Cornerpond - PC Review

A character sitting on a small pier near the water. The games title Cornerpond is written in pixelated text.

Read Time:6 Minute, 49 Second

Looking for a relaxed idle game? Cornerpond, developed and published by foolsroom, is a chill idle fishing game that sits right in the corner of your screen! Buy upgrades, customise your character, and get ready to reel in the next big catch.

It released on April 21st on Steam for the very affordable price of £2.49. So put on your boots, grab your rod and let’s get into it!

Another Idle Game??

“Hey Charlie, isn’t this, like, the third idle game you are reviewing this month? Are you running all of them at the same time? Are you okay?” Yes, yes, no. But that hardly matters now ’cause we got some fish to catch alright! This is actually a game I picked up myself during the Steam Summer Sale. I really liked the game and had some time on my hands, so I thought to myself: “Eh, why not write a quick little review?”, so here we are. More idle games, more fishies, more COLLECTING. And boy do I love games that let me collect stuff.

The Thumb Culture landing page. In the bottom right corner of the screen, the game Cornerpond is running. — Fits there like a glove.

Gameplay

Love the idea of fishing, but hate having to put in all the effort? Cornerpond might just be the game for you! The fish are practically catching themselves! Well, sorta at least. Your cute little avatar hangs out in the corner of your screen, doing almost all the work for you! So you can just kick back and do other stuff while they are busy reeling in fish all day long.

Of course, if you do want to lend them a hand, you are more than welcome to! Whenever a fish bites, you will see a meter pop up with a green progress bar and a yellow time bar. Your goal is to fill up that green bar before the time runs out. Your character will try their best on their own, but sometimes they need a little boost, especially for those big catches! Just click the green orbs that appear on the screen. The more you click, the more your bar fills up. The more fish you catch, the more XP you get, which unlocks some nice equipment and even lets you travel to new, fun regions to cast your line in!

So, what about all of those fish piling up in your storage? You sell ’em, of course! The cash you earn lets you snag some better gear or some nice customizations for your character. Don’t worry about accidentally selling any of your prized catches. You can move any fish you like to your Favourites Storage. This special spot keeps them safe and doesn’t make them hog your main storage space.

Screenshot of Cornerpond. The character is reeling in a fish. There is a bar on the left side of the screen that is slowly filling up, next to it is a white rectangle with a green dot in it, which, when clicked, gives extra progress to the fishing meter. — Go Go Go!

Upgrades & Equipment

Now, time to spend your hard-earned cash on some nice upgrades for your little fishing setup! Get a better rod to make your character reel in fish faster and more effectively on their own; power up the orbs, so your clicks get even stronger; and even boost the size of your inventory and Favorites Storage! And don’t forget about bait, which helps you hook higher-quality fish. Just remember to refill it when it runs out!

You can also unlock the Mouse Shop, full of customizations and special potions that give your character a temporary boost, like increasing your fish sale values, decreasing bite times, and even raising your chance of catching legendary fish! But the mouse will only bring a handful of wares every time they visit. Therefore, if you don’t like what they’ve got in store, just ask them to refresh their stock, and they will come back in an hour with some fresh new things to sell.

Quests & Journal

You can also unlock quests in the shop to unlock some new fishing challenges. Every three hours, you will get a new list of specific fish to hunt down, so there is always something new to chase! Catching the fish that are requested will make their species level up, meaning they will sell for more cash and have a higher chance of being shiny! Yep, you read that right. Super-rare shiny fish are a thing! They have a special, different colour and a little sparkle mark that will also show up in your journal if you find one. Don’t worry about accidentally selling one, the game gives you a warning pop up if you try to do so.

Speaking of the journal: it automatically logs all of your catches, along with their levels and the qualities that you have caught. Pretty neat, huh?

Screenshot of Cornerpond. Displayed on screen is the the journal, it contains information about which fish you have caught, what level they are at and which quality of fish the character has caught. — This is gonna take ages to fill up…

Graphics & Audio

Cornerpond features some very simple, yet at the same time, very charming pixel graphics. The character customizations are cute and the fishies look great, detailed, and some even really funny! The UI is very easy to read, which is always nice for a pixel game. You can even make the text non-pixelated to make it even more readable! Please mind that this is also the option that I have used for the game’s screenshots, as I mostly play it at a very small size, and it is just a lot easier to see this way. An absolutely lovely addition.

You can resize and move the window around however you like, making it tiny or almost full-screen. On top of that (pun-intended), there is an always-on-top option too!

The audio in this game is really nice and calm. There is no music, which is not a downside whatsoever, in my opinion. Just the soothing sounds of fishin’ and a cute little jingle whenever you make a catch. What I personally really enjoyed is how many options there are for background sounds. You can choose to have the game play all sounds at all times; just a little noise when you get a bite; only the special bites that need your help; or none at all! The game also plays a little error sound when your fish storage is full. This is a huge win for me, since I’m the one who always complains about idle games that don’t let you mute some of the noises without just outright muting the game in its entirety.

Longevity

Cornerpond is just the kind of game that you launch when you boot up your computer and then forget about it for a bit until you check in on it to sell your fish and refill your bait. It really is the perfect little buddy to just watch you throughout the day. But, if you are more a fan of concrete numbers: If you are aiming to fill your whole journal with every fish, every rarity of fish, buy all upgrades and earn every achievement, be ready to sink at least 100 hours into it — probably even more.

Looking to chase after every single shiny fish? Lmao okay. Good luck. I have played the game for 80 hours so far, and my grand total of shiny fight caught is… *drumroll*

…yep.

Final Thoughts

Cornerpond keeps things simple. Simple premise, simple gameplay, simple style, and honestly, that’s its whole charm. It isn’t trying to be anything more, and I appreciate and respect that. If you enjoy the vibe of the little idle pond at the corner of your screen, that is all that really matters. What’s more, its incredibly low price point of around 3 bucks makes it, in my opinion, an absolute steal.

It will absolutely join my ever-growing collection of idle games that are running on my PC at every waking hour. At some point, I may have to go out and buy a fourth screen to house all of them…

Anyways.

Today, Cornerpond gets a nice and simple Thumb Culture Gold Award!