About the Game
Sharks and Minnows is an exploration-based survival horror game where players scavenge a haunted swim center and must complete ten laps to escape.
One autumn afternoon, your trip to the local pool takes a paranormal turn. After emerging from the water, you suddenly find yourself totally alone. Any attempt to leave just leads you back to the water.
The more you swim, the more your stamina drains, and running out has deadly consequences. The facility has scattered supplies that could replenish it, but you'll have to search for them.
It's lonely. Will you ever make it home?
As you explore deeper into the facility's alcoves for supplies, you get the sense that your search isn't solitary. If you aren't careful, you may end up trapped forever.
Screenshots
8 images
Version Information
Steam Patch Notes
Official update history
On the site: Build 26395021
·
Latest on Steam: Build 26493288
Update available
Fixed bug related to RAVE. If players loaded a save with sticks already in the pool, those sticks were not counted. This was already accounted for in the past but became broken in one of the recent updates.
Certain items should no longer vanish when moving to new areas.
Major Update 2 should release within two months. Possibly one.
View on Steam
Certain items should no longer vanish when moving to new areas.
Major Update 2 should release within two months. Possibly one.
While the game has been completable with a controller since launch, the menus have not been navigable with them. As of the most recent update, they are now.
This should hopefully fix the infuriating issue that many users were experiencing where Steam would offer to "map inputs" for the game automatically, which consistently made the game unplayable as it overwrote the proper ones that had been set up.
I was able to fully navigate my game with a gen 1 DS4 controller and I was not prompted by Steam about remapping. If you are having issues with ANY controller please let me know and I will attempt to fix it.
You are currently able to bind any non-gamepad input to any action you'd like. Inputs are not currently restricted beyond that, so you could hypothetically bind every single action to the Space Bar. Since this is a deliberate action by users, I don't feel that it needs to be restricted. Click the "Reset" button on the keyboard options page if you really screw your bindings up.
I would like to implement controller remapping in the future as well.
Now work will shift to the content update for October. The initial plan was to release a lore update before then but at this point it seems likely that they'll be releasing at the same time.
Thanks again for playing and recommending the game! I haven't watched any streams or playthroughs in over a month but I put one on while this update was uploading and its still fun to watch someone experience the game for the first time.
View on Steam
This should hopefully fix the infuriating issue that many users were experiencing where Steam would offer to "map inputs" for the game automatically, which consistently made the game unplayable as it overwrote the proper ones that had been set up.
I was able to fully navigate my game with a gen 1 DS4 controller and I was not prompted by Steam about remapping. If you are having issues with ANY controller please let me know and I will attempt to fix it.
You are currently able to bind any non-gamepad input to any action you'd like. Inputs are not currently restricted beyond that, so you could hypothetically bind every single action to the Space Bar. Since this is a deliberate action by users, I don't feel that it needs to be restricted. Click the "Reset" button on the keyboard options page if you really screw your bindings up.
I would like to implement controller remapping in the future as well.
Now work will shift to the content update for October. The initial plan was to release a lore update before then but at this point it seems likely that they'll be releasing at the same time.
Thanks again for playing and recommending the game! I haven't watched any streams or playthroughs in over a month but I put one on while this update was uploading and its still fun to watch someone experience the game for the first time.
This is the first and likely largest performance optimization update.
CPU usage should be significantly reduced, and RAM on my low-end test device had dropped from 1200MB down to just under 1000MB.
This rework required almost the entire project to be modified in some way. Three days of QA caught several new issues that I hadn't accounted for as a result. If you encounter a bug, please leave a detailed description of it on this post or on the Steam forums.
There will be another performance update sometime before the October content update.
Keybinds and controller support remain practically finished except for some very annoying snags. The entire game has been played through on an XInput and Dualshock 4 device. However, since the menus are not navigable with controllers, Steam will not allow us to mark the game as having "controller support."
That would be fine, except that the Steam overlay will note that it's not officially supported, and prompt users about having Steam "do its best to bind controls." Which ruins our properly-bound implementation.
If you are trying to play through on a controller, decline Steam's rebinding offer when booting up the game if you are running into issues.
Once controllers are properly supported this will not be an issue.
A localization update will be done either alongside the October update or shortly after.
There will be a "lore" update before the October update.
View on Steam
CPU usage should be significantly reduced, and RAM on my low-end test device had dropped from 1200MB down to just under 1000MB.
This rework required almost the entire project to be modified in some way. Three days of QA caught several new issues that I hadn't accounted for as a result. If you encounter a bug, please leave a detailed description of it on this post or on the Steam forums.
There will be another performance update sometime before the October content update.
Keybinds and controller support remain practically finished except for some very annoying snags. The entire game has been played through on an XInput and Dualshock 4 device. However, since the menus are not navigable with controllers, Steam will not allow us to mark the game as having "controller support."
That would be fine, except that the Steam overlay will note that it's not officially supported, and prompt users about having Steam "do its best to bind controls." Which ruins our properly-bound implementation.
If you are trying to play through on a controller, decline Steam's rebinding offer when booting up the game if you are running into issues.
Once controllers are properly supported this will not be an issue.
A localization update will be done either alongside the October update or shortly after.
There will be a "lore" update before the October update.
One area of the game was very inconsistent. Players would either get stuck in a loop for several minutes or find the exit so quickly that they hardly experienced anything. The major loop has been removed and a new path has been added that will hopefully keep players engaged more consistently.
Focus has also heavily shifted to performance. When the game was first conceptualized, there was no content beyond the pool itself, not even locker rooms. Now that the game has expanded, there is a noticeable performance drop. I believe this can be at least partially remedied over the weekend by reworking how areas beyond the pool are handled.
Keybinds would be implemented right now but they unfortunately are only bindable once the game has started. Meaning that if you open the options menu before clicking "Start" you are unable to see any bound keys. If I cannot get the "proper" solution to this figured out I will scrape together my own.
Controller support would be formally added right now if it were possible to navigate the menu with one. No matter what I do, I cannot navigate my menu with the controller I have on-hand. I will order one that utilizes X-Input and see if that will remedy the situation.
View on Steam
Focus has also heavily shifted to performance. When the game was first conceptualized, there was no content beyond the pool itself, not even locker rooms. Now that the game has expanded, there is a noticeable performance drop. I believe this can be at least partially remedied over the weekend by reworking how areas beyond the pool are handled.
Keybinds would be implemented right now but they unfortunately are only bindable once the game has started. Meaning that if you open the options menu before clicking "Start" you are unable to see any bound keys. If I cannot get the "proper" solution to this figured out I will scrape together my own.
Controller support would be formally added right now if it were possible to navigate the menu with one. No matter what I do, I cannot navigate my menu with the controller I have on-hand. I will order one that utilizes X-Input and see if that will remedy the situation.
The game has a cold-open, which I am very happy with. However, this means that certain features such as ray-tracing and reflections are enabled by default. This can cause crashes on certain hardware, including a large amount of AMD cards.
You will now find the option for "safe mode" when launching on Steam. This will set the visual effects to their minimum quality so that you can enable or disable certain features as you wish.
Please update your drivers. For many gamers, this is something common and routine. But I have found that a surprising number of people do not know that they should be doing this. If you have never updated your GPU drivers, you will find significant performance increases in a number of games after doing so.
Other than this, I suspect that memory issues could be causing crashes. If you are still experiencing crashes even after launching in safe mode, please post your system's installed RAM. I have found what I believe will be a substantial memory improvement but I will not be able to implement it until next month as it will require extensive testing.
Finally, keybinds and formal controller support are nearly complete. I am running into some very frustrating issues on the back-end. I would really like to have both of those features implemented in the next few days.
View on Steam
You will now find the option for "safe mode" when launching on Steam. This will set the visual effects to their minimum quality so that you can enable or disable certain features as you wish.
Please update your drivers. For many gamers, this is something common and routine. But I have found that a surprising number of people do not know that they should be doing this. If you have never updated your GPU drivers, you will find significant performance increases in a number of games after doing so.
Other than this, I suspect that memory issues could be causing crashes. If you are still experiencing crashes even after launching in safe mode, please post your system's installed RAM. I have found what I believe will be a substantial memory improvement but I will not be able to implement it until next month as it will require extensive testing.
Finally, keybinds and formal controller support are nearly complete. I am running into some very frustrating issues on the back-end. I would really like to have both of those features implemented in the next few days.
I wound up sick over the weekend and was unable to add all that I'd wanted. I focused on more menial tasks.
Xbox controllers seem to function properly now, as well as the NO HORSEPLAY achievement.
Non-xbox style controllers seem to mostly work but their inputs are not where they should be.
Added some props and supplies to the environment
Added some subtle lights to objects that players were not noticing even when they appeared on screen
Heavily optimized several textures, which should increase performance on lower-end hardware.
I had planned on adding "load from previous checkpoint" but now that there is a prompt to search the environment on death I feel that "soft-locking" is significantly more difficult.
Up next are keybinds, and non-xbox controller support so that I can tag this game as supporting controllers.
I will also be working on improving the environment and adding post-game content.
Thank you again for playing. My students and I have been very happy to see others enjoying the game.
View on Steam
Xbox controllers seem to function properly now, as well as the NO HORSEPLAY achievement.
Non-xbox style controllers seem to mostly work but their inputs are not where they should be.
Added some props and supplies to the environment
Added some subtle lights to objects that players were not noticing even when they appeared on screen
Heavily optimized several textures, which should increase performance on lower-end hardware.
I had planned on adding "load from previous checkpoint" but now that there is a prompt to search the environment on death I feel that "soft-locking" is significantly more difficult.
Up next are keybinds, and non-xbox controller support so that I can tag this game as supporting controllers.
I will also be working on improving the environment and adding post-game content.
Thank you again for playing. My students and I have been very happy to see others enjoying the game.
When playing at low-FPS there were several gameplay effects that simply would not work. The reason for this is unknown, but two separate fixes have been applied that should remedy these scenarios. I have beaten the game twice while locked to ten FPS. If any other issues arise, please comment on them here.
Per the feedback of Daz and others, made the exit cave more visually apparent through lighting and props. Added stamina items to the air pockets.
Improved the audio of numerous areas.
Several players have wound up soft-locked due to a lack of stamina. There will be an update this weekend that allows players to "load previous checkpoint" which should resolve these issues completely. In the meantime, several of the trapped players seemed unaware that stamina items had been hidden in the world. Please search the men's lockers and closet for more stamina supplies. The side of the pool with the "EXIT" door also has two hidden stamina items.
More audio updates will be implemented over the weekend as well as a "lore" update.
After that, post-game content will be implemented.
The game has been gaining traction but I was out of town for the past four days. I did not anticipate any sales, as I have done absolutely zero marketing. Thank you for playing despite the flaws.
View on Steam
Per the feedback of Daz and others, made the exit cave more visually apparent through lighting and props. Added stamina items to the air pockets.
Improved the audio of numerous areas.
Several players have wound up soft-locked due to a lack of stamina. There will be an update this weekend that allows players to "load previous checkpoint" which should resolve these issues completely. In the meantime, several of the trapped players seemed unaware that stamina items had been hidden in the world. Please search the men's lockers and closet for more stamina supplies. The side of the pool with the "EXIT" door also has two hidden stamina items.
More audio updates will be implemented over the weekend as well as a "lore" update.
After that, post-game content will be implemented.
The game has been gaining traction but I was out of town for the past four days. I did not anticipate any sales, as I have done absolutely zero marketing. Thank you for playing despite the flaws.
Multiple streamers encountered soft-locks that had not been accounted for. Being unable to sprint while having 0 stamina caused several areas of the game to become inaccessible, this is fixed.
Several free stamina items have been moved to more easily noticeable positions
Players can still become soft-locked if they finish an even-numbered lap with 0 stamina and not enough dive toys to acquire more. This will be fixed over the coming week by allowing players to load their checkpoint at the previous lap, allowing them to collect up to five toys and continue progressing.
Many empty rooms have been given a visual update and will continue to be improved over the week.
Thank you for playing despite these issues. I did not think that people I didn't personally know would be playing since I haven't advertised this project at all.
View on Steam
Several free stamina items have been moved to more easily noticeable positions
Players can still become soft-locked if they finish an even-numbered lap with 0 stamina and not enough dive toys to acquire more. This will be fixed over the coming week by allowing players to load their checkpoint at the previous lap, allowing them to collect up to five toys and continue progressing.
Many empty rooms have been given a visual update and will continue to be improved over the week.
Thank you for playing despite these issues. I did not think that people I didn't personally know would be playing since I haven't advertised this project at all.
Current Release
Build 26395021
Uploaded Nov 03, 2026
Update already requested
Uploaders have been notified
A newer version is available but not yet uploaded
Help keep this updated
Login Required
You need to be logged in to request game updates. Would you like to go to the login page?
Request Update
Request an update for Sharks and Minnows? This will notify uploaders that this game has an available update.
Request Submitted
Your update request has been submitted successfully! Uploaders will be notified.
Request Failed
Failed to submit update request:
System Requirements
OS
Windows 10
CPU
N/A
RAM
N/A
GPU
1050TI M
How to Install
1
Download all files
2
Extract the .ZIP file to a folder (use WinRAR or 7-Zip)
3
Run SharksAndMinnows.exe to play
Troubleshooting tips
• Run Redist/_CommonRedist installers if game won't start
• Add folder to Windows Defender exclusions
• Run as administrator
Download
Direct link available
Archive password
Needed when extracting (WinRAR / 7-Zip) — not a site login.
CRC32
AE85A8B5
SHA-256
ebb09128f3cfdb226cd873a61cb2ce93e4e066bc4ca7dbba4aaeb0aa07edba04
How: Right-click the downloaded file → 7-Zip / WinRAR → CRC SHA → compare with the values above.
You May Also Like
View All
Download Sharks and Minnows for PC with a direct link or via torrent. Get the full version of Sharks and Minnows for free. Sharks and Minnows is a Indie released by Collin.