I Am Fish hands-on preview: Just keep swimming

If you're the team at Bossa Games, how do you come up with an idea as quirky as playing as a piece of bread? How does one even begin to follow up on that idea? It took a few years, but Bossa has come up with a spiritual successor to I Am Bread. For those who were worried bread was a little too inanimate, Bossa's next game has a little more life to it. It's called I Am Fish.

I Am Fish operates on many of the same principles of I Am Bread. The idea is to move something with limited movement and escape captivity. In this case, it's a fish. There are four different fish, each with their own homes, their own set of challenges, and their own special abililties. These fish include the Goldfish, the Piranha, the Pufferfish, and the Flying Fish.

Every stage will see players take control of a fish and start them in a fishbowl. The idea is to roll to freedom, but players will need to exercise caution from the outset. Fall from too high a distance and the fishbowl will break. Stay outside of water too long and your fish will suffocate. Surviving means leaving the fishbowl only when there's another body of water available.

Movement can be a challenge. I Am Fish is entirely physics-based and moving the fishbowl will mean navigating swimming up and down to build momentum. Just make sure you don't build too much momentum, otherwise you'll overshoot your target and wind up making the plunge and shattering your fishbowl. There are more than physics challenges, though. Each stage will have its share of Rube Goldberg-style physics puzzles, as well as hostile creatures that are hungry for a snack.

It's very early, but I Am Fish looks like it'll have a lot of the humorous charm of its predecessor. There's no word on a release date, but those interested in learning more can visit the I Am Fish listing over on Steam.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?