What genre is How to Fish: 20 Steam tags and player votes
Contents
Asking what genre How to Fish belongs to is not a rhetorical question. Steam gives two independent answers: one from the developer, one from the players. They do not match.
What the developer says
The official genres on the store page are Action, Casual, Indie, Simulation. The publisher enters those at release and player votes do not change them.
The word fishing does not appear among them at all.
What the players say
Steam tags are applied by users, and each one shows how many people chose it. Here are the 20 most popular tags as of August 31, 2026:
| Tag | Votes | Tag | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiplayer | 283 | FPS | 152 |
| Online Co-Op | 257 | Nature | 151 |
| Fishing | 228 | PvE | 137 |
| Co-op | 223 | Action | 131 |
| Shooter | 206 | 3D | 130 |
| Indie | 205 | Psychological Horror | 123 |
| Physics | 193 | Cartoony | 115 |
| First-Person | 191 | Combat | 103 |
| Adventure | 171 | Singleplayer | 102 |
| Colorful | 98 | Stylized | 94 |
Three conclusions from that table
First: this is a multiplayer game above all. Multiplayer (283) and Online Co-Op (257) both rank above Fishing (228). For the audience the point is not the fish, it is that other people are there. Singleplayer trails almost three times behind at 102.
Second: shooting comes right after fishing. Shooter has 206 votes, First-Person 191, FPS 152. A game where fish can be killed with a shotgun honestly looks like a hybrid, and the tags record it.
Third, the strangest one: Psychological Horror at 123 votes. That is above Cartoony (115) and Colorful (98). More than a hundred people deliberately pressed a button to say this cartoon fishing game has something unsettling in it. There is no official horror label here - this is purely a player verdict.
How to read these numbers correctly
The number next to a tag is how many users picked it, not a percentage and not a rating. One player can apply several tags at once, so adding the column up means nothing.
One more limit: Steam only shows the top 20 tags. How many exist in total and what sits in 21st place is not public, so we make no claim about it.
Why this matters before buying
Go by the official genres and you may buy a casual simulator and be surprised by gunfire. Go by the tags and the picture is sharper: a co-op physics shooter about fishing in which part of the audience sees horror elements.
Frequently asked questions
What is the official genre of How to Fish?
The Steam page lists four genres: Action, Casual, Indie and Simulation. Those are set by the developer, not by players.
What is the most popular tag?
Multiplayer with 283 votes. Fishing is only third with 228, behind Online Co-Op at 257.
Why is Psychological Horror among the tags?
123 players applied that tag. The game is not officially labelled a horror game - this is the audience talking, not the developer.
Is How to Fish a shooter?
The Shooter tag has 206 votes and FPS has 152. By player votes, shooting sits right behind fishing, so it is both a fishing sim and a shooter.
Is it a solo or a group game?
Multiplayer has 283 votes against 102 for Singleplayer - almost three times the gap. The game can still be finished solo.