Balanced Play ← Browse all game reviews

Russian Fishing 4

Intense overall intensity

Highest flag: Spending — real-money purchases

MMOSimulationSports/Racing

What's in it

Spending real-money purchases

High

The free game sells real-money microtransactions for gear and a paid Premium Pass.

Animal combat combat mechanic

Low

The core gameplay is hooking, fighting, and landing fish as a routine simulation mechanic, with no gore or emphasized cruelty.

Spending pressure optional

Low

Progression is grind-heavy and a Premium Pass exists that players can buy to speed advancement, an optional but persistent nudge.

Who can reach your kid

Voice chatChat with strangersDirect messagesStranger friend requestsReal-money spending

What it is

Russian Fishing 4 is a free-to-play, highly realistic fishing simulator with RPG and MMO elements and no story. Players roam open water maps, use a wide range of rods, baits, and techniques to catch over a hundred fish species, then earn money to upgrade gear and unlock new locations. The only depicted harm is to fish, which are caught, kept, or sold as ordinary fishing gameplay with no blood or gore. It is a shared online world where players can encounter and chat with strangers via text and voice. The game is free but monetized through real-money microtransactions and a Premium Pass, and its progression is famously grind-heavy.

How it's framed

The game frames itself as an authentic, no-frills simulation of the sport of fishing, treating catching and selling fish as neutral gameplay rather than something to celebrate or condemn; there is no narrative or moral stance, only realism and grind.

Details

Developer: FishSoft LLC
Publisher: FishSoft LLC
Released: Nov 10, 2021

We built this because we needed it

Balanced Play pools your kids' game time into one budget across Steam, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox and more. We're taking 100 founding families — free for life.

Claim a founding spot →

Free for life for the first 100. No card, no spam.