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Friendly Fire & Slap Revives in How to Fish

Last verified September 1, 2026 · Game version 1.0.10

In most co-op games, friendly fire is a settings footnote. Here it is half the highlight reel: shotguns in crowded coves, dynamite throws that catch a friend instead of a fish, and a revive system that asks you to physically slap your fallen crewmate back to life. This page covers what the friendly-fire toggle actually does, the bug players are reporting with it, and how the developers have been pushing griefers out of the game.

The Friendly-Fire Toggle Exists — With Caveats

The settings menu includes a friendly-fire selection box, so crews who want a no-team-damage session have an official switch to reach for. Two problems show up in the community thread tracking it:

  • Controller input: one host with a Steam controller could not press the selection box at all — the crew only reached the setting after swapping to mouse and keyboard. It fits a broader pattern reviewers noted about option menus that make it hard to tell what you are selecting.
  • Off is not always off: the same thread reports turning friendly fire off without team damage actually stopping, confirmed by additional players replying to the thread. Treat team-damage immunity as unreliable on current builds and keep blast radius discipline as your real protection.

Neither behavior appears in any patch note we can point to as intentionally fixed — we will update this page when 1.0.10+ notes address the toggle.

Slap-to-Revive: the Best Revive Mechanic in Co-op

When a player goes down, a surviving teammate can run over, pick them up, and slap them in the face a few times to bring them back — a revive loop reviewers have called one of the funniest in games. The details that matter in a boss fight:

  • Someone has to still be up. The slap revive needs a living slapper — which is why boss guides (see the boss hub) tell full crews to play defensively once only one player remains.
  • The sky is not safe either. Seagulls have been observed swooping down and making off with downed players' bodies. Patch 1.0.4 also had to clean up stale revive text left behind by a self-revive-while-being-held quirk — evidence of just how chaotic the downed state can get.
  • Solo has no such safety net. Downed with no crew around means the respawn rules take over — see what happens when you die.

Griefers, and the Patches That Fight Them

  • Patch 1.0.4 — added the private-lobby option (invite-only joins) and support for up to 8-player lobbies.
  • Patch 1.0.6 — griefers can no longer instantly end the game when joining a lobby.
  • Patch 1.0.10 — removed the chat rich-text exploit and increased the allowed connection time, the two fixes behind most remaining join/disconnect griefing reports.

If your lobby keeps getting wrecked by strangers, the fix is boring and effective: host private, invite deliberately. Our join-friends guide covers the setup, and every official change is logged in patch history.

Friendly Fire FAQ

Can you turn off friendly fire in How to Fish?

There is a friendly-fire selection box in the settings, and multiple players have reported two separate problems with it: the box can be impossible to press with certain controllers (one crew had to swap to mouse and keyboard), and turning it off has not reliably stopped team damage for everyone. Treat the toggle as best-effort until a patch note says otherwise.

How do you revive a downed teammate?

Run over and slap them — reviewers describe it as picking a downed friend up and slapping them in the face a few times until they are back on their feet. It is exactly as dignified as it sounds, and it is the core reason co-op boss fights stay winnable while everyone is laughing.

Is there PvP in How to Fish?

No. The game is co-op only — there is no versus mode. Friendly fire is chaos inside a shared team, not a competitive mode, and the closest thing to real conflict remains the shared wallet.

How do I stop griefers from ruining a lobby?

Host a private lobby joinable only by invite (added in Patch 1.0.4). The developers have also shipped anti-griefer fixes since — Patch 1.0.6 stopped joiners instantly ending the game, and Patch 1.0.10 removed a chat rich-text exploit and widened the join window. Our join-friends troubleshooting guide walks through the full setup.

Sources & Verification

Data on this page is re-verified against the sources above after each official patch. See our editorial policy for how we source and correct game data.