This is a really interesting one. It's very short and sweet, and the story may be a little hard to follow, but I admire the dialogue. It feels like scrolling through a debate online and hearing a lot of opinions that, in the grand scheme of things, don't really matter. Despite how intensely people may express their opinions.
Overall I'd recommend this game, but expect it to be short and simple. I'd say play it twice to get the results of either choice, and you could come to your own conclusions.

Some thoughts on the endings, if anyone wants to read a lot of spoilery analysis:
The "Down" ending and the "Up" ending are VERY contrasting. It actually feels like a parallel of the one swampy room with a shallow pool at the floor, where there are two voices speaking for a couple seconds. One voice is very commercial and talking about cooking, the other voice is low and depressed, saying some things that sounded very self-deprecating. I don't remember the exact words, something like "I don't think I had a choice, but don't worry, I blame myself for that too", but I could be entirely off. What I mean is, the Down ending seems to represent that food-commercial voice, while the Up ending reflects on the lower voice.

Personally, I think the Down ending is almost like giving in, while the Up ending is like fighting against the grain. What you're "giving in" to or "fighting against" might be a lot of different things. The fish are trying to choose a path to, I assume, escape the machine. A machine, by design, is clear-cut, it will do as it's meant to do, whether you like it or not. The fact that the machine is giving the fish the choice between up or down means that whatever happens in both choices are guaranteed to be the same way every time. They're the only choices that this machine can provide, and nothing else. There is no other means of escape, so they're also the only choices that the fish have. Obviously, this is about the illusion of choice, but I feel like there's more complexity in the choices themselves. We don't know what Down or Up means for us, until we choose one or the other. Going down, you're given essentially a commercial about fresh fish falling from a machine and right onto the plate to be served. As if the fish has accepted its fate of being consumed. And in contrast, the Up ending speaks about an amalgamation of flesh, multiple sentient beings combined into one and in a constant loop of dying and rebirth. It's really giving the whole myth about pushing the boulder uphill only for it to roll back down, and the cycle repeating in endless struggle. To me, it looks like all the fish who chose "Up", chose to struggle to survive, to try and fight against their mortality or the fate that their downward counterparts chose. But of course, its all in vain, and only really leads to more suffering.

Basically it seems like the kind of narrative in which that both endings result in pain, just different kinds of pain. They are all experiencing it, so they're not alone, but there are some that feel their pain is more extreme than others. Or that their choice is more beneficial. That one choice leads to less pain than the other. And none of these perspectives are really made to be in-the-wrong, in fact all of them are valid in their own ways. But of course, it doesn't change the fact that the ending will come, and it will suck for either party.

TLDR: Nice lil game about mortality and illusion of choice. Give it a shot if you're not too squeamish.

Edit for "The Last One and Then Another" Update:

To put it simply, it's a promo for the new game "Mouthwashing". But this is promotion done in a very clever way that I haven't seen before. It's done by essentially transitioning from this game to the next. At least, transitioning from How Fish is Made to Mouthwashing by introducing potential themes and characters from MW into HFiM. It's honestly pretty impressive and I'm enjoying the direction the devs are taking.

If you'd like to read some more spoilery analysis, I got some thoughts.

The player is a fish stuck in this sticky, fatty-looking ball. Covered in remnants of material you escape from in the beginning. Although the coloring and look of it is different than the amalgamation of living and dead fish from the Up ending, part of me wants to believe that this pile of sticky material that our fish is stuck within is the same. As if we are playing a fish that chose "Up" and the path led it to here instead of the dinner platter. But that could be a stretch. Though, the themes of consumption are already prevalent as our fish is rolling around in this ball of material, and items around the environment stick to it Katamari-style. But instead of items, like fish corpses and guts, sticking to the surface of the ball, there are tendrils that reach out and grab the items within a certain distance of the player. I actually thought that there would be a possibility to choose not to consume at all, but not only is that made impossible by the tendrils, it's impossible to progress without doing so. With that in mind, the ending for this update is one and done. Choices don't necessarily matter, and you are forced to consume whether you like it or not. But choice isn't really necessary for this narrative. After all, the theme is consumption. And most of the dialogue from the characters imply themes of gluttony and addiction to it as well. It's consumption through compulsion, saying you will stop but then eventually repeating the habit. Whether its the tentacle-like arms moving against your will, or if its just clicking and holding your mouse on "Consume" and consciously choosing your victim. This could be a potential theme of Mouthwashing, considering the dialogue that implies the most about addiction is from the human character, teeth exposed and wrapped in bandages. Or maybe it is just a theme for his character in particular.

There is definitely more I'd like to ramble on about, but if I were to do that I'd be describing the whole thing. Although the update is short and sweet like the original game, there's a lot more little details that caught my attention. Especially the references to the base game and the almost satirical commentary on how changing from the style of HFiM to MW can be jarring to some. Or the parasite creature coming back, basically threatening me to wishlist Mouthwashing in the end. (already ahead of you, bud. Was in my wishlist before I even opened the update.)


TLDR: It's a neat update with its own themes of consumption and addiction, combing the old with the new. Promotion for a new game that still feels very much like a game on its own. Very clever and fascinatingly gross as always. Would definitely recommend playing after completing the base game.

This is a really interesting one. It's very short and sweet, and the story may be a little hard to follow, but I admire the dialogue. It feels like scrolling through a debate online and hearing a lot of opinions that, in the grand scheme of things, don't really matter. Despite how intensely people may express their opinions. Overall I'd recommend this game, but expect it to be short and simple. I'd say play it twice to get the results of either choice, and you could come to your own conclusions. Some thoughts on the endings, if anyone wants to read a lot of spoilery analysis: [spoiler] The "Down" ending and the "Up" ending are VERY contrasting. It actually feels like a parallel of the one swampy room with a shallow pool at the floor, where there are two voices speaking for a couple seconds. One voice is very commercial and talking about cooking, the other voice is low and depressed, saying some things that sounded very self-deprecating. I don't remember the exact words, something like "I don't think I had a choice, but don't worry, I blame myself for that too", but I could be entirely off. What I mean is, the Down ending seems to represent that food-commercial voice, while the Up ending reflects on the lower voice. [/spoiler] [spoiler] Personally, I think the Down ending is almost like giving in, while the Up ending is like fighting against the grain. What you're "giving in" to or "fighting against" might be a lot of different things. The fish are trying to choose a path to, I assume, escape the machine. A machine, by design, is clear-cut, it will do as it's meant to do, whether you like it or not. The fact that the machine is giving the fish the choice between up or down means that whatever happens in both choices are guaranteed to be the same way every time. They're the only choices that this machine can provide, and nothing else. There is no other means of escape, so they're also the only choices that the fish have. Obviously, this is about the illusion of choice, but I feel like there's more complexity in the choices themselves. We don't know what Down or Up means for us, until we choose one or the other. Going down, you're given essentially a commercial about fresh fish falling from a machine and right onto the plate to be served. As if the fish has accepted its fate of being consumed. And in contrast, the Up ending speaks about an amalgamation of flesh, multiple sentient beings combined into one and in a constant loop of dying and rebirth. It's really giving the whole myth about pushing the boulder uphill only for it to roll back down, and the cycle repeating in endless struggle. To me, it looks like all the fish who chose "Up", chose to struggle to survive, to try and fight against their mortality or the fate that their downward counterparts chose. But of course, its all in vain, and only really leads to more suffering. [/spoiler] [spoiler] Basically it seems like the kind of narrative in which that both endings result in pain, just different kinds of pain. They are all experiencing it, so they're not alone, but there are some that feel their pain is more extreme than others. Or that their choice is more beneficial. That one choice leads to less pain than the other. And none of these perspectives are really made to be in-the-wrong, in fact all of them are valid in their own ways. But of course, it doesn't change the fact that the ending will come, and it will suck for either party. [/spoiler] TLDR: Nice lil game about mortality and illusion of choice. Give it a shot if you're not too squeamish. Edit for "The Last One and Then Another" Update: To put it simply, it's a promo for the new game "Mouthwashing". But this is promotion done in a very clever way that I haven't seen before. It's done by essentially transitioning from this game to the next. At least, transitioning from How Fish is Made to Mouthwashing by introducing potential themes and characters from MW into HFiM. It's honestly pretty impressive and I'm enjoying the direction the devs are taking. If you'd like to read some more spoilery analysis, I got some thoughts. [spoiler] The player is a fish stuck in this sticky, fatty-looking ball. Covered in remnants of material you escape from in the beginning. Although the coloring and look of it is different than the amalgamation of living and dead fish from the Up ending, part of me wants to believe that this pile of sticky material that our fish is stuck within is the same. As if we are playing a fish that chose "Up" and the path led it to here instead of the dinner platter. But that could be a stretch. Though, the themes of consumption are already prevalent as our fish is rolling around in this ball of material, and items around the environment stick to it Katamari-style. But instead of items, like fish corpses and guts, sticking to the surface of the ball, there are tendrils that reach out and grab the items within a certain distance of the player. I actually thought that there would be a possibility to choose not to consume at all, but not only is that made impossible by the tendrils, it's impossible to progress without doing so. With that in mind, the ending for this update is one and done. Choices don't necessarily matter, and you are forced to consume whether you like it or not. But choice isn't really necessary for this narrative. After all, the theme is consumption. And most of the dialogue from the characters imply themes of gluttony and addiction to it as well. It's consumption through compulsion, saying you will stop but then eventually repeating the habit. Whether its the tentacle-like arms moving against your will, or if its just clicking and holding your mouse on "Consume" and consciously choosing your victim. This could be a potential theme of Mouthwashing, considering the dialogue that implies the most about addiction is from the human character, teeth exposed and wrapped in bandages. Or maybe it is just a theme for his character in particular. [/spoiler] [spoiler] There is definitely more I'd like to ramble on about, but if I were to do that I'd be describing the whole thing. Although the update is short and sweet like the original game, there's a lot more little details that caught my attention. Especially the references to the base game and the almost satirical commentary on how changing from the style of HFiM to MW can be jarring to some. Or the parasite creature coming back, basically threatening me to wishlist Mouthwashing in the end. (already ahead of you, bud. Was in my wishlist before I even opened the update.) [/spoiler] TLDR: It's a neat update with its own themes of consumption and addiction, combing the old with the new. Promotion for a new game that still feels very much like a game on its own. Very clever and fascinatingly gross as always. Would definitely recommend playing after completing the base game.