The Fish's Tale is a 2023 indie first-person horror game developed by Zed_Technician.
Monica is faced with a dilemma: along with inheriting her father's possessions, she was given a dire responsibility that she quickly realizes she can't handle alone. So, she hires on Angela to help her complete a ritual that is meant to prevent a dangerous creature from waking up and bringing disaster upon the land.
Time is short, however, and the two will have to act fast to succeed in their goals.
A Fish's Tale contains the following examples:
- Acrofatic: Angela is an impressively quick walker.
- Big Bad: The titular fish, who has to be kept asleep to prevent its parasites from coming out.
- Camera Perspective Switch: The game has players switch between Monica as she prepares ingredients for a spell to summon the chains and provide directions for Angela before switching to Angela's perspective as she heads to out to find the summoned chains.
- Easter Egg: Exploration-happy players of Zed's games can find Sandra from The Bit More Know Zero chilling outside with the monster from the same game, having now become her pet.
- Eye of Newt: The ingredients used in the ritual to summon and locate the chains are...interesting, to say the least.
- Fiendish Fish: The titular Fish itself, which was purported to have caused disaster upon the world before it was placed into a magic sleep.
- Inept Mage: Of a sort. Monica admits not being as capable of performing magic rituals as her late father was, especially for something as vital as keeping the Fish asleep.
- Multiple Endings: How the game ends depend on whether the Fish is prevented from waking up or not.
- In the Golden Ending, Angela succeeds in finding the five chains, and Monica performs the ritual to keep the Fish asleep for another year. With the job successful, Monica pays Angela as thanks for her help with the promise that she'll call her when she needs her again.
- In the Downer Ending, should time run out, the Fish awakens, unleashing the parasites upon the forest before spreading out further.
- Passing the Torch: Monica was entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the Fish asleep annually like her father did before her.
- Protective Charm: Angela is given an amulet by Monica to protect herself from the monster that spawns from the Fish.
- Race Against the Clock: Monica and Angela have to summon and collect the five chains needed to perform the ritual before the Fish awakens at midnight.
- Secret Expanded Epilogue: By completing the story on Tough Mode, an extended scene plays where Monica assures her late father that she'll continue his work and expresses no shame in getting help from someone to complete the task.
- When It All Began: A file on Monica's laptop tells a tale of how the Fish caused disaster upon arriving on land and was unstoppable until a young lad cast a spell that put the creature to sleep.
