Russian Fishing 4

1. Summary

Russian Fishing 4 is a free-to-play fishing simulator, and most English-speaking reviewers recommend it. Much of the praise is about realism: fish that move with weather and time of day, gear whose line ratings, reel ratios and rod tests actually matter, and fights that feel close to real angling. Some reviewers call it the best fishing game they have played. Others praise the range of species, lakes and methods, or describe it as a calm place to unwind, and being free to download is part of the draw.

The main catch is the economy around that fishing. Nearly a quarter of longer reviews mention the grind, and the money complaints overlap: fish sell for little, repairs and gear cost a lot, and premium accounts and gold are priced in ways some reviewers call greedy. Players are split on whether the grind is part of the fishing or a wall built to sell premium. Smaller groups report bugs, unexplained account bans, a near-absent tutorial, and lakes where bites dry up. This verdict reads English reviews; Steam's all-language rating for the game is Mixed.

2. What keeps coming up

What players praise

Fishing that behaves like the real thingHigh

About 17% of longer reviews talk about realism or physics. Players describe fish whose habits shift with temperature, weather, bait and location, gear stats that change how a fight plays out, and a sense that knowledge pays off. "Its a good game that really feels like fishing." One reviewer who recommends against the game still writes, "As for physics this is the only fishing game that got it right." A handful of reviewers who fish in real life say the methods match what they know from the water, and one of them answers complaints about slow bites with "This isn't Roblox fishing, don't go into it with those expectations". The same realism has a downside for some players, covered under the split section on gear breaking.

Species, lakes, methods and craftingMedium

Dozens of species, many lakes and rivers, float, feeder, bottom and spinning rigs, and lure, groundbait and food crafting come up in about 12% of longer reviews. "I have never seen such level of realism and attention to detail in ANY game." Players like being able to specialize in one style, such as carp or feeder fishing, and the moment of not knowing what is on the line until it surfaces.

Free to playMedium

About 11% of longer reviews mention that the game is free, usually as a reason to try it. "For a free game this is an amazingly detailed and surprisingly relaxing game". The word often comes with a caveat about the grind or premium, so "free" works more as a reason to start than as a final judgment (see the frustration sections).

Graphics and soundMedium

Detailed gear models, good-looking water, sunrises and storms, and ambient birds, frogs and reel noise are what players single out in the roughly 13% of longer reviews that mention visuals or audio. "Try wearing headphones during a thunderstorm, it's very atmospheric." Some short-session reviews instead complain of lag or choppy performance on their machines.

A calm game to unwind withMedium

Around 12% of longer reviews describe the game as relaxing, chill or atmospheric. Reviewers talk about playing after work, alongside audiobooks or TV, or just sitting by the water. "You just want to sit there and gaze at the water".

Compared with other fishing gamesMedium

About 10% of longer reviews call it the best fishing game or sim they have played, often comparing it with Fishing Planet. "its the best fishing game by a long shot". A few prefer the alternatives: one reviewer who tried it for its large player base found Fisher Online far less demanding of time and money and wrote "I'll stick to Fisher Online".

A helpful player communityLow

A small number of reviews praise players who share spots, advice and even free bait or gear through the in-game mail and chat, and Discord groups. "There are some very awesome players who give you stuff for free". A few others describe a toxic side, such as players mocking someone who asked what went wrong, so this is a minority view either way.

Where players are split

The grind: part of fishing, or a wallHigh

The grind comes up in 23% of longer reviews. For fans it is part of the deal: progress is slow because fishing is slow, and patience is the point. "This is a fishing simulator. You know, fishing!!!" One long-time fan sums it up as "This game is all about the grind, the big grind, and nothing but the GRIND." Critics describe hours on beginner gear, small catches that give almost no experience, and silver income so slow that one reviewer says it makes Tarkov and Path of Exile look like arcade games. Plenty of others mention the grind in passing, as the cost of a game they like.

Gear breaking and punishing fish fightsMedium

Around 9% of longer reviews mention gear breaking, line snapping or fish spooling a reel. Some players treat this as realism with consequences: pick the wrong rig and you pay for the repair. Others say the fish feel stronger than the gear ratings imply: "A rod rated for 10 kg should not feel useless against fish that are supposedly much smaller." Another complains of "2.7 KG fish breaks 3.5 KG equipment". Because repairs cost silver, a broken reel feeds straight into the economy complaints below.

The skill treeLow

About 5% of longer reviews discuss the skill tree. Supporters like the specialization ("In depth skill tree with a ton of options."). Critics dislike that skill points lock gear you could otherwise afford: "I should not have to get better at using a spinning rod set up to be able to use spoons." Reviewers warn that only the first reset is free and later ones cost gold, and one tip is to save it until you know which style you want.

The Norwegian Sea and boat fishingLow

Sea, ocean or boat fishing comes up in about 5% of longer reviews. Some recommend paid Norwegian Sea trips as the fastest way to level and earn. Others find the sea frustrating: paid boat tickets, no rod holders for trolling, and very large fish that can take hours and still be lost in deep water. "Ocean fishing is both fun and at times absolutely miserable."

Competitions and leaderboardsLow

A small group mentions tournaments, weekly records and leaderboards. Some enjoy the competitive layer and its in-game prizes. Others find it discouraging when they can't come close: "you see on the leader boards of people just catching huge fish meanwhile you cant get ONE of them".

What frustrates players

Real-money prices, premium and goldHigh

About 25% of longer reviews mention premium, gold, real money or pay-to-progress. Critics point to top-tier reels and rods priced like real equipment ("you could buy the most expensive set of fishing gear irl for what they are charging for a rod and reel."), premium accounts that speed up progress, and the lifetime option: "$2,000 for a Lifetime Membership?" One review calls the game "a frustration simulator meant to extort you out of your money". Defenders say premium is optional and the game doesn't push it with pop-ups: "No need to spend any real currency on this game." Fewer reviews defend the model than attack it, and some reviews that recommend the game still name the prices as its main drawback.

A stingy silver economy: low fish prices, costly repairs and gearHigh

Fish sell for little, travel, food and bait cost silver, and repairs eat most of the income: "95% of the silver you make in the game from selling your fish goes to repairing your gear". About 20% of longer reviews mention prices, silver, repairs or the economy. Used gear cannot be sold back ("Everything you buy has ZERO return value"), so a bad purchase is a permanent loss. A few long-time players say gear prices went up with updates.

Bugs, servers, performance and loginsMedium

About 15% of longer reviews mention technical problems. Players with only a few hours most often report lag, long loading times, crashes and a slow email verification step at sign-up ("do you want to waste 20 minutes to verify a email address for a fishing game"). Snags and stuck rods that force a log-out come up too ("Got a snag? log out."). Longer-term players add server drops that cost a trophy fish and long-unfixed issues ("Ancient bugs lay unfixed for years"). One reported a rod that "displayed incorrect load capacity (50 kg instead of the actual 31 kg)" and a denied refund after it broke. Technical complaints appear less often in reviews from later years than in 2018 and 2019.

Almost no tutorial or in-game explanationMedium

"The tutorial explains almost nothing at all." About 11% of longer reviews mention tutorials, guides, explanations or needing outside research. New players say they don't know which bait, rig or spot to use. Experienced players accept this but describe a routine of bookmarked fan sites, YouTube and Discord, and one reviewer who recommends the game tells newcomers to "just google Russian fishing 4 beginners guide." Reviewers with under two hours raise this more often than any other playtime group.

Account bans and unresponsive supportMedium

About 7% of longer reviews talk about bans, blocked accounts, support or moderators, mostly as complaints. Some reviewers admit their ban followed abusive chat. Others describe accounts blocked without explanation after hundreds of hours and paid premium ("i got blocked for no reason after not playing 2 weeks."), unanswered appeals, and forum threads closed or deleted after complaints. One veteran sums up the game as "Nice realism, fun game, extremely grindy, and 1 million different ways to get banned."

No shared lakes despite the MMO tagLow

About 6% of longer reviews raise the multiplayer setup, many from people who played only briefly. You chat with other players but fish alone and can't see friends on the lake. Several feel misled by the store tags: "the reason I'm giving it a thumbs down is simply due to it being single player and not a "MMO" or "Online PVP" as one would expect given that's stated on Steam." Even fans wish they could at least see friends fishing nearby.

Bite rates and hidden catch limitsLow

Some reviews say fish stop biting, sometimes after specific updates ("ever since the update on dec 22 2025, now the fish are hardly ever biting at elk lake."); about 6% of longer reviews raise this. Some believe the game caps catches: "They put in this artificial limit that does not allow you to catch more fish after you hit a certain number of fish." Players describe spots that go quiet for hours.

Thin endgame and few eventsLow

A small group, mostly players with hundreds of hours, says there is little to do once the lakes and top gear are unlocked. "You get 2 events with challenges and rewards FOR THE WHOLE YEAR." Others describe trophy hunting at the top level as needing a miracle, and a few say development slowed.

Region and language locks, metric-only unitsLow

A few new players picked the Russian region at the first prompt and found they could not switch back: "now everything is in Russian language and you cannot change it". Reviewers say the only route back is an email to support. A few players ask for an imperial units option.

3. The player conversation

Most reviews are short and warm ("fish", "good", "very realistic"), while critical reviewers tend to write at length, so the longer reviews behind the percentages above lean noticeably more negative than the game's overall rating. Jokes and copypastas are common, and some of the most upvoted reviews are memes. Several negative reviews still praise the fishing itself, and the argument is mostly over the grind and the real-money prices around it.

Who raises what differs by how long people played. Reviewers with under two hours mostly talk about first impressions: technical trouble (18% of their longer reviews), the missing tutorial (15%), the lack of visible multiplayer (12%), and sign-up or region problems. Players past 500 hours raise different issues. About a third of their longer reviews discuss premium and real money, and bans, support, updates, events and the endgame come up far more often than among newer players. Their complaints are more about how the game treats long-term players than about the fishing.

Sentiment improved over the years. Reviews written in 2018, the year the game arrived on Steam in Early Access, were the coldest at 63% positive. From 2020 on most years sat around 84%, and reviews written in 2026 were the warmest at 88%. Money talk faded over the same period: premium, gold or real money came up in about a third of longer reviews in 2018 and 2019 and in 17% of those written in 2026, while technical complaints fell from around 18% to 9%.

4. What the developers could do

1. Rebalance the silver economy. Raise fish payouts or cut repair and gear costs, and let players sell used gear back, since reviewers say repairs eat the income and "Everything you buy has ZERO return value".
2. Bring real-money prices closer to earth. Lower gold prices for top gear and rethink the lifetime premium tier, because critics point to the $2,000 membership and to reels priced like real equipment.
3. Build a real tutorial and in-game reference. Add an in-game guide to rigs, baits, species and lake basics, since newcomers say the tutorial "explains almost nothing" and veterans depend on outside sites and YouTube.
4. Fix long-standing bugs and server drops. Prioritize snags and stuck rods that force a log-out, disconnects that cost trophy fish, incorrect gear stats and the sign-up email verification, some of which reviewers say have gone unfixed for years.
5. Make bans and appeals transparent. Tell players why an account was blocked and answer appeals, because long-time and paying players describe bans without explanation and support that never replied.
6. Explain bite rates and any catch limits. Document how spots recover and whether catches are capped, since some players who hit dead lakes believe the game sets an "artificial" limit.
7. Add more for the endgame. Run more events and late-game goals than two challenge events a year, because players with hundreds of hours say there is little to come back to once the lakes are unlocked.
8. Fix first-launch expectations. Correct the MMO and PvP store tags or let friends see each other on a lake, and allow region, language and units to be changed after setup, since new players complain about all three.