Aquaria

About

Aquaria is a single player action game with fantasy and drama themes. It was developed by Bit Blot, LLC and was released on December 15, 2008. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

Aquaria is a single-player Fantasy Platformer game with an intriguing story and phenomenal game mechanics. Immerse yourself in a dense atmosphere filled with ancient secrets and explore a beautiful, massive underwater world. Interact with unique creatures, do battle, discover hidden treasures, and unlock all Steam Achievements, all while enjoying excellent visuals, wonderful music, and voice-overs.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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87%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,067 reviews

music324 positive mentions

grinding40 negative mentions

Aquaria features stunning visuals and a beautiful soundtrack that enhances the immersive underwater experience.
The game offers a unique song-based mechanic for abilities, allowing for creative gameplay and exploration.
The vast world is filled with secrets, collectibles, and a compelling story that keeps players engaged.

The controls can feel clunky, especially during platforming sections out of water, leading to frustrating gameplay moments.
Backtracking can become tedious due to the large map size and sparse save points, making progress feel slow.
Some puzzles and boss mechanics are obscure, often requiring players to consult guides to figure out how to proceed.

music
591 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
43%
2%
The music in Aquaria is widely praised for its beauty and atmospheric quality, enhancing the game's immersive underwater experience. Composed by Alec Holowka, the soundtrack features a variety of enchanting melodies that complement the visuals and gameplay mechanics, particularly the unique song system that allows players to unlock abilities. While some players noted the repetitiveness of certain tracks, many found the overall musical experience to be captivating and integral to the game's emotional depth and exploration.
- “The music dynamically changes based on the player’s actions and location, adding to the overall atmosphere.”
- “The game’s soundtrack, composed by Alec Holowka, complements the visuals perfectly, enhancing the immersive experience.”
- “Aquaria is a stunning game with amazing atmospheric music and a gorgeous style, and even if the story isn't the most fulfilling, it is very entertaining.”
- “The game's music is annoying, the maps are absurdly huge and your swim speed through them is quite slow, which makes the experience really feel like a drag.”
- “The root problem is that the design of the music causes listening fatigue, which basically means that the music gets annoying and hurts the enjoyability of the game.”
- “First, most of the song tracks are quite short, meaning you're going to hear the same song over and over again as you explore an area, which will happen a lot, because it is an exploration game.”
story
397 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
52%
4%
The story of *Aquaria* is a blend of mystical themes, including identity, love, and the cycle of life and death, presented through an immersive underwater adventure. While some players find the narrative engaging and enriched by environmental storytelling, others criticize it for being vague or lacking emotional depth. Overall, the game offers a unique and atmospheric experience, with a compelling protagonist, Naija, whose journey of self-discovery unfolds gradually as players explore the beautifully crafted world.
- “The story is mystical, sacred, fairytale-esque; it deals with the themes of divinity, identity, life and death cycle, destruction and creation, and, of course, love.”
- “The music and background art are directly linked to an overarching story that you uncover as you explore more of the vast world and recover Naija's lost memories.”
- “The story unfolds gently, drawing you in to explore a fantastic world on your own.”
- “The story is very weak and the lore barely supports it.”
- “The story had no pacing and the gameplay was dull and clunky.”
- “The story is slow to pick up pace.”
gameplay
351 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
54%
5%
The gameplay of Aquaria is characterized by its unique song-based mechanics and metroidvania-style exploration, allowing players to unlock new abilities and access different areas. While the game features beautiful visuals and an atmospheric soundtrack, it suffers from issues such as slow pacing, tedious combat, and occasionally unclear objectives, which can detract from the overall experience. Despite these drawbacks, many players find the gameplay enjoyable and engaging, particularly when immersed in the game's rich world and narrative.
- “Aquaria is a beautifully crafted game that stands out for its artistic presentation and engaging gameplay.”
- “The gameplay is fun and serviceable, and song and music is a key part of the whole experience.”
- “The gameplay is also quite polished with lots of varying monsters and sea creatures to gigantic boss battles.”
- “However, the game also suffers from some drawbacks, such as slow-paced action, a lack of clear objectives, and repetitive gameplay.”
- “In reality, though, Aquaria's combat mechanics are lazy and only ever result in 'let's spam the attack button, chug health items, and hope the enemy dies before you do' situations.”
- “The gameplay is just a slog, and the movement is a pain.”
graphics
213 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
41%
1%
The graphics of Aquaria are widely praised for their beautiful hand-drawn art style, vibrant colors, and atmospheric detail, which contribute significantly to the game's immersive underwater experience. While some players note that the visuals show signs of aging and can occasionally appear dated or awkward, the overall aesthetic remains captivating and enhances the gameplay. The combination of stunning visuals and a compelling soundtrack creates a rich and engaging environment that many players find enchanting.
- “The hand-drawn graphics are stunning, with each area of the ocean offering a distinct visual style.”
- “Aquaria is an amazingly beautiful game, both in audio and visuals.”
- “The graphics are very pretty and there is a ton of visual detail.”
- “The game isn't the most graphically intense, and sometimes it's even quite ugly.”
- “The only thing is the graphics that seem to come out of a PopCap game from the mid-2000s.”
- “The graphics are really ugly - even for the time when it was made - and the hit detection doesn't work well either.”
atmosphere
105 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
76%
21%
3%
The atmosphere in Aquaria is widely praised for its stunning hand-drawn visuals, immersive sound design, and dynamic music that enhances the exploration experience. Players appreciate the game's ability to evoke a range of emotions, from tranquility to tension, while navigating its expansive underwater world filled with lore and secrets. Overall, the atmospheric elements significantly elevate the gameplay, making it a memorable adventure for fans of artistic and exploratory games.
- “The atmosphere is unlike anything I've ever played before; the soundtrack is phenomenal and the story is uniquely poignant.”
- “The atmosphere, the music, and the characters are interesting.”
- “Aquaria is a stunning game with amazing atmospheric music and a gorgeous style, and even if the story isn't the most fulfilling, it is very entertaining and has some surprising elements hidden around in the different areas for you to explore.”
- “I lost interest sometime during the sun temple, because the game's 'open world atmosphere' is really more of a minimal plot, large map with areas blocked off until you get a gimmicky power up.”
- “I was meh on the story, visuals, gameplay, atmosphere, etc... it just lacked a hook.”
- “Aquaria's atmosphere exudes despair, hope, and the sense that not all is as it once was, or should be...”
grinding
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding aspect of the game has received largely negative feedback, with players finding the farming for ingredients and backtracking to be tedious and time-consuming. Many reviewers noted that the slow-paced gameplay and cumbersome inventory management detracted from the overall experience, making it feel more like a chore than an engaging adventure. While some appreciated the game's atmosphere and unique mechanics, the overwhelming sentiment is that the grinding elements significantly hinder enjoyment.
- “In the current year (2024), I don't recommend spending your time on this; there are much more engaging games out there. This one just feels too slow and grindy.”
- “It's pretty, has some interesting mechanics, and the story is captivating, but the gameplay is very slow and tedious. I never finished it because I was just forcing myself to try to get through, and it was no fun, so I stopped eventually.”
- “Enemies fire homing attacks from off-screen, travel is extremely tedious and slow in a large world, save points are far enough apart that saving itself is a chore, and death generally results in a huge loss of time due to travel.”
emotional
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is highly praised, with players becoming deeply invested in the protagonist Naija's journey of self-discovery and exploration in a beautifully crafted world. The touching narrative, combined with a captivating soundtrack and unique visuals, evokes a range of emotions, from joy to sadness, making it a memorable experience. Despite some dated mechanics, the game's heartfelt story and emotional depth resonate strongly with players, often leaving them moved and reflective.
- “As Naija uncovers her past and the mysteries of her world, players become emotionally invested in her journey.”
- “This game is emotional for the protagonist as she discovers the richness of life and love after a lifetime of complacency and loneliness, in a destroyed world where none else cares.”
- “From its hand-painted graphics to its organic sounding music, from its triumphant title screen to its emotional ending, everything about this game stirs something within me, something that no game has really ever managed to reach before or since.”
optimization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
The game's optimization is notably poor, with users reporting significant performance issues, including long loading times and severe FPS drops during gameplay. Additionally, the controls are not well-suited for mouse or Xbox One controller use, leading to frustrating experiences for players.
- “The distance you have to click with your mouse to make the character swim fast or slow is very weird; it's optimized for fat-finger controls, not for accurate mouse controls.”
- “I'm having issues using a controller; it's clearly not fully optimized for Xbox One controller use.”
- “For such an old game, I've had performance issues from the moment I started.”
- “It is badly optimized for computer gameplay, though.”
- “Technically, the game is pretty bad; it has long loading times and the in-game performance has some very bad FPS drops (the worst is when some of the doors open, then I get around 1 FPS).”
humor
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is polarizing; some players find it juvenile and inappropriate, criticizing the use of crude jokes amidst a serious narrative. However, others appreciate the quirky elements, such as silly decorations and clever treasure descriptions, which provide moments of levity. Overall, the humor seems to resonate differently with players, with some enjoying its lightheartedness while others deem it lowbrow.
- “Sometimes, an eerie, malicious laughter in the distance breaks the illusion of tranquility - who is that and why is he laughing?”
- “After the first hour of playing the game, you will be laughing about some of the silly little things like decorations and cooking.”
- “Oh, and there's a small bit of humor in the placements and descriptions of treasure and costumes.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
67%
Character development in the game is noted to be minimal, particularly for the main character, who is criticized for poorly delivered lines and an unappealing name. However, the integration of character designs, gameplay, and story, along with stunning visuals and music, compensates for the lack of depth in character development, resulting in an overall enjoyable experience.
- “The character designs, gameplay, and story all mix together in such an excellent way.”
- “It's a little light on character development, but the absolutely gorgeous visuals and music, along with immensely enjoyable, if occasionally frustrating, gameplay make up for any shortcomings.”
- “There isn't much character development of the main character aside from painfully acted lines about this amateur fantasy world the creator has developed, in a Mid-Atlantic accent from a cringingly badly named protagonist (Naija).”
- “It's a little light on character development but the absolutely gorgeous visuals and music, along with immensely enjoyable, if occasionally frustrating, gameplay, make up for any other shortcomings.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users report frequent glitches that negatively impact the overall stability of the game, suggesting that performance issues may detract from the gaming experience.
- “The game is plagued with glitches that disrupt the experience.”
- “I encountered numerous stability issues that made it nearly unplayable.”
- “Frequent crashes and bugs have severely impacted my enjoyment of the game.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Players note that the game offers significant replayability due to the presence of numerous optional secrets, encouraging exploration and multiple playthroughs.
- “Many optional secrets, so it looks like there's good replay value.”