Today, the French studio Innerspace VR releases the second part of its famous virtual reality game FISHERMAN’S TALE. The co-founder and artistic director of the studio Balthazar Auxietre reveals for us the challenges and novelties of ANOTHER FISHERMAN’S TALE and talks about the most popular genres in the VR video game industry.
Why did Innerspace VR decide to create the sequel to FISHERMAN’S TALE?
First of all, the first FISHERMAN worked well and had a good reception, despite its short duration compared to what the regulars of this type of game expect. Moreover, many people asked us for the sequel, because they liked the originality of the gameplay and the poetic side of the scenario. But we only wanted to create the second part for real artistic reasons. In the studio, we had the impression at the time that we had told the whole story, and that there wasn’t necessarily anything else to do.

But one day, our designer Alexis Moroz had this fundamental idea to develop the new chapter around the deconstruction of the body. It was the artistic element, different from the first project, that we were looking for to resume work on this universe. This approach gave us the opportunity to explore new mechanics in VR. At the same time, in the proposed concept, there were still similarities and common points with the first game of 2019. For example, the puppet character of Bob had already touched in some way the idea of deconstruction of the body. And so the sequel allowed us to dive back into the world of FISHERMAN’S TALE and expand on it.
In addition, it gave us the desire with the second part, to expand and explore this story in a longer format, with more depth. The game that’s being released today is around five or six hours long, which is still relatively short compared to other VR productions. But we’re more in line with the narrative games that are coming out on the PC – and that’s what’s important to us in order to reach out to more sophisticated gamers as well. In the first game of FISHERMAN, the duration was limited to one and a half hours, two maximum, depending on how easy you are to solve the puzzles.
Where does the idea of the adventures of a sailor in virtual reality come from?
The starting point came from Alexis, who wanted to explore the concept of a game based on the principle of mise en abyme. At the beginning, we didn’t know exactly how the story should evolve and what we would tell with this concept. Gradually, with the tests of the gameplay in different situations, the subject began to take shape: step by step, until it became this adventure of a fisherman. In the first game, he had to escape from a lighthouse, because he was trapped, both physically and mentally, in this place. So the player was in a kind of obsessive loop that illustrated the original concept.

In the second chapter, the team decided to develop the aspect of marine adventures, but from the point of view of the daughter of the character Bob, with her memories. By the time the game starts, she is already an adult. The girl revisits her past, with her eyes evolving as the experience progresses. She reappropriates the father’s phantasmagorical adventures to reveal a truth that is hidden behind them. Finally, with hindsight, the heroine understands better who she is, where her place in her life is. It is a kind of small philosophical tale, a story of filiation between the father and his daughter, of models and adventures, which evolve over the levels. But the starting point remains the gameplay concept that allowed us to come up with this story.
The theme of the sea emerged intuitively. The adventures of a sailor, a fisherman, there is this legendary side that makes one dream, that excites the imagination. It seemed to us to be a good support to tell a story. Moreover, this subject is not very frequent in video games. Our character was looking for a meaning to his life in the first part, and then imagined him in incredible adventures. Bob is not a superhero, but a portrait that we can identify with, because everyone tends to embellish certain memories. So we chose this setting because it seemed to us to be a nice sounding board for the concept and the gameplay that is at the heart of the experience.
What were the most complicated parts to realize, in a technical and artistic sense?
The most complicated thing was to find the balance in the level of difficulty of the game and especially the controls. The controls are quite sophisticated to learn, and we worked very hard to try to simplify them as much as possible. Finding the right ways to interact with the different body parts was a real challenge. However, even though the beginning of the game takes some effort, players understand the controls well and progress very smoothly afterwards. I would say that today’s technology allows us, along with the tracking capabilities of the headset, a more natural form of interactivity, with a minimum of interfaces, as close as possible to our real gestures.

Who is your audience?
We try to reach the widest audience, whether it’s men, women, teenagers. Anyway, we think that VR can captivate not only gamers, it is a medium that would interest everyone. Obviously, it’s not little kids, because VR is not recommended for them. But in terms of age ranges, the game could appeal to young people, as well as to rather old people, as the narrative covers universal and non-violent topics. But since the mechanics are still a bit sophisticated at first, it could be a bit confusing for those who have no gaming or VR experience at all.
ANOTHER FISHERMAN’S TALE is being released in two languages, but our audience is primarily English-speaking. Innerspace VR is very happy to be able to show this experience to people in France, but I would say that half of our players are located in the US. The US is still the most developed market in XR gaming, without a doubt.

How would we define the genre of ANOTHER FISHERMAN’S TALE? What are the most popular formats in VR and who are your competitors?
There is a good expression to name the FISHERMAN series – “Adventure puzzle game”. It reflects the evolution of the format. The first game was really more of a puzzle game with a single narrative aspect. In the second, the experience becomes longer, with varied environments and an adventure, told through the daughter of the character Bob and the different models she explores.
Currently, the feeling we have is that there are no real competitors in this genre. In France, very few studios are making virtual reality games. On a global scale, it’s almost the same. This industry is still quite niche and emerging, so there are not enough players for us to be in a competitive situation. Also, we work with genres that are not yet established. For example, like shooters, horror games or fitness experiences.

But it’s clear that the projects that work best are based on the strengths of VR. In particular, when users are physically engaged, not sitting in a chair. That’s what we tried to do with ANOTHER FISHERMAN’S TALE, even if it’s not our business strategy. To use the body in a “puzzle” way to create an experience that is not only intellectual, but also physical.
On which platforms is ANOTHER FISHERMAN’S TALE released?
The game is going to be released on all platforms, including PSVR 2, Steam and Meta Quest 2. From experience, we expect more players on Quest 2, because there are a lot more headsets, so the audience is bigger. We also feel that some of the people who buy Meta headsets today are not necessarily gamers. That’s not the case with PlayStation, where I think almost the entire audience is still regular gamers. I think Meta is attracting a more diverse audience, including more women, even though this industry is still mostly too male.
https://anotherfishermanstale-vr.com
At the NewImages Festival, which annually brings together some of the most visible players in the XR world, article writer Natalia Kolodinskaya had the opportunity to test ANOTHER FISHERMAN’S TALE before its release. “At the beginning, the main challenge was to get to grips with the controllers. It required attention, logic and, frankly, a little guidance from Balthazar; this is not a silly game that wastes your time. After about 15 minutes, I got the hang of it and understood how to do each step successfully. I’d say it’s a great game for anyone looking for interactive gameplay in every sense of the word, as well as happy content, without weapons, war, monsters and other violence. The only battle I had was the one with a crab on the beach … “