PAX East 2026: Reel Tiny Is A Showcase On Microfishing And Game Development Of The Same Nature

Going off the recent trends in gaming the past few years, it’s hard to avoid full experiences that completely embraces standout elements of popular titles. Take games like Animal Crossing or the newest Pokémon Pokopia – both offer its form of immersion through cozy gameplay as you surround yourself with characterized wildlife and live day-by-day growing as the experience.

Additionally, this also extends its arm out to fishing as well: the easily addicting pastime is one of the highlighted minigames in both titles. Even more, other games from spanning genres have also adopted a fishing mode of sorts that brings the mode to a new atmosphere which is rewarding like Red Dead Redemption 2 or Sonic Frontiers. So when a game is aware of its cozy identity and totally centers itself around fishing, you get Red Rabbit Games’ Reel Tiny.

Playing as the starring Shrew, you find yourself in the town of Critter’s Crick with an abundance of size-appropriate fish. Upon making progress towards your fishing license, new fishing rods, lures, and areas to expand your fishing potential opens to you. At PAX East in March, Rectify Gaming got to demo Reel Tiny and see what makes the game stand out from others of the same nature. You can watch the announcement trailer in the video below:

“Become the fisherman you were always meant to be in Reel Tiny. Experience life as a tiny creature in a big world as you catch fish and make friends. Trade with the town to upgrade your lures and fishing rod. Earn new fishing licenses to explore new sections of creek and become an angling legend!” the synopsis for the game reads.

During the event in Boston, Rectify Gaming has also covered Red Rabbit Games’ other show piece: Unsent. It’s an on the nose love letter to games like Double Fine Productions’ Psychonauts. But instead of psyche jumping, its dream-leaping parcel exploration. And that’s what made Reel Tiny so interesting straight away was the divide between the new project and the studio’s first release.

Speaking to producer Alex Supron, Red Rabbit Games took another stroke of inspiration from Double Fine and held its own ‘Amnesia Fortnite’. For those unfamiliar, it’s a studio-wide activity that spans across two weeks where all talent collaborates on multiple prototypes and showcases their progress at the end. Among the ideas that were realized, fishing was what stuck that influenced development on Reel Tiny. Microfishing specifically.

It also happens that lead programmer Max Miller is a seasoned fisher and wanted to expand his love for the hobby into video games too. However, while more titles than ever feature fishing to some degree or another, the difference between that and Reel Tiny is how fish react. Already on the topic of microfish, they still vary in sizes and that also expands to engagement. Fish in Reel Tiny have unique characteristics in the water that adds another layer of immersion to the gameplay.

The Fathead Minnow and the Warpaint Shiner act uniquely with each own set of dynamic movements that breathes life into the world of Reel Tiny. Upon playing the demo, it was clear that the game despite its cozy appearance did feature somewhat realistic considerations into the fishing mechanic. One outlier from the build was that you could notice when fish would process one of its actions in real time, but the current state of the demo is passable enough given how advanced this feature is.

Back on the topic of microfishing, the chosen proportion for the Shrew as well as the fish are homogenous in terms of the overall picture for Reel Tiny. Supron said that it plays into the plot for the game and also will extend into a “catch & release” feature that is currently in development for the game too. The minute characterization for the fish do play a sizable role in endangered species which is reflected in the game as well.

What makes Reel Tiny a different experience to Unsent is that Red Rabbit Games already had a foundation to build off of. With many systems & mechanics already established prematurely, the team was able to overcome a number of fundamental obstacles early on without needing to restructure elements of the build. Aspects like the save mechanic was there at the start rather than being added later on.

The project is also an experiment within Red Rabbit Games to showcase that a game can be conceived within a small development window. The firm not only stands as a developer, but also an indie energizer with intents to work alongside other talent in the same purview. Another aspect that differs Reel Tiny to Unsent is that the game will ship completed and not in an Early Access state.

Closing our conversation with Supron, he did elaborate that post-launch support is being considered for Reel Tiny. The decision will be weighed on the reception for the game when it officially ships. He disclosed that elements being evaluated is more room for additional areas, fish, and lures to use.

If you are interested in Reel Tiny, you can wishlist the game on Steam by heading here.

Reel Tiny ships for PC sometime in Q2 2026.