Megaquarium, The Aquarium Simulator We’ve Been Waiting For Releases on PC!

By: GeekyGamerGirl87

If there is two things about me that most people should know; it is that I love simulation games and I also love the marine life. I have always been fascinated by fish ever since I was a young child. It’s something about fish that just helps keep me calm. Over my years of gaming I have played many aquarium simulators . Majority of these simulators were on mobile as no one had ever done them on PC before. Nothing wrong with the one’s on mobile accept most of them are tied in as another game such as a puzzle game. Usually you don’t really get to work on the aquarium aspect much with these games. The aquarium is like a bonus to the puzzle game. The one’s that are for PC are usually just a wallpaper or were you can create a fish tank to care for and again nothing wrong with that, but I just wanted a little bit more.  Therefore, when I saw Megaquarium I knew I had to play it.

Developed and published by Twice Circled, Megaquarium  is the first of its kind on PC that allows for you as the player to manage an actual Aquarium, and no I’m not talking about the fish tank but the actual building. Finally, someone has done what I have always looked for in an Aquarium simulator game. The game is beautiful and is very relaxing and calm. I must admit that this has become one of my new guilty pleasures for unwinding after a long hard day. This game brings me a lot of comfort and joy every time I do play it. Before I do go into my review of Megaquarium I want to take the time to applaud and thank Twice Circled for creating this amazing game and for getting it right. I would also like to thank them for providing me with a free copy of Megaquarium so that I could write this review.

As stated before the game is a simulator management game, so there isn’t much of a storyline to the game. However, if you want a storyline the main thing I can tell you is that you have been appointed the manager of an aquarium and you must get the aquarium to become successful.  The game offers two modes in which you can do this. The first mode is the Campaign Mode. Campaign Mode offers you different Aquariums and scenarios as well as objectives you must complete to make the Aquarium successful. You start off as a rank one and can get a maximum of a rank twelve. Each objective you complete gives you points towards your rank and upon ranking up you do open other objects, such as tanks, marine life, plants, staff, and things that can help make the facility run smoothly.

If you are more of a casual player and don’t want to follow objectives, then the game’s Sandbox Mode is more for you. In this mode you just freely build your Aquarium the way that you want to. It even has a way for you to set up how you want to play the game, or you can select one of the games pre-selected options. Again, this is more of a casual play so there are no objectives you can build until your heart is content.

The game does offer 4 different modes you can select from. There is easy mode, normal mode, hard mode and brutal mode. For my review, I played through the easy campaign mode because I wanted to experience the game and enjoy it without frustrations, but also wanted the objectives to complete. This game is ultimately about your play style. I like having tasks to do and so that’s why I chose to do campaign mode. Also, campaign mode also serves as a tutorial of some sorts. Therefore, before diving into the sandbox mode, I personally recommend going through the campaign mode so that you can at least learn the ropes of the game.

In turns of controls you will be using keyboard and mouse. This is usually the normal controls for simulation games. It would be interesting to see gamepad being implemented but with this being a simulation game, I personally would still play it with the keyboard and mouse. This is even if they decided later to add gamepad support. Another thing I love about the controls is that they are simple to use. The only issue that I haven’t found a fix for is when it comes to selling a single fish out of a tank.

Just like in real life aquariums there are some conditions for the fish you house. Some of them can’t be with certain fish. For example, if they are a bully (aggressive) fish you don’t want to put them into a tank with a wimp (passive) fish.  Another condition maybe that a fish can only be one of its kind or in a school of its kind with a set minimum amount. Therefore, I would like an option to sell back a single fish instead of having to dismantle my entire tank. I believe I saw this option populate but it seem to be for a split second and then it was gone. I think that once you click on the tank and select a fish there should be an option on the tank window to sell the fish even if it’s double right clicking or simply click on the fish and hitting the “B” key to stand for buyback.

Another thing I thought was odd, that I hope gets an update was how the game loads. When the game first loads up it shows all the objects that are loading. I’m hoping that later they will add an actual loading bar with each of the objects that are loading showing solo above the bar. I mean it’s not that big of a deal, because I still play the game regardless, but it would make it look a little bit more refined in my opinion. Also, to quit the game the quit function is in the upper right corner as an “X”. I would have like to see the quit option added to the menu, this is only because it might confuse those who play in to thinking it is closing out the menu. I admit I got a little confused, but the game does alert you that that is the way to shut down the game. Again, this is also not that big of a deal breaker to me but more of a preference thing.

In terms of achievements, the game does not have achievements currently. I hope that maybe later achievements might be added even if the achievements are just for the campaign mode for when you have completed each of the aquariums that are giving to you and maybe an achievement for playing sandbox. Although, there are currently no achievements, even if you are an achievement hunter like me, you will still enjoy  the game for casual fun. You can get the satisfaction of completing the objectives in the game, in the place of the achievements. Again, I have seen games in the past add achievements later, so this isn’t to say that the game may not have achievements implemented and even if they don’t that’s perfectly fine.

As with most new games the game does not offer trading cards yet. Usually, if the game does well and it is popular; trading cards get added later. So, if you are one that likes to collect trading cards I would say wait a few weeks or so, and if you still want to see trading cards then take to the steam forums and let the developers know that it is something you are interested in.

Overall, when it comes to Megaquarium, I highly and I mean highly recommend this game. Especially, if you are someone who enjoy simulation management games, or if you were into games such as Rollercoaster Tycoon, Game Dev Tycoon and other games similar. This game will not disappoint you at all. Its most definitely a game you can get lost into for hours, and you can tell that the developers put a lot of their heart and soul into this game. This is truly a masterpiece and I am glad someone got the Aquarium simulation game right. If you would like to play Megaquarium, the game releases on September 13, 2018 and you will be able to purchase the game from  Steam or Humble Bundle for $24.99 USD.