One thing that I’ve learned over the course of almost 9 years now of covering indie games, is that looks can be deceiving in just about any way you could imagine. There are titles that look primitive and janky but still play brilliantly, ones that have been designed wonderfully but are sadly lacking in the gameplay department, and even those where somehow they exude a certain vibe through their visuals but then play quite differently. Aquamarine, in my mind, actually touches on two of the cases above, but sadly both are a bit problematic.

Whether it’s fair pre-judging the potential experience given games offer based on how they look, I had actually assumed this would be a more pleasant, even if not cozy, experience. With its colorful, and somewhat whimsical, comic book-esque looks I had this dialed in as being focused on exploration and some lighter overall enjoyment. Instead it’s billed as a mix of “old-school adventure games and challenging roguelikes with elements of survival, exploration, and puzzle solving”. To be honest that’s a bit of a mouthful, and even having spent time with the game, I can’t say I really see how all of this could intersect into a clear and enjoyable player experience.

Based on the pretty brief and thin tutorial I’m uncertain that the developers really had a great vision for how it all fit together themselves, or at least enough of one to adequately get the player up to speed. Especially when you’re trying to sell a new idea or style of play, if you want to draw people in you really need to get them on board and be able to articulate the key aspects of play, setting them up for success, even if only initially. You know, throw the player a bone with an early win or two, getting them invested and ready to then be challenged. Instead, I honestly can’t say I understood what I was supposed to be doing functionally. Yes, I needed energy crystals and food, but immediately being thrown into what feels like a maze full of emptiness and disappointment, with no semblance of fun or simple enjoyment in sight, is a terrible way to incentivize people to stick with your experience. Not knowing how to succeed, what you should be doing, or what half of the control panel in front of you even does is not a path to success when there are thousands of games out there to play with no such self-imposed limitations.