Cast n Chill Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Review

A little while ago, I was looking at the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 games on the Nintendo eShop to find something I’d want to buy or potentially review. I saw a game called Cast n Chill listed with a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition native release. I made a note of it, but didn’t look into it much back then. A week or so after that, I saw it pop up on my Steam activity feed when a friend of mine bought it. I gave it another look and was floored by the pixel art. I decided to wishlist it on Switch 2 since I adore fishing games. I thought about it more and then bought it on Steam to play on Steam Deck. After 15 minutes with it, I knew I’d want to play it on Switch 2 as well, and I bought it the moment it launched on the eShop. 

Cast n Chill has a simple premise and gameplay loop. It literally begins with you selecting your appearance and companion (pet) in a menu before throwing you into the action (or lack thereof). Once you select your appearance parts, you get a Cast n Chill title drop and brief tool tips help you understand the ins and outs of fishing here. Your aim is fishing, selling your catch, earning money, upgrading your gear and boat, and repeating. Your long-term goal is to earn enough to buy a license to visit a new location as you work your way to fish ’em all if you may. 

I initially thought Cast n Chill might be a bit too grindy, but it was only because I didn’t look at all the upgrades available and missed the exclamation mark telling me to check the store to unlock new locations and rods. I also forgot how fishing is all about patience. After that realization and a bit of upgrading, I went into zen mode and kept looking forward to taking a break from work to play more of it. Cast n Chill became my Steam Deck game to play before bed, and that has led to it being my Switch 2 game before bed. Even the act of actually fishing is satisfying. 

Despite being billed as a relaxing and optionally idle experience, Cast n Chill has quite a bit of customization, strategy, and upgrading available in addition to how involved fishing can get. Not every fish will just bite and let you reel them up. Some require a push-pull-style mini-game as you ensure you don’t snap the line. 

The in-game economy is perfectly balanced as far as I’m concerned as well. There’s a steady flow of something to work towards through new upgrades, boats, and even dialogue with Rusty at the shop. After almost 40 hours, I have nearly all the in-game achievements in Cast n Chill unlocked, going over legendary fish and every single location. I don’t think I will go for every achievement since one of them is too much of a grind, but I will definitely keep fishing until DLC gets announced for the Switch 2 version. 

I mentioned being impressed by the pixel art, but it truly is incredible in motion and on the Switch 2 itself, with high resolution and smooth animations across the board. Even changing the time of day has a slick animation with the colors changing on the screen. Every fish icon or tree in the environment, with its reflection in the water, looks meticulously crafted. You could have any screenshot from Cast n Chill work as a wallpaper as well. It is that good. After being floored by the first location, Cast n Chill just kept getting better as I unlocked more locations and saw how they looked at different times of the day, like the lighthouse area in the evening 

Having spent a few hours with the PC version, I was curious about how it would look and feel on Switch and Switch 2. I say this because I’ve run into many Switch ports of 2D or pixel art games where they either have scrolling issues or just aren’t optimized well. Cast n Chill is a native Switch 2 release through the free upgrade pack and it looks crisp and runs great so far, both docked and handheld. 

Cast n Chill’s audio design is as good as its pixel art, offering relaxing tunes with atmospheric banjo tunes, celebratory sound effects when you catch something notable, or simply the chug of the boat motor. Nothing feels out of place here when it comes to the audio or aesthetic. It feels like the developers were able to perfectly realize the concept of a gorgeous and relaxing fishing game with Cast n Chill.

Cast n Chill could’ve just been a bare-bones port to Switch and Switch 2, but the developers added excellent HD rumble with a haptic feedback slider to really make it more immersive while also including higher resolution and 120hz support in the free upgrade. I saw some wonder why a game like this needs a Switch 2 Edition, and let me tell you, very few things bother me as much as pixel art games for the original Switch that have poor scaling or filtering on Switch 2. 

The idle mode in Cast n Chill isn’t really a replacement for doing things yourself, but I appreciate having it. The in-game settings let you tweak it to not catch specific trophy or legendary fish, or remove any limit and let the game fish and sell for you. 

In its current state, Cast n Chill on Switch 2 is already great, but it is a few quality-of-life improvements away from being perfect. Going back to sell fish sometimes feels like a waste of time when you’re in the zone and want to just continue fishing, but have run out of space.

If you like fishing and pixel art, Cast n Chill is an essential purchase. It somehow manages to be not only a great and relaxing fishing game, but also a nice idle game. I’m not sure how much I’ll end up caring about the idle aspect of it, but I see myself keeping it installed for a long time. I can’t wait for the new Eastern Winds DLC to also come to Switch in the future. Right now, Cast n Chill is the perfect “play before bed” Switch 2 game. 

Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2