video editing and unpacking ones are both quite pleasant sorting activities that aren’t too tedious. In the former, you move the current item up or down so it is in the correct line, then press a button to quickly drop it into the correct position (or delete it). At most, it lasts a few minutes, and there’s positive reinforcement interactions with pleasant coworkers when it’s done. Unpacking means picking up and shifting things around in boxes to clear a path to a specific item in a method that feels inspired a bit by sliding tile puzzle games. With smaller actions like making food, washing dishes, doing laundry, or even using the toilet, you see a series of a few small images with directions below them. There’s no explanation as to what to do or press, though it’s fairly obvious except for one occasion in which I didn’t catch on that I needed to hold a trigger rather than press or hold a button. (The options do offer an accessibility option tied to those two minigames, but there’s none to eliminate the quicker interactions.) I felt like it helped reinforce a routine for the heroine. Now, that might feel a bit tedious to maintain over the in-game month, but it is there and there are benefits.
But what really is striking about Fishbowl is the artistic direction. For a game set in such a small space, it feels quite detailed. The spritework for Alo’s apartment and the things she finds when unpacking Jaja’s items are delicate and intricate. The character designs for her and her friends are gorgeous and filled with little details that cover their personality and culture. I love that when we see the video calls between her and other people, we also get to see a small video of her in the corner that shows her reactions. It’s quite pretty, and the setpieces and layouts feel meaningful.
Fishbowl is a heartfelt story about dealing with many different life changes and traumas at once, all while finding a way forward. How we do so depends on choices we make. Not just responses to people around Alo, but how she chooses to live her life and push forward. While some of that routine might feel a little boring, that too feels like a commentary on life and how difficult it might feel to keep moving forward when seeing tangible results takes time. It’s one of those games where you start to really see how important actions are once you’re a few hours into it.
Fishbowl is available on the PS5 and PC. A demo is available.