Fishao alternatives: 7 fishing games to try in 2026

Updated February 2026 · by the crew at The Fishing Lands

Fishao was one of the last of a small breed: a cartoony, browser-based fishing MMO where the whole point was to fill a giant collection book, chat to strangers, and slowly outgrow the starter pond. The game has now shut down, and a lot of former Fishao players are casting around for somewhere else to go. This guide is for them.

We only include games we've actually played. Nothing here is a mobile "free-to-play with a $99 tackle box" scam. If a game has predatory monetisation or is a shell that stopped receiving updates, we say so. Prices and platforms are correct at the time of writing.

What made Fishao worth replacing

The game had a specific feel — that's the thing to preserve. Any good replacement needs to hit at least a few of these:

A large species collection worth the grind — silhouettes waiting to be filled in.
A shared, persistent world (or at least a shared economy and chat).
Multiple biomes with progression, not just one lake for 40 hours.
Trade, rankings, or some way your progress matters to other players.
Playable in bursts. Fishing games live and die on session length.

The seven alternatives

The Fishing Lands

Browser MMO · Free

Full disclosure: this is our game. Persistent browser MMO with 281 species, 10 waters, a tension-bar fight for every bite, a live player market, crews, bosses and quests. No install, no launcher. If you spent hours filling the Fishao journal, our journal will feel familiar — try it free.

Best for: Fishao fans who want the collection game with more depth.

Webfishing

PC · Paid · 2024

A recent indie hit. You stand around a pond with strangers, cast, chat, and pull weird fish out of the water. Not persistent between servers, but the social loop is the closest thing to Fishao town chat in years.

Best for: Cozy multiplayer sessions with friends.

Fishing Planet

PC/PS/Xbox · Free-to-play sim

Free but heavy — this is a proper simulator with real species, real waters and licensed gear. Progression is slow and there is a real-money shop, but you can play the whole thing without paying if you're patient.

Best for: Players who wanted Fishao to be more realistic.

Cat Goes Fishing

PC · Cheap · Offline

A 2D physics fishing sandbox with a huge catalogue of fish and gear. Not multiplayer, but scratches the same "fill the book, buy a better rod" itch for the price of a coffee.

RuneScape / Old School RuneScape

MMO · Free tier

Not a fishing game — an MMO with fishing as one of its skills — but the way OSRS treats fishing (spots, tools, guilds, minigames) is the closest a mainstream MMO comes to Fishao's atmosphere. Free-to-play covers plenty of the fishing content.

Stardew Valley

Everywhere · Paid

Only fishing-adjacent, but the tackle-and-timing minigame is beloved, the fish list is generous, and it has a persistent farm world you keep coming back to.

Fisch (Roblox)

Free · Cross-platform

Roblox's biggest fishing hit right now — huge species list, cross-platform, popular with younger players. Monetisation is heavy but the core game is free.

How to pick between them

If you mainly want the collection loop

Go for The Fishing Lands or Cat Goes Fishing. Both give you a big illustrated journal that fills as you fish.

If you mainly want other players in the water with you

The Fishing Lands (shared server, chat, market, crews) or Webfishing (cozy voice-chat lobbies).

If you want a "real" fishing experience

Fishing Planet. Steeper learning curve, but authentic species and physics.

What we won't recommend

We deliberately skipped several fishing games with aggressive gacha mechanics or one-way pay-to-catch progression. Fishao itself never crossed that line for most players and its fans deserve better than a slot machine dressed up as a fishing rod.