I Am Bread developer Bossa Studios has released a spiritual successor to its beloved toast simulator in the form of I Am Fish. Instead of flopping around as a piece of bread in a kitchen, I Am Fish places you in the bodies of several fish. A group of fish are given what appears to be the bread from I Am Bread, which in turn gives them an increased level of sentience, allowing them to move freely and aggressively.

Since fish can't stay out of water for very long, there are various modes of transportation for the fish. Sometimes it's as simple as a jar, while in other instances it's a giant mop bucket on wheels. In terms of the scale of it all, it's a giant step up from the large, but contained, kitchens of I Am Bread or the operating rooms seen in Bossa Studios' other game, Surgeon Simulator 2. There's an entire city to explore, from its rooftops to its underground sewage pipes, and there's plenty of creativity - one level in a nightclub allows the fish to possess a drunk man's body after being swallowed.

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Each level offers its own challenges and set pieces, such as trying to outrun a human chasing after his aforementioned mop bucket that the fish has hijacked. While sometimes this is fun and provides the right amount of challenge, the expected and intentionally frustrating controls can grind the game to a screeching halt. There is one particular section that doesn't feel like it's intentionally hard so much as it suffers from poor execution. There's a jar that the player must roll around in after commandeering it in a park, which takes the fish to a construction site where some chaos ensues, but the entire time, the jar feels next to impossible to control.

I Am Fish Review

While games like I Am Fish and Surgeon Simulator 2 are purposely ridiculous in both tone and gameplay, there comes a point where that experience becomes aggravating due to a lack of cohesive controls. This is made worse by the fact that the game has an inconsistent checkpointing system that can reset a lot of progress if one small mistake is made. Sometimes I Am Fish levels are genuinely fun and will give players a good chuckle, but there's also a high chance some of them will leave players with their head in their hands as they try to move a fish from point A to point B over a dozen tries that are being stymied by unresponsive controls rather than a lack of drive or creativity in planning.

One may also think the bit of a fish clunkily traveling a city would get old after a while, but there's a lot of variety to keep things fresh for that particular element of I Am Fish. There are multiple playable fish with varied abilities, including one that inexplicably flies. For those that like challenging games like Surgeon Simulator 2 or have lots of patience, it's likely there's enough here to keep players engaged until the end. It's about 10 - 15 hours long and does a great job of pacing itself, but it will also leave some wanting to scream at their TV.

I Am Fish Review

The game's charm ultimately holds it up and prevents it from being a total nightmare. It's goofy and cute, contrasting the potentially oppressive nature of the gameplay. It has heart and echoes the basic premise of Finding Nemo, albeit without Pixar's emotional touch. I Am Fish can also be exhausting thanks to its intentionally frustrating controls. Maybe that's the point, but sometimes it doesn't work and just creates an infuriating experience with no satisfying outcome when the player overcomes it. If it weren't for the game's varied levels and quirky scenarios, it's likely that I Am Fish would sink under that weight, but thanks to excessive charm, it still manages to get enough right to justify a look from anyone with enough patience to appreciate it.

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I Am Fish is out now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC. Screen Rant was provided with an Xbox code for the purpose of this review.