Ice chunks form on all sides of your ship, commanding all the attention of your crew for the task at hand. The quota has to be filled, but your boat also needs to stay afloat, so your crew is safe from your wrath - for now. After the ice has been cleared from the boat, you and your crew get to the real task at hand: fishing for crabs. Don’t get too excited, but don’t get too cynical either.

It’s hard to sell a game about crab-fishing to groups of gamers that are used to action-packed games like Halo 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4. At first glance it seems akin to offering vegetables to a child. Why would a testosterone-fueled 18-34 male want a game about fishing? Short answer is that Mr. 18-34 probably doesn’t. But a deeper look into the game reveals surprising depth for gamers out there that want to step back from action and have a more chilled experience.

After a lengthy tutorial gets you acclimated to controlling the boats, you’re not ready to set sail for the Bering Sea quite yet. Crew members must be hired and provisions (bait, gas, fishing pots) must be purchased. With fresh supplies and an experienced crew, you plan out your fishing strategy. Checking your plotter, a device that allows you to check crab population, you map out your strategies to hit areas with the highest density. Marking your map with your planned strings (swaths of sea where you drop your pots, or crab traps, to "soak"), you and your crew make haste for that location. Once there, your crew gets to work, as do you.

Not soon after, one of your workers makes an error, resulting in a steel pot being dropped from a crane and onto a fellow employee. The aftermath is not good - the injured employee was your deck boss and your most trusted and experienced crew member., who is now out for the season.The effect is much like a weigh scale. On one hand, you have the need to meet the quota, and then on the other, the need to protect the safety of your crew. Finding the right balance is the challenge.