One of my most anticipated upcoming RPGs doesn't just have a fishing minigame⁠—it has a full 3D aquarium where you can view your biggest catches and learn fantasy fish 'lore'

In Mortal Crux, a knightly player character fishes from atop a rowboat on a moonlit bay. — (Image credit: Jesse Walker)

Upcoming action RPG Mortal Crux is a game that always seems to have transformed in strange and unexpected ways every time I check in on it. Case and point: its full 3D in-game aquarium for communing with the fruits of a disquietingly extensive fishing minigame.

This isn't even supposed to be a fishing RPG⁠—the quickest sell I'd make for Mortal Crux is that it looks like Divinity: Original Sin, but as an action RPG instead of turn-based. Developer Jesse Walker has a similarly whimsical sensibility and eye for detail to Larian, with environmental destruction, physics based puzzles, and elemental knock-on effects galore spicing up soulslike hack n' slash combat, and you'll be able to experience it all in up to four-player co-op.

Fish staring at camera in dark water — (Image credit: Jesse Walker)

But everything's better with a fishing minigame, and as we covered back in our PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted showcase in November, Mortal Crux will be tying the feature into a full-on fishing-focused questline.

Now it sounds like this will all be grounded in a fishing hub in the game world as well, a font of fishing quests and a hall of fame for your legendary catches. As Walker put it on Twitter: "Go there anytime to take on fishing/collection quests, learn info and lore for each species, and even relax by watching your prized catches with an immersive viewing mode that functions like a real aquarium." Where else are you gonna find fish lore?

Expanding more on the system, Walker told me that "the idea is you're looking through a periscope of sorts, and you'll be able to toggle through various depths to different categories of fish and the background colors/lighting will change." While players will be able to catch some real "monstrosities" and compare their stats, Walker also stressed that Mortal Crux's fishing system will be completely optional.

This is the kind of sicko stuff I love to see in an RPG, and I remain as excited to finally play Mortal Crux as when I first reported on it back in 2022. The RPG still has no set release date or demo, but you can wishlist it on Steam.

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.