How Long Is How to Fish?

How long is How to Fish?

How long How to Fish takes comes down to what you are chasing. A first main-story playthrough runs roughly 2 to 6 hours depending on which guide you follow, a focused speedrun can clear the whole game in under an hour, and a full completion run that hunts every achievement can climb toward 20 hours. None of these are fixed numbers, because the game rewards messing around and much of the endgame grind is luck-based.

The table below sums up the ranges reported across the sources, all checked on 2026-08-28. Treat it as a planning guide rather than a promise, since your own pace, difficulty setting, and how much you explore all move the needle.

Goal	Reported time	Source
First main-story run	~2-4 hours	ShowGamer
Relaxed full playthrough	~5-6 hours	Destructoid
Casual to completionist range	5-20 hours	Charlie Pork (Steam)
Sub-hour run (Bean achievement)	under 60 min; ~57 min real run	Charlie Pork (Steam)
Optimized speedrun	~20 min or less	ShowGamer

How long is the main story

If you head straight for the ending, How to Fish is short. ShowGamer estimates a first playthrough at around 2 to 4 hours, which covers travelling through the islands, buying the upgrades you need, clearing the story bosses, and beating the final boss. That is enough time to see the whole critical path without deliberately rushing.

Destructoid puts a relaxed playthrough a little higher, at 5 to 6 hours, and calls the game "not a big game" either way. The gap between the two estimates is mostly about exploration: filling the encyclopedia, fighting optional mini-bosses, and experimenting with weapons all add hours a lean story run skips. Your difficulty and whether you play solo or in co-op also shift the total.

The five islands run in a fixed order — Lighthouse, Forest, Desert, Rocks, then Volcano — each ending in a boss you must beat to move on. Only the final stretch, the whale and its mutated lava form on the Volcano, is described as genuinely demanding. Everything before it is paced for a steady first-time player.

Can you beat How to Fish in under an hour?

Yes, and doing so is the point of the game's hardest achievement. Finishing the whole game and its final boss inside 60 minutes unlocks Bean, which Charlie Pork's Steam guide calls the rarest achievement in How to Fish. One documented run came in at 57 minutes and 22 seconds, with five attempts burned on the final boss, so the ending is where an hour run is won or lost.

Skilled routing goes much faster than the requirement. ShowGamer notes optimized speedrun routes can finish the main game in roughly 20 minutes or even less, though that is unrealistic on a blind first playthrough. The trick is knowing exactly which purchases to make and skipping every optional activity. One naming note: ShowGamer refers to this achievement as "Bob," while Destructoid and the Steam guide call it "Bean" — the Bean name is used across most guides.

Be aware the route is patch-sensitive. The Bean route Charlie Pork used relied on reaching the final island without unlocking it, and that exploit was patched out in version 1.0.5, so an older guide may no longer work. For a route built for the current linear game, see the How to Fish speedrun guide.

How long does 100% completion take?

There is no reliable exact figure for 100%, and every source that offers one hedges it. Charlie Pork's Steam guide, written on version 1.0.4, simply says to expect anywhere from 5 to 20 hours depending on how much you mess around. ShowGamer is blunter, saying a true completion time cannot be pinned down because it depends on your luck and how many optional objectives you finished during the main story.

Full completion means earning all 28 achievements and closing out the encyclopedia. Press Tab in-game to open it — the encyclopedia tracks every creature and every rare "drip" variant separately, and it drives the two collection achievements, Collector (all creatures) and Fishipedia (all drip variants). Encouragingly, the Steam guide reckons 26 of the 28 achievements are within anyone's reach; only Bean and the final boss fight are genuinely hard.

Where the clock really runs is the grind, not the difficulty. Most achievements show low completion percentages because players stop playing, not because the tasks are brutal. If you work on the collection during your first run and keep useful rare catches instead of selling them, you shave a lot off the post-game farming.

What stretches a completion run out

Two things bloat a completion run: random rare catches and expensive optional content. Rare drip variants have no guaranteed catch method, so you may cycle the right lure over and over until the specific variant finally appears. That single system is the biggest source of unpredictable time in the whole game.

Several achievements also gate behind pricey purchases you would never touch on a story run. The table below lists the most notable money sinks from the guides, all as of 2026-08-28 and drawn from a multiplayer run — prices can differ solo and shift with patches.

Item / activity	Cost	Why it matters
Scientific Boss Lure	$5,800	Summons the Volcano island's optional mini-boss for Collector
Professional Boss Lure	$1,200	Fishes up the tuna that starts the Albatross fight
Dual Motors (best engine)	$860	Unlocks the "I am speed" achievement
Standard Boss Lure	$280	Summons the shark to earn grill access
Roulette green bet	pays 35x	Basis for the All in, Rich! and Millionaire achievements

The money achievements are their own grind. Green on the roulette is one pocket in 37, and the Steam guide reports about 30 minutes of Volcano-island farming to land it — though it could take five spins or ninety. You farm high-value cooked fish, bet anything above the payout threshold, and wait for green to hit.

Should you rush your first playthrough?

Almost certainly not. ShowGamer and the Steam guide both recommend playing at a normal pace first, then attempting the sub-hour Bean run on a second, dedicated save once you know the islands, bosses, and upgrade order. Trying to learn the game and beat the clock at the same time only wastes attempts.

A couple of practical notes on total time. Charlie Pork suggests keeping two save files — one for your relaxed run and one for the Bean attempt — rather than mixing them on a single file. Co-op makes most bosses easier because extra guns and revives lower the risk, but Bean is better solo, since coordinating under a timer costs more than it saves.

For the wider picture on the game's audience and how player numbers have moved over time, check the How to Fish Steam charts page, and the game info hub collects the rest of the background and stats.