How to Play Harpoon a Fish: Tutorial, First Catch, and Aquarium

Harpoon a Fish starts you with an in-game arrow tutorial that points where to go: your first catch comes down to a simple aim-and-reel loop, and your catch goes into your aquarium to be raised as a pet. Here is how those first steps fit together.

Step 1: Follow the arrow

When you load in, follow the arrow — it walks you through your first catch and the surrounding systems one stop at a time. In one player's recorded first session (October 2026), that route included clicking to catch, using the spacebar to go up, and pressing E and V at prompted spots. Your exact prompts may differ, but the arrow points you where to go next.

That same session also toured several of the game's systems:

• Mukbang table — the arrow led to a sign, the player bought the table, then sat and ate to level up.
• NPC quest — talking to an NPC started a quest (it was to find three jellyfish).
• Crafting — crafting produced bait.
• Playtime reward — a claimable reward that gave XP and potions.
• Crates — opening crates awarded spears, though one crate needed a key. Spears equip into slots, and adding an extra equip slot cost 5,000 in that session.

Treat these as a tour, not a checklist — prices can change too.

Step 2: Catch your first fish

The catch, per the game's own How To Harpoon instructions, comes down to two lines:

1. Aim at your target and fire.
2. Time your reels to pull in the fish.

That is the whole loop — a shrimp and an octopus were among the catches in the recorded session. One warning from the official description: other players can compete for the same fish or steal a catch, and only one player can land the trophy. Firing first does not guarantee the fish is yours.

For a closer look at the catching mechanics, see our Harpoon a Fish catching guide.

Step 3: Put your catch to work

Every fish you catch goes into your aquarium, where you raise it as a pet and can evolve it into bigger and rarer sea monsters. Raising pets is one step in the loop the developer describes, which also includes getting fat and sinking deeper to discover and catch new sea monsters. Deeper water holds better finds, but the description warns that danger lurks the deeper you go.

The long-term goal is filling your fish index with over 1,800 unique fish. Once your first pet is home, our aquarium guide covers what comes next.

Before you dive in

It is worth checking our Harpoon a Fish codes page for the current list, and once you start earning crates, keys and spears, the crates guide explains how they work.