Animal Crossing meets Wind Waker in the newly-announced CatFish–a game that combines exploration and fishing like you’ve never seen it before.

In a world where fish rule the seas, you must take control of a fearless Cat and set sail after these water-bound beasties in order to reclaim what is rightfully yours. Both the Cat and its ship are customizable, with the promise of additional outfits and sea-worthy vessels to be found along the way.

Catfish currently features an impressive expanse of content with seventy-five different fish species, three biomes, and forty-nine unique islands. That word, unique, stands at the heart of this game, as Catfish promises a different experience each time it’s played. As the player fishes from specific fish populations, for example, that species will become scarce. Natural predators affect the order of the ocean and the size of certain fish populations, and your decisions of what and where to fish will have consequences on the game world itself. Day and night cycles and weather conditions have an impact on the player’s ability to fish and sail, and can determine what fish are available for catching. The biomes and islands are shuffled each time the game is started up, guaranteeing a unique playing experience each time.

Don’t be fooled. CatFish is not your regular, turn-of-the-reel fishing game. Fish not immediately on the line can be coaxed into your battle, for example. Special items, like Canned Tornadoes and the Tesla Jellyfish can sway the fight in your favor, and bystanders will gather to watch you wrestle with your catch-to-be. Reaching rare breeds of fish requires the player to obtain special equipment and ships and traverse certain areas of the sea. In this sense, CatFish features non-traditional bosses and dungeons.

Recently, Catfish was featured at the annual Otronicon 2015 where attendees could play a preview of it for the first time. The player response has been very positive, and Hamhock Games (the minds behind this brainchild) is currently seeking support through Kickstarter and Steam in order to ensure the final product is completed satisfactorily.

Some additional information about CatFish, straight from Hamhock Games:

CatFish is an open adventure fishing game being developed by Hamhock Games where players will sail the seas in search of fish, treasures and adventure as a cat. Players can customize their cat to look the way they like the most and can unlock more customizable features as the game progresses. The environmental gameplay mechanics are centered around using artificial intelligence and player choice to reshape the ecosystem in-game based on the roles of natural predators. The game will contain 75 fish and 49 islands that the player can discover in the base game, with additional fish being added in the Kickstarter Stretch Goals.

Currently, CatFish is on Kickstarter in hopes of raising enough money to fund the game. As it stands, the current goal of $6000 is purely for the expenses of the game, with none of that budget going directly to the developers as profits. The objective is to raise enough money to fund the product and the team has turned to the community for help. The campaign will run from January 13th to February 10th, 2015.

The project features a lot of ways people can donate, ranging from something as small as 1$ to get their name on the Hamhock website to as much as 1500$ to go on a fishing trip with the development team. Hamhock is also offering unique incentives at different tiers, such as the message in a bottle at 35$ where people can write a message that other players will find in the game as they play. This has opened up a lot of creative opportunities for different things like leaving behind silly notes or even writing emotional messages that immortalize the feelings someone has in the form of a message in the game. Artists may also place original work into the game via the 75$ “Starving Artist” Tier. There’s a lot of room for creativity with CatFish for both the dev-team and the community who is supporting them, so all are encouraged to take a look.