Depth layers and the 1,800 m gauge
The dive gauge is marked 0, 300, 600, 900, 1,200, 1,500 and 1,800 m. Your character sinks further the heavier they get, so the Mukbang table and your food supply are the real depth upgrades, not a new rod.
Depth is the spine of Harpoon a Fish. The game does not sell you a bigger diving tank - it makes you heavier, and the water sorts itself out from there.
The gauge is the map
The dive HUD carries a vertical depth meter labelled DEPTH in metres, marked from 0 at the surface out to 1,800 m. Those marks are the game's real content ladder:
| Band | What changes there |
|---|---|
| Surface band | Tutorial water: shrimp, small fish, the food chain that feeds you early |
| 300 - 600 m | Bigger catches, the first creatures worth a bag slot, more interruptions from rivals |
| 600 - 900 m | Creatures with their own badges start appearing in the pool |
| 900 m and below | Deep water where a caught fish is worth more than an hour of shallow diving |
The exact species that spawn in each band is generated per session, so treat the table as a shape, not a checklist. What is fixed is the direction: deeper means rarer, heavier and more dangerous.
What actually gates your depth
There is no air meter and no dive timer in the shallow bands. What gates you is weight, and weight comes from food.
- The game tells you outright: get fat to sink deeper.
- Eating at the Mukbang table is how you gain that weight, and eating is also how you level up.
- Because the table has upgrade levels, your dining setup is effectively your depth upgrade.
So the loop is circular in a good way: dive, catch, eat, sink further, catch better, eat more. If you feel stuck at a band, add food to the loop before you add gear.
Bait changes the pool inside a band
Within a band, what you are fishing for is decided by bait. Each bait recipe lists specific fish, and the game shows a MISSING FISH TO CRAFT style panel telling you what the recipe is still waiting on. That makes bait the closest thing the game has to a targeted farm: pick the recipe whose target lives in the band you just unlocked.
Why you keep getting pulled out of the water
Two interrupts end a dive early, and both are by design.
- Your bag fills. The bag counter reads like
1/5with a total weight beside it. When the counter is full you are carrying everything you can, and the remaining spawn timer is just a taunt. - Someone contests your catch. In servers of six players, the deep bands are where people meet - and where a fish on your line becomes a race. See harpooning and stealing.
Reading the HUD like a local
- DEPTH (m) with its ticks: how deep you are, and how much of the ladder is left.
- Bag counter plus weight: what this dive can still carry home.
- NEXT SPAWN timer: when the next fish cycle starts, so you know whether waiting is worth it.
- Reward strip on the right: claims waiting for you, including limited-time bonuses such as the game's Hydra exclusive window, which is worth grabbing before you descend.
A practical descent plan
- Eat until your last dive comfortably reached the band below where you were fishing.
- Craft the bait whose recipe targets that band's fish.
- Dive with an empty bag and a full belly, and ignore anything that is not on your recipe list.
- Surface when the bag counter is full - the last two slots are worth less than the next full bag.
- Bank the haul, eat, and repeat one band lower.
That is the whole progression system. Harpoons decide how fast a catch comes in; weight decides how far you can go and get it.
