The short answer
- Autosave: Patch 1.0.6 says the game saves every minute and also writes when you choose Save, Main Menu or Quit.
- Local protection: Patch 1.0.11 checks a save before loading it and keeps backups if the save becomes corrupt.
- Steam Cloud: Patch 1.0.12 stores saves through Steam Cloud. On the PC with your progress, launch the game and exit normally once before opening it elsewhere.
- Manual backup: close the game, then copy the reported Saves folder to a dated folder. Never move, delete or overwrite your only copy.
See it in the game
Videos open on YouTube. Unless a timestamp is cited in the Sources section, use them for visual context—not as a guaranteed drop table or fix.
When the game saves
Patch 1.0.6 says Save, Main Menu and Quit all write progress, and the game autosaves every minute. The same patch says an application crash does not trigger another save. If you are about to change PCs or copy files, use a normal menu exit and wait for Steam to finish syncing instead of force-closing the game.
Move your progress to another PC with Steam Cloud
- 1
On the PC that already has your progress, update How to Fish and Steam.
- 2
Launch How to Fish once, then leave through Save, Main Menu or Quit.
- 3
Wait for Steam to finish its cloud sync before shutting down that PC.
- 4
On the second PC, let Steam finish downloading cloud data before launching the game.
- 5
If Steam reports a cloud conflict, stop and compare its timestamps instead of automatically replacing the newer copy.
What Patch 1.0.11 changed about damaged saves
Patch 1.0.11 says the game checks saves for corruption before loading and now keeps backups in case a save becomes corrupt. Patch 1.0.12 then moved saves into Steam Cloud. Those protections reduce risk, but the official notes do not identify backup filenames or publish a manual restore button.
Make a manual Windows copy before troubleshooting
- 1
Close How to Fish and wait for Steam to finish syncing.
- 2
Press Windows + R.
- 3
Paste %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Dazed Games\How to Fish\Saves and press Enter.
- 4
Confirm that the folder exists and that its files have a recent modified time after your normal exit.
- 5
Copy the entire Saves folder to a separate dated folder. Keep the original where it is.
If progress is missing or the save will not load
- 1
Do not start a new run on multiple PCs; that can make it harder to identify the copy you want.
- 2
Return to the original PC, launch the current build, exit normally once and wait for Steam Cloud to sync.
- 3
Reopen the game on that same PC first. If the save loads there, close it normally and retry the second PC only after sync finishes.
- 4
If the save still fails locally, close the game and preserve the current Saves folder as a separate copy before touching any files.
- 5
Do not delete, rename or overwrite a file based on a guessed backup name. Use the official support link from the patch announcement if the built-in check does not recover the save.
What is not guaranteed
The reported Windows folder may differ on another platform or later build. Steam Cloud does not guarantee which side of a conflict you should keep, and the official notes do not prove that every corrupted save can be restored.
Sources used on this page
Community observations are useful leads, but they are not official drop probabilities.