Video games - for many people - are a chance to rest, relax, and enjoy oneself. For some players, this involves therapeutically taking anger out on helpless NPCs. For others, it means living out a personal fantasy life as a decorator. Across genres and subjects, video games have taken a cue from real life to make their game more relaxing.

Fishing is one of those relaxing hobbies that transcends many regional differences. It's no wonder then that fishing mini-games are prevalent in so many video game titles. While some are simplistic, others are detailed with dozens of species to catch and collect. But you and I know that the only real thing anyone cares about is bragging about the size of their catch. So - which game lets you brag the most?

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Updated July 3, 2022, by Gabrielle Huston: No one cares about fishing if you can't brag about how successful you've been afterwards. It's just like how bakers are all competing to make the biggest cake and all tailors are competing to make the biggest clothes. Right? The biggest fish is a fisherman's ultimate goal. These games aren't really dedicated to fishing, but they let you fish in your off time anyways.

8 Persona 5 (Ichigaya Guardian / Golden Dorado)

The fishing pond in Persona 5 is in Ichigaya on the eastern side of Tokyo. Once there, you can choose your bait and fishing rod and then start to earn proficiency. All of these variables affect the kinds of fish that'll be caught.

No one cares how good you are until you reach the master level, though, by catching the Ichigaya Guardian.

Other fish in Persona 5 have direct parallels to real species, but the Ichigaya Guardian is left as a mystery. The best information we have is its size, which ranges from just under to just over 120 centimetres, and its golden-red sunset scales. From these details, the best comparison to a fish is the salminus basiliensis (a fun, scientific name that I definitely know how to pronounce). This fish is often called a dorado or golden dorado, but it doesn't have a single widely accepted common name.

7 Far Cry 5 (Paddlefish)

To help you really live out your fantasy fisherman lifestyle, all the fish in Far Cry 5 could really be caught in the United States. Or, I suppose it could be an underhanded insult about the fact that many gamers could be out catching these fish right now and are actively choosing not to. You decide.

The paddlefish is an infamously huge species; they are often called "primitive" fish because they've evolved very little since the Early Cretaceous period. But fans will still need to track down this dinosaur to earn all the Far Cry 5 achievements.

China outdoes America [insert political joke here] in this rodeo, because the Chinese Paddlefish can reach 1,100 pounds. American Paddlefish are still incredible, though, and you can catch some that weigh up to 195 pounds in Far Cry 5.

6 Minecraft (Cod)

Minecraft has a rich underwater environment to explore. Unfortunately, unlike other games, you can't take the squids out of the water - at least, not in the traditional sense. The only creatures available to catch with a rod are small fish: pufferfish, cod, salmon, and tropical fish (which used to be called clownfish).

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Of the available choices, the Cod is by far going to get you the most ladies when you put a picture of you holding it onto Tinder. It might have an unassuming name, but don't let it lull you into a false sense of security; these bad boys can really grow.

5 Stardew Valley (Stingray)

In a game all about relaxation and getting away from the mindless work of the city to the endearing countryside, fishing is a natural choice for Stardew Valley. Real fishermen think fondly of their quiet moments at dawn beside the water and Stardew Valley perfectly recreates the bursts of excitement alongside silent, peaceful stretches.

ConcernedApe clearly felt that Stardew Valley players weren't getting to really test their mettle, because it added new fish in the 1.5 update to the game - including the intimidating Stingray! Good luck not getting... stung? Do they do that? Who knows.

4 Final Fantasy 15 (Grouper)

Final Fantasy 15 was a game about some prince and his best friends on a road trip - so the fishing mini-game was a natural fit to this boy's club (and, of course, a huge hit with fans). The fishing mechanics were superb, I have to admit.

Noctis' love of the sport is utterly contagious and, if that wasn't enough to convince you, there's a cat you can feed the fish to! I would do anything for a cat, including jumping off a bridge and wasting hard-earned time catching fresh fish for it. I'm sure it'll be impressed when I show off my very best catch to it: the Dread Grouper.

3 Sea of Thieves (Stormfish / Marlin)

Sea of Thieves is a fantastical game that makes players feel like true adventurers. So, its fish have incomprehensible equally fantastical names! There's the Islehoppers, Devilfish, Plentifins, and Pondies, to name a few. Each one is based on a real-world fish counterpart.

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The game's Stormfish is based on a marlin, one of Earth's fastest marine swimmers. The Atlantic Blue Marlin is one species that spends most of its life at sea, so it's often caught along the seaboard (as the Stormfish is in Sea of Thieves. ...Sea what we did there? No?)

This is a fish species that really said "gatekeep, gaslight, girlboss," because the impressive specimens are always female. That's because female Atlantic Blue Marlins grow up to be around four times the size of the males!

2 Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Whale Shark)

Animal Crossing loves to ride the line between realism and fantasy. The player's friends and neighbours are all anthropomorphic animals, but they can also decorate their homes with tiny cat beds, litterboxes, and turtles. The player owes money to a raccoon who has a whole island to maintain, but they don't pay any interest.

Only in this reality could a fan catch a whale shark with a rod made from sticks.

Whale sharks in the real world are immense creatures of disorienting proportions. The name comes because this shark is just as large as some species of whales, and it eats using a filter in its mouth, like the baleen whale.

1 Pokemon (Wailord / Blue Whale)

Some fish Pokemon have one-to-one comparisons with real aquatic creatures, but not all are so lucky. Milotic and Gyrados, for example, are based on mythological sea serpents. Others are a combination of multiple aquatic creatures like the Eelektross who seems to be a mix of an electric eel, a leech, and a lamprey.

Wailord is one of the easy ones to identify (no duh). It's based on the world's blue whales. If you've ever played New Pokemon Snap, you've probably seen and felt the immense size of this creature for yourself. Thankfully you're safe in the Professor's glass bubble, 'cause I'm pretty sure you'd be dead if you tried to get that close to a blue whale in real life that you didn't see coming.

NEXT: The Best Fishing Games That Aren't Only About Fishing