Fish

When fishing the inland waters of, as well as the ocean surrounding Great Bear Island, players may catch several different kinds of fish. They may also be occasionally found when beachcombing, and can become an important food source once most of the manufactured food has been consumed. In total, there are four species of fish that can be found in the lakes of Great Bear Island, and four species that can be found in the ocean, along with one special fish only found in Wintermute Episode 3.

As a food source[]

Fish are a popular food source amongst players, especially those that are trying to survive for an extended period of time in one location.

Advantages[]

As a food source, fish have several advantages over meats. Firstly, they have the advantage that they contain Vitamin C (helping prevent scurvy), and that cooking them produces fuel for the Storm Lantern. They're also much faster to cook: a 4 kg fish whih may contain over 1300 calories cooks in about 40 minutes. In contrast, a 1 kg piece of deer, moose, wolf, or bear meat contains at most 900 calories and will take over an hour to cook, which can help players use firewood more efficiently. Fish can also be caught semi-automatically using tip-ups; the only meat which can be obtained in a somewhat similar fashion is rabbits through snares. Fish also don't carry the risk of Intestinal Parasites in Stalker or Interloper. Finally, fish can be cured with salt to produce Cured Fish, which has better calorie density compared to its meat counterpart.

Drawbacks[]

Despite their benefits, fish have a few drawbacks compared to meat. Their biggest is that they tend to be heavy and have a poor energy density; even the worst meats in-game, rabbit and ptarmigan have around 500 kcal/kg, while the best fish, Burbot and Coho Salmon hve 488 kcal/kg and 450 kcal/kg, respectively. All the other fish are in the 300-385 kcal/kg range. Their low energy density compared to meats, along with being just as smelly, make fish a poor choice as a travel food. Also, depending on the region where the survivor is located, fishing locations may be out of the way or nonexistant (i.e. Blackrock and Forlorn Muskeg). Finally, ice fishing can be quite calorie- and time-intensive (though this can improve as the character gains experience), and managing multiple tip-ups can be a bit tedious compared to having multiple snares.