Aquamarine: Explorer's Edition

Tutorial is brief, no way to review its content to understand the confusing way the pod systems work together. Seemingly finite amount of energy crystals and food. Running out dumps you back to start with refilled energy, but I am still stuck after getting the first item. The game description promises a relaxing survival game, but what I really got was an opaquely assembled turn-based isometric puzzler. I do not think this game is ready at its current state and have requested a refund. Added for context: energy crystals are consumed whenever you move the pod or use a pod module. You also need to move to gather energy crystals. You can easily run out of the resource you need to gather more of that resource that allows you to play the game. The store page and reviews may call this "strategic" or "thoughtful" but in practice it is an annoyance that detracts from the quiet and relaxing vibe this game is trying to create. Edited to respond to developer: Consider adding an indicator to t...

This game isn't ready for release, and doesn't provide even a shadow of what it promised. First, it's technically shaky. The game stopped responding multiple times, it's possible to click too fast and end up traveling to two places at once. Everything seems fine until you try to move again, and you end up panning to the second location, far out of range and covered by fog. Rather than locking out player input during an animation, the game simply misbehaves if too much input is recieved. This is compounded by a profoud lack of feedback. There's a delay between clicking and there being any reaction; combined with frequently missed clicks, this makes each input a guessing game. Long animations and waiting for the creatures to take their action without any real indication of if their movement is completed (unless you look at your move counter). This is a recipe for frustration. Moon logic puzzles abound, where you surface to get past some debris to get an upgrade, then encounter the s...

This review will have the original, then an edit that can address some other reviews. Original: A very chill game, with a gorgeous aesthetic. Reminds me of subnautica. Not too many issues and I'm playing v1.0.2 - v1.0.4, so by the time you read this the issues should be fine. My tip after just 4 hours of play: go with the speed of the game, don't try to force the game faster. Edit: To the people getting stuck near the beginning, I think my above tip is important. There are ways to get resources! I don't agree that the tutorial area is (too) hard. I don't agree that you can get (fully) locked out of resources. Instead, sit and watch the game for a while. Watch and learn how it operates. If you don't try to speedrun everything, then the resources will be respawned by the time you need them. Even further hint... let the game run in the background for a few minutes and listen for the "thump thump" or for the "squish" and go back and see. To the devs: ok, maybe a little extra boos...

The art is amazing and it's almost worth keeping just for that, but unfortunately the gameplay takes a distant backseat to the visuals. The mechanics and controls are very counter intuitive, making the experience frustrating. In my short time playing I've already had multiple experiences of wanting to perform a simple task and just clicking around everything on the screen trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do. It feels like it was designed for someone who already knows how to play, and the visuals are focused entirely on looking beautiful, meaning they lack any consideration for how they can be used to guide your actions and make the controls feel intuitive. As a small example, the game sets up a simple movement routine when you're in your pod. Possible locations are indicated as circles, you click one to highlight it in orange as your intended destination, and click again to confirm your movement. This works well and is very simple to learn. However, when you go to make a lon...

This is beautiful... or should have been if I'd been able to play. Tutorial messages are badly garbled and unreadable. In the very first dive, controls do not appear and I can't get past the second screen.

It's beautiful, it's interesting, and it's the kind of game-making we need more of. Those points together make it worth $15 to me, and I hope for you, too. There are still a few bugs. The developer is working with us fans in the Discord to make the game ever-more stable. If this looks interesting to you, but you're not into playing games with unresolved bugs, considering buying this now and playing it in a week. Happy exploring!

Since the game has only just been released, there are still some issues that need to be addressed. However, despite the bugs, I've already fallen in love with the beauty and mystery of aquamarine's world. The art is fun and exciting. I can't wait to explore more of the world.

This is one of those games where I'm drawn right in from the moment the menu loads and the music starts playing. As a huge fan of beautiful and chill story-driven exploration, I really enjoyed the Explorer's/Story Mode that was added in an update and lets you opt out of the survival aspects and attacks. EDIT: While waiting for my crash issue to be resolved, I started a new playthrough in Relaxed Mode and actually stuck with it to the end. I guess having to be conscious of your resources and surroundings was more interesting, but for me story mode might have been a bit more fun. I didn't try Normal Mode that most of the negative reviews seem to be about. The comic-style graphics are gorgeous, the music perfectly atmospheric, worldbuilding great, I've really been enjoying the whole atmosphere and just spending time looking at the art and the creature animations. Researching alien ocean life obviously reminded me of In Other Waters. That one has more elaborate ecosystems, but tbh I pre...

Lovely art and music, but the game is completely unplayable. I don't understand how can you release a product in this state.

Pretty game, nice soundtrack, but the resource hunting is completely busted. I'm not sure if it's pure RNG, or if there's some sort of resource cycle, but I spent just shy of 2 hours trying to play this game. You have 2 main resources you need to survive - energy for your pod, and food for your player character. The first run, I was running low on food, and went hunting for some, and despite being proactive there just....wasn't any. My garden couldnt grow any in time. And so I died within 3 days. Annoyingly had to go through the tutorial again, and this time was a bit more careful with food, but eventually got stuck at a point where I was basically completely unable to get any energy, despite unlocking a number of different areas to look for it in. I broke my ship 4x running out of energy just trying to *find* any so that I could make my next mod. Ultimately I feel way too frustrated with this game, that its punishing despite my best attempts - I'm diasppointed cause I otiginally backe...