Aquarist is a simulation sport developed for the Nintendo Change and printed by Final Video games. So far as aquarium sims go, you are able to do so much on this one. Nonetheless, it’s not a easy sport when it comes to gameplay, principally due to the controls.
I used to be excited to play Aquarist as a result of I take pleasure in simulation video games and love aquariums. I’ve performed my justifiable share of aquarium sims through the years. Nonetheless, Aquarist has extra, which excites me essentially the most. Sadly, that wasn’t sufficient to scratch my itch.
There’s not a lot of a narrative to this sport, which is okay. Nonetheless, the tutorial tries to present you considerably of a background story, and it doesn’t work. It solely causes the tutorial to be longer than it already wants. So as a substitute, the tutorial explains the assorted issues you are able to do within the sport and methods to do them—shopping for a tank and all of the provides wanted for it, shopping for fish, breeding them, and promoting fish.
It’s your birthday, and your father items you a glass tank of your personal as a result of aquarium holding is his pastime, and he needs to share it with you. The tutorial continues, explaining how one can arrange your tank. There have been many annoying facets of this (to the purpose I stored quitting the sport and needed to push myself to get by way of it).
I perceive tutorials are supposed to train you methods to play the sport. Nonetheless, Aquarist acts as if you’ve by no means owned a fish earlier than. In actual life, possibly you haven’t, however the step-by-step hand holding is extraordinarily pointless. As an alternative of instructing you to purchase an merchandise, put it within the tank, after which provide you with an inventory of every little thing else it is advisable to buy and put within the tank, the sport goes by way of each movement. First, purchase gravel, choose it up out of your shelf, and put it within the tank. Then purchase a light-weight, choose it up, and put it within the tank. Rinse, repeat.
If that’s not annoying sufficient, the controls have been worse. Whenever you purchase one thing, it doesn’t go into your stock. As an alternative, it goes onto a shelf within the room. You play as your character in first-person mode, and, relying on the place you’re, the shelf isn’t at all times obvious. Then, you could choose up the merchandise (you may maintain onto 5 gadgets without delay) and place it within the tank.
The primary subject with these controls is that your cursor is a small white dot in the midst of the display screen. Selecting up a tank heater is a quite giant object, so it’s a easy activity. However choosing up a small rock decor which you can barely see? It’s going to take some time as a result of that cursor have to be completely on the thing to register (and no, contact controls don’t work undocked). Aquarist was first launched on PC within the Spring of 2022. It’s simple to see that the controls weren’t optimized for the Nintendo Change.
When you lastly make it by way of the tutorial, you may start the precise gameplay. You open your first store in your storage. You’ll have time earlier than opening to restock your fish, clear the tanks, and do the rest it is advisable to do. Then, you may open up store and start earning money for greater and higher aquariums and inventory. You’ll stage up over time, too. Ultimately, you’ll improve out of your storage and run a enterprise in a retailer. Leveling up additionally permits you to unlock new gadgets to purchase, akin to totally different species of fish.
Enjoying by way of the sport on this approach was enjoyable. I’ve performed many aquarium sims the place you run an aquarium enterprise however not essentially a fish retailer. Aquarist additionally thinks exterior the field when it comes to fishkeeping. For instance, preserve freshwater versus saltwater in thoughts, present appropriate lighting and temperature, clear the tanks when algae construct, and extra.
Total, Aquarist is a stable enterprise simulation, however the clunky controls ruined the expertise. I gained’t revisit it on Change. Getting it on the PC might be the way in which to go.