Aquamarine lends its name to both the title and proverbial planet that our protagonist — The Seeker — finds themselves on after an emergency landing. The game opens up with a gorgeous, classic-comic-style art depicting The Seeker’s escape from their malfunctioning ship. Once on Aquamarine, The Seeker tasks themselves with reaching their stranded ship.
With only an intelligent survival pod with them, they scavenge for both food and supplies to make the journey over. Entering the underwater world of Aquamarine is a real treat — alien life abounds, and rich materials scattered about form the basis of my pod’s energy. The navigation system is another core feature of the game — one can use quick travel to and fro unlocked areas, as well as perform specialised tasks to clear obstacles and collect items.
The number of steps The Seeker can take is determined by the number of energy points they have in their pod, and can be replenished via reserves or picking up ore deposits. Much like Subnautica, Aquamarine also has a vitality system — The Seeker must hunt and gather food to keep themselves alive.
At the very least they do not have to worry about oxygen, as the pod takes care of that (looking at you, Subnautica oxygen gauge) when you’re slowly depleting inside a cave network with no obvious way out.
The pod itself does speak to The Seeker, and provides useful tips and hints. What I loved most about it was my ability to quickly ascend and descend to reach places otherwise inaccessible. Without giving away too much, I would say that Aquamarine isn’t a Subnautica clone — it builds a new world that is both dangerous and gorgeous at once.
I can’t wait to dive in again.
Grab Aquamarine on Steam and keep an eye out for the Switch release. Find out more on the official website, and check out the dev Twitter!