Aquarist Review

Aquarist

Release: May 31, 2023
Publisher: Ultimate Games S.A.
Developer: Freemind S.A.
Genre: Reviews, Switch ReviewsXbox Series X Reviews
PEGI: 7
Comments:

 

Comment

So, we all know I have a bit of a reputation here at GamesReviews. I’ve mowed lawns, I’ve built PCs, I’ve flipped homes, I’ve power washed stuff, I’ve run gas stations….so what on earth could possibly be next for me? How about fish tanks?!? Aquarist is an aquarium building simulator much like PC building Simulator. The game starts with you on your birthday, and you are given your first tank and some $$ to design your own. Once that serves as your tutorial, you start to realize you have a knack for this kind of thing.

After a few other jobs serving as further tutorials, you are given the basement of your parents’ house to serve as your own shop, once you clean it up and set up the jobs start flowing in. As you progress and get better and better and unlock more things you eventually turn into basically the TV show Tanked where you are doing big and crazy set ups in restaurants and such. The game is on early access in steam and was made available on the Nintendo Switch previously. But on May 31st it’s hitting the Xbox store, which is where I got to play it out.

Now keep in mind as is the deal with most of these simulator type games, they are initially designed with keyboard and mouse in mind, so controls on a controller are a bit harder to navigate, although honestly for Aquarist, it’s really not too bad at all. I saw some Nintendo reviews that was saying they had a lot of issues, but on Xbox it was just fine for me. Graphically the game looks good when focusing in on the aquariums and the life inside of them. Any NPC models and such are just plain goofy and not much care went into them, but honestly, the game isn’t about that anyway so I didn’t really care at all.

The game has an incredible amount of detail put into it, it’s not a dump some water and add some fish, TA-DA. In Aquarist, everything must be done just right, what’s the water temperature, PH levels, is it saltwater or fresh water. You even have to take into consideration whether or not the types of fish are compatible and is their group large enough to have them thrive, do they need more vegetation, and so on. There really is a lot to dig into and discover, and as you progress you continue to unlock new things to utilize and explore.

The music and the overall vibe of this game is just chill. I had a real rough week at work this past week, but I would find myself sitting down, relaxing with a good beverage and just messing around with my aquariums and had a really good time doing it. My youngest child even had a great time picking out all the decorations and colors for lighting in my tanks, so it was a good bonding experience as well.

All in all this is a really fun time if you are looking for something easy and relaxing. If you are a fan of stuff like Power Wash Simulator or Cooking Simulator, this should be right up your alley and I strongly encourage you to check it out at the end of this month.

Trailer