Train Simulator devs tackling fishing next with Dovetail Games Fishing

For every chortle-worthy rock or goat or shrub or pig or despair or ennui simulator, there are a dozen more based on a thing people might actually want simulating - activities such as operating a train, or driving a big truck through Europe. Dovetail Games - formerly RailSimulator.com - are responsible for the DLC-heavy Train Simulator series, that latest of which will set you back a staggering £2,404.24 if you decided to purchase the game and all of its downloadable content. Leaving locomotives and their old name behind, the team's latest simulation venture is the aptly named Dovetail Games Fishing .

As you might have guessed, this is game about fishing. The initial release will focus on carp, leaving the other types of fishing - bass, fly, comically dredging up submerged boots - to be added later as DLC. Tech talk and a tiddly trailer after the break.

My, that was a cleverly looped trailer. It told us nothing, but it did give me a brief existential crisis over whether Dovetail Games Fishing is a fishing game that takes place within itself.

Here is some more concrete information from the Dovetail website:

"In Dovetail Games Fishing, players will tackle every step in the fishing experience, starting with the selection of equipment and rigs based on the type of fishing and objective. Players will then survey their preferred location then take to the waters edge to prepare their gear. Using an intuitive new casting and reeling mechanism termed 'Total Cast Control', players can then test their skills by finding, attracting, catching and landing the fish.

"Initially specialising in fishing for carp, Dovetail Games Fishing will quickly expand to include a multitude of popular fishing types, including bass and fly-fishing, across a variety of locations around the world."

It's being made using Unreal Engine 4, which according to the site will be applied to future Train Simulator games as well. Perhaps the most interesting titbit, however, is this mention of possible virtual reality support:

"We're also exploring ways of combining this with the latest VR technology to give players the perfect way to experience the thrill of stalking, casting and landing fish.” The 'perfect way' outside of fishing in real-life, I assume.

Dovetail Games Fishing will be out late 2014.

Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.

Latest in Sim
Tarn Adams, who cofounded Bay 12 Games with his brother Zach, talks about their single-player simulation game "Dwarf Fortress" during an interview at their home office in Poulsbo, Washington, west of Seattle, on December 9, 2022. - A cult favorite among indie game fans, "Dwarf Fortress" has been available for purchase on the Steam online store since December 6, a first for this title that has been distributed for free since its debut in 2006. The real-time management game, set in a medieval-fantasy world and involving overseeing a group of dwarves seeking to build a mighty fortress, has climbed to the fourth best-selling weekly title on Steam. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)
Dwarf Fortress' creator is so tired of hearing about AI: 'Press a button and it writes a really sh*tty, wrong essay about something—and they still take your job'
Decorations in TCG Card Shop Simulator
TCG Card Shop Simulator finally adds the ability to decorate our stores, and suddenly all my profits are being spent on adorable Pigni posters
A person on a snowmobile riding a track in the forest in game Sledders.
Powder enthusiasts seem pretty pleased with new physics-based realistic snowmobile sim Sledders
Dean Hall at GDC 2025.
Outer space inspired DayZ's Dean Hall to become a modder and game developer, and now he's making a Kerbal successor called Kitten Space Agency
Bannerlord naval expansion reveal
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is heading to the ocean with a Viking-themed naval expansion this summer
Truckin' in the rain.
American Truck Simulator’s latest teaser is just a sound effect and no one seems to agree on what exactly it means
Latest in News
Tarn Adams, who cofounded Bay 12 Games with his brother Zach, talks about their single-player simulation game "Dwarf Fortress" during an interview at their home office in Poulsbo, Washington, west of Seattle, on December 9, 2022. - A cult favorite among indie game fans, "Dwarf Fortress" has been available for purchase on the Steam online store since December 6, a first for this title that has been distributed for free since its debut in 2006. The real-time management game, set in a medieval-fantasy world and involving overseeing a group of dwarves seeking to build a mighty fortress, has climbed to the fourth best-selling weekly title on Steam. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)
Dwarf Fortress' creator is so tired of hearing about AI: 'Press a button and it writes a really sh*tty, wrong essay about something—and they still take your job'
Image of illuminated manuscript-style drawings from the game Pentiment.
Random characters kept swearing in Obsidian's font-obsessed murder-mystery when its procedural error system ran amok: 'Naughtiness abounded'
minecraft diamond level sword
Minecraft's never going free-to-play because as it stands it's 'the best deal in the world'
A Lagiacrus render from Monster Hunter Generations, photoshopped over a screenshot of Wilds' Scarlet Forest region.
Oh my God, it's happening: Monster Hunter Wilds is finally bringing a fan-favorite sea snake home from the war
A convoy of strange beings proceed across a desert in Caves of Qud key art.
After 17 years, devs of the only roguelike where players ask 'the best way to get the most limbs' can't believe its success: 'More people have bought Caves of Qud than are in this stadium, how do you reckon with that?'
AMD Strix Point APU chip, held in a hand, with the reflected light showing the various processing blocks in the chip die
AMD's next-gen 'Gorgon Point' APU outted and seemingly sticks with RDNA 3.5 graphics which is disappointing for handheld gaming PCs if accurate