Fishing in Stardew Valley is one of the most notoriously annoying parts of the game. It's difficult and finicky and hard to master. But with a little help from a literary icon, Polygon's Simone de Rochefort learned to love this obnoxious mechanic. In examining the fishing mechanics in other games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Dredge, and Moonglow Bay, we can see how fishing in video games mirrors the emotions and actions that Ernest Hemingway depicts in his many, many stories about fishing.

0:00 Fishing in Stardew Valley sucks
0:50 Introducing Ernest Hemingway
1:55 The taxonomy of fishing games
2:51 Fishing in Hemingway's stories
4:47 Fishing in Moonglow Bay
6:14 Fishing in Dredge
7:03 Learning to fish in Stardew Valley
9:13 Appreciating frustrating things

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