How to Fish has an easy and a hard mode, but what either one changes is nowhere in the store description, which leaves you guessing when one friend has already seen the ending and another is holding a rod for the first time. The good news is that the developers wrote the numbers down. Patch 1.0.9, published on 2026-08-24, added the option and spelled it out: on easy, all creatures have 25% less health and deal 50% less damage; on hard, all creatures have 25% more health and deal 25% more damage; the default setting is the same balance as before that patch. This post sticks to those published values, works out which side of them suits a group with mixed skill levels, and separates the difficulty option from the creature balance changes that landed in other patches and are easy to confuse with it. It closes with the settings worth fixing before you launch, so a hard mode boss attempt that takes six tries still ends up on video. If you are still short of people for the boat, putting a group together is covered separately.
Which difficulty fits your group
The two numbers in easy mode do different jobs. Creature health at 25% less shortens a fight; incoming damage at 50% less decides whether one mistake ends the run. Damage is the larger of the two moves, so for a group with a first-timer in it, easy reads less as a shortcut and more as the setting that keeps everyone in the boat. Hard mode is the opposite trade: health and damage both rise by 25%, so fights last longer and hit harder at the same rate, which is a fair ask once your group already clears the bosses and wants the tension back. Keeping the default has a clear reason too: it is the balance the game shipped with, so the pacing you see in other players' videos lines up with your own run. Whichever you pick, remember that these are numbers from a patch announcement and a patch can move them, so note the date along with the value. If what you actually want is boss tactics or achievement order, the 1.0.9 announcement points players to the developers' community Discord, and if that is your first time joining a game's server, it is worth knowing how to judge activity and invite links first.
Choosing a difficulty and keeping the run you make on it
- 1Update the game firstThe difficulty option arrived in 1.0.9. Steam handles the update in most setups, and the 1.0.9 announcement itself asks you to restart Steam to pull it. Since 1.0.10 the game writes its version number into player.log, which is the quickest way to settle it when two people in the same lobby see different menus.
- 2Change the difficulty in the main menu or in-game, then read it as two numbersThe 1.0.9 announcement places the option in the main menu and in-game. Before you choose, split the two values in your head: creature health decides how long a fight runs, and incoming damage decides how many mistakes you survive. Easy cuts damage twice as far as health, while hard raises both by the same 25%.
- 3Agree on one setting with everyone in the boatA group with mixed experience usually wants easy for the first trip and the default once the bosses are familiar. Say it out loud before you start instead of quietly changing it between tries, because otherwise nobody can tell whether the fight got lighter or the group got better.
- 4Set up recording before you launch the gameDOR records a whole session automatically once it detects the game, and resolution, frame rate and clip length belong in the before-launch list. The defaults are 1080p and 30 fps with 60 fps selectable (1440p and above, and 120 fps and above, are Pro), and clip length is 15, 30, 45 or 60 seconds. To keep your friends' voices in the video, leave Record All Sounds on, and check whose voice and nickname are in a clip before you show it to anyone.
- 5Make the attempt, then press F8 while it is freshLaunch How to Fish from Steam and DOR starts recording when it sees the game process, then saves the session as one video when you exit, so every try is already on disk. The moment a boss finally goes down, press F8 once and the previous 30 seconds is written as its own clip. The length can be 15, 30, 45 or 60 seconds, so stretch it to 45 or 60 when a boss fight needs the build-up as well.
- 6Sort out what you are keeping before the next sessionFull-session recordings share a quota that is 5 GB by default, and once that quota fills up the oldest session folders are cleaned up first, along with the F8 clips inside them, while the newest session and anything you favorited stay. So mark a run you want as a favorite the same day, or trim out the part you need. Trimming offers 16:9, 9:16 and 1:1 output and asks you to sign in to finish.
How to Fish difficulty options, by the patch notes (checked 2026-10-16)
| Setting | What the announcement says it changes | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Easy mode | All creatures have 25% less health and deal 50% less damage (patch 1.0.9, 2026-08-24). | Mixed groups and a first playthrough. The damage cut is twice the size of the health cut, so a single mistake does not end the trip. |
| Default | The same balance as before 1.0.9. Selecting it changes none of the creature values. | Comparing your run against guides and videos, or playing with people who learned the bosses at shipped values. |
| Hard mode | All creatures have 25% more health and deal 25% more damage (patch 1.0.9, 2026-08-24). | Groups that already clear the bosses. Both numbers move by the same amount, so fights get longer and more punishing at the same rate. |
| Where you change it | The 1.0.9 announcement says the option was added both in the main menu and in-game. | Agree on the setting in the menu before a boss attempt. If it moves mid-fight, nobody can compare anything afterwards. |
| Creature balance, separate from difficulty | Pufferfish and whale nerfed (1.0.4, 2026-08-21), anglerfish nerfed slightly (1.0.10, 2026-08-27), piranha rebalanced and tuna nerfed slightly (1.0.12, 2026-09-04). | Reading an older guide. These apply on every difficulty, so a fight can already differ from the write-up even if you never touched the setting. |
| Whether the numbers still hold | The percentages above shipped with 1.0.9, and announcements through patch 1.1.3 (2026-09-29) list no new difficulty values. | Before you plan a session around them, open the announcements on the store page and read the newest patch note for your build. |
Before a run on a changed difficulty
- Your game is on 1.0.9 or newer. Restart Steam if the update has not landed, and from 1.0.10 the version is printed in player.log.
- Everyone in the lobby knows which setting you are on, so the fight is judged against the same numbers.
- You read easy as creatures losing 25% health and 50% damage, not as a general assist that softens everything.
- You know the default is the same difficulty setting as before 1.0.9, but that creature stats themselves moved in 1.0.10 and 1.0.12, so an older guide can read differently even on the default.
- Resolution, frame rate and clip length are set in DOR before the game launches.
- The drive holding your recordings has more than 20 GB free. DOR warns below 30 GB and stops recording at 20 GB or less.
Keeping the hard mode boss retry you finally landed
DOR is a free Windows app for recording PC games. It detects How to Fish by its process (How to Fish.exe, Steam app 4001890) and records from launch to exit as one video, with the per-game Full gameplay recording toggle under Settings and Games. It is on by default on a personal PC and off by default in internet cafes. A moment you want on its own is saved with F8, which writes the previous 30 seconds to a separate clip; the length can be 15, 30, 45 or 60 seconds and the key can be reassigned. For a longer stretch, F7 records the whole monitor until you press F7 again. The values worth fixing before launch are resolution and frame rate (1080p and 30 fps by default, 60 fps selectable, with 1440p and above and 120 fps and above on Pro) and clip length. Audio is a single track, and with Record All Sounds on, everything your PC plays is included, which is how a friend's voice from a call ends up in the video, so check a clip before passing it around. Watch the disk too: DOR warns below 30 GB free and stops recording at 20 GB or less, and full-session recordings share a 5 GB quota by default, with the oldest session cleaned up first once that quota fills up and favorited videos kept, so favorite or trim a run the same day. If you use Steam's own game recording and it is filling your drive, the space warning has its own guide. Trimming runs at 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1 and needs a sign-in to finish, and DOR Studio in the browser can join several videos and add text or background music.
