Mysteries Under Lake Ophelia

Mysteries Under Lake Ophelia is a great cozy fishing sim hearkening back to the fishing pond in Ocarina of Time. The visuals and music are nostalgic and pleasant, it's got a good variety of fish to cactch and gear upgrades to buy. The gameplay is very simple, but well made. However, If you're expecting a horror game however you'll be sorely disappointed. The horror aspect feels half-baked and tacked on, and there's no real story to speak of. The ending was neither satisfying nor scary, as it uses some really low quality generative AI in the final cutscene.

I enjoyed this little fishing game. Despite the tags, it really does not have much 'horror' in it. The guy who sells equipment to you sometimes hints at there being an underlying mystery to the lake, or rumors of people vanishing around it... but that's about as far as the 'horror' goes besides the ending. I 'did' see people in the steam forums mention that a monster can spawn in the woods at night, but it must be a very rare spawn. I got 100% achievements and nearly played for 10 hours, but never saw the creature... and I was often checking the distance and nearby for any changes during the day and night. The games plays well, has some nice atmosphere, a cute art style, and was honestly pretty relaxing. In terms of fishing, keep in mind you can 'reel' in slowly, but it only seems possible if using a controller with pressure sensitive inputs that the game recognizes. I did not need this until going for the last few Discus fish for the achievement that requires you to empty the lake. That's it for the 'review' portion. But I wanted to make an additional segment after reading another review that criticizes the game's 'story', or lack of story. Yes, the game has very little going on. There is no deep lore or game theory bait. The game is 99% fishing with a spooky ending that is highly vague, surreal, and doesn't answer any questions. According to the developer in the forums, it's an ending that means something very personal to them and they are ok with people not understanding it. The review I read that prompted me to write this said... ........................................... "One of the reasons I love indie games like this is because the creators often have something to say that they couldn't do if they were trying to produce a mass-market game. Unfortunately, I found Mysteries Under Lake Ophelia to have nothing of the sort, and that's why I can't recommend this otherwise excellent little fishing sim." ........................................... To me, that misses the point of indie games fully. A game like this would not be made in a large studio mainly because the strange vague plot would make any checkbox marking studio turn their nose up. People know game theory bait sells. Indie games don't need to have that. They can have deep lore, a story, strange metaphorical plots, vague abstract portrayals that only the dev will ever fully understand... and that's fine. A piece of media like this is a look into the mind, ideas, or feeling of the developer. In the case of this game, I can say I felt that all the way through, even if I don't 'understand' the ending. I didn't feel like I needed to.

Not a horror game! I really loved the way the fishing worked and this was really peaceful and engrossing for an evening.

Not sure why everyone is calling this a "horror game". It's a cozy fishing game with a cozy vibe.... or is it... (Note: I wish there was a Zoom In/Zoom Out Option considering most of the gameplay is my watching a fish slide up a wall very close up. But other than that this game is great and I LOVED it!)

Absolutely adore this game. Small, yes, but it's just so cute and relaxing with the right amount of unease mixed in.

What a perfect lil cozy gem to play during a stressful work week. Something about the retro PSX graphics, the constant unsettling vibe going on despite being just a basic tiny fishing game, made me settle down, wrap myself in a fluffy blanket and try to fish out the the mystery under the lake. And well, it made me go huh...My interpretation of the ending would be [spoiler] that the stranger that keeps sitting at the camp is some sort of eldritch servant and is luring in people to come visit the lake by putting all kinds of fish species in it while he has all the right lures and tools to sell it to you, just to feed whatever that was down there...Just like people lure in fish, he lures people in. [/spoiler] Despite that, had lots of fun with it and warmly recommend it! :)

very normal and relaxing fishing game