Getting started

Welcome aboard, captain. This page walks you through your first session in Reel, from the harbor plaza to your first upgrades.

Before you sail

When Reel starts, you wait in a loading room on a calm tropical sea while the game gets ready. The first time you play, it shows the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Scroll with either thumbstick, and hold any button until the bar fills to accept.

You’ll join a public lobby with other captains automatically: Reel is always played online, with up to ten captains sharing the harbor and the sea. See Lobbies, voice and safety.

New to VR fishing? Read Controls first. You move like in Gorilla Tag, by pushing your hands against the ground.

1. Arrive in the harbor

You appear on the plaza in the middle of the harbor town. Your boat is right beside you, shrunk into a little pet that follows you around on land. Everything you’ll need is a short walk away; see The harbor.

While you’re on the plaza, you can visit the lobby station to choose the name that shows over your head.

2. Launch your boat

Walk to the water’s edge, at a pier or any shore. Grip your boat to pick it up, then toss it into the water. It grows into a full-size boat. Climb aboard.

Your first boat is a small patchwork dinghy, steered with a wheel and a throttle lever: grip the wheel to turn and slide the throttle forward to go. See Boats and riding.

3. Catch your first fish

The waters right around the harbor are full of fish, so you don’t need to go far.

1. Press A to take out your rod (or X if you’d like to fish left-handed).
2. Hold grip and trigger, swing the rod forward and let go of the trigger to cast.
3. When the float dives, lift the rod sharply to hook the fish.
4. Grip the reel’s handle with your other hand and turn it to reel. Reel steadily while the fish rests, and slow down, but don’t stop, when it fights back.
5. When the fish is landed, press A to keep it. It goes into the fishbowl on your boat.

See Fishing and Fish fights for the details.

4. Hatch your first pet

Your first catch earns you a free starter egg. Sail back to the harbor and walk to the Egg House, east of the plaza. Open the captain’s log, go to INVENTORY and then EGGS, and grip your egg to take it in your hand. Let go of it on the egg opener in the middle of the room and it hatches straight away into your first pet: a baby fish that follows you everywhere.

Pets love fish. Take a fish out of your fishbowl and hold it still at your pet’s mouth for a moment to feed it. Fed pets grow bigger and stronger. See Pets.

5. Sell your catch

When you have a few fish, sell them for coins at your boat’s fishbowl: press SELL ALL, then press it again to confirm. You can sell anywhere your boat is on the water. Selling never takes a fish out of your catch booklet. See The fishbowl and selling.

6. Upgrade your rod and boat

You own one rod and one boat, and coins make them better:

• The Rod Workshop on the plaza sells rod upgrades on the rod tree. Stronger rods land bigger fish, and each one unlocks a new rod look.
• The Stables by the water sell boat upgrades on the boat tree: more speed, better handling, room for more riders and, with each passage, a new region of the sea to fish. Each upgrade unlocks a new boat skin.
• The Bait Shop sells bait and lures that make rarer fish more likely.

7. Level up and explore

Everything you do earns Captain XP. Your first catch of every species, every new water you discover and every boss you help fight raise your captain level, with rewards along the way.

Where to go next

• Hunt for fish signs like diving birds and bubbling water: they mark hotspots where fish bite much more often. See Weather and fish signs.
• Fill your catch booklet: every species, every size and every aura. Browse them all in Fish.
• Work through your commissions and keep up your daily streak in the captain’s log. See Commissions.
• Climb the monthly Captain’s Pass.
• Open treasure at the Treasure Dock, and team up with other captains against the bosses.
• Invite friends to your lobby with a code, and fish together from one boat. See Lobbies, voice and safety.