Fishbowl is a radically optimistic Covid fever dream

Fishbowl follows Alo during her first month in a new city as the COVID pandemic begins, blending everyday routines with a touch of magical realism via a wind-up fish toy. The two-person team at imissmyfriends.studio, Rhea Gupte and Prateek Saxena, put out an updated demo covering Alo’s first three in-game days, and the final game is slated for release this April for PlayStation consoles and Steam.

Alo spends her days editing videos in a delightful minigame, video-chatting with friends and family, and sitting with isolation and grief after the recent death of her grandmother, Jaja. She volunteers to sort through Jaja’s boxes and rediscovers Paplet, a childhood fish toy that lets her revisit memories and nudges her toward writing poetry again; the game’s name came from Gupte’s 2020 art project "Building Floors are Fishbowls," and the duo cite influences like Only Yesterday and To the Moon.

fishbowl, alo, covid pandemic, magical realism, fish toy, imissmyfriends.studio, rhea gupte, prateek saxena, playstation, steam