Aquatico

Game is abandoned, unfinished, lacks polish and meaningful gameplay challenges

Abandonware

The idea of building a city under the water is an interesting one, however with the execution on such a low level I can’t say that the dev tried to make something good. [list] [*] First things first: there aren’t many maps and all of them feel bad - there is simply too much junk on them that messes with your buildings and there are way too many places that are a few tiles narrower than you need them to be - so the city always looked worse than I wanted it to be. [*] The next thing that you mention - the production is almost random: one season you get a good bunch of resources, the other you get barely half of said amount even though nothing has changed. It gets even worse with food and other consumables, when 90% of your colonists are already employed in food/consumables production and you are still at a deficit - there is a huge problem. And no, I am not talking about local hunters and other seasonal things, I am talking about closed farms, processing plants and cooking stations that are not impacted by some seasonal change. [*] Balancing is horrible. As I already mentioned with food and consumables, how the hell can you even plan in this game when your population is barely making ends meet while working almost exclusively on survival? And if the game finally stops breaking with those - you still have extremely high cash prices for every building, while your taxes or trade income are barely noticeable, so you have to play at max speed while waiting for your resources to pile up - but only in the early and mid game, in the end money stops being a problem as everything else will take much longer to pile up. And I am not even mentioning different buildings that have the same function but have upkeeps so different that you will never build even half of them. Oh, and don’t let me start talking about people’s demands, because when the kids in your colony want booze, drugs and luxuries just like the grown ups - I start wishing there was an option to send them to the mines. [*] Despite being under the water - you don’t really have many mechanics that use the setting: sure, you have another resource (oxygen), but that is basically it. In combat you are attacked by enemies that could as well be enemy space ships in another setting - they just fly in, do damage and leave, the rest of the mechanics don’t even care that you are under the water. [*] Non existent feedback. Yes, you have some graphs - most of them are useless. Yes, you have a production/demand indicator - but it doesn’t show real numbers. I had to build mostly using my intuition, because figuring out what you are lacking is basically impossible. Oh, and just to make things worse there are lots of different resources and each and every one of them is counted by hundreds and thousands, just to make things even more confusing. [*] Research. While you are living in an underwater colony that has a huge drone park for every need - you somehow need to reinvent basic things like kitchens, statues and other things. It feels like half of the things in the tree are bloat while the other half is just gated progression so you don’t get overwhelmed at the start. [*] Expeditions. “We saw a cool mechanic, stole it, downgraded it to the most basic, dull version and shipped it”. Just don’t include something so basic in the game in the first place. [/list] Worst of all, this whole game is extremely boring. Everything this game does - other games already did, often better. It has nothing unique to offer, and poorly implemented/buggy mechanics make playing this game not worth it.

i played maybe 30 hours and left it running overnight a few times. its not a bad game. it had some neat elements. it just misses the ball. its logisticks system is a nightmare that you can have everything you need and the places demand resources but you have no way to know why it isnt getting there. having 1000 of a resoruce in a city , no idea where its located, and plenty of logistics drones. in the end of the game its better to build a huge dome with it maxed out of trader hubs and have it trade out what you make outside of the domes and buy in what ever your missing than to figure out why your shops always demand goods that never seem to get there.

I will start of by saying it isn't a bad game, I think it could easily be a good game. In my opinion all they need to is make things clearer, I found that it wasn't clear what resources things required and how much was being used at any time. When there are other games out there in the same genre who make things clearer and just do things a bit better. Like I said, don't hate the game, I even re-installed it again after not playing it since launch in the hope they might fix a few things.

In short, 'Thematically' this game is awesome. 'Mechanically' it's an absolute chore. It's less of a colony builder and more of a resource spreadsheet. This is a fine addition in most games as long as you feel like you can actually do anything with those resources. The primary mover in the game is citizen demand. Your sole purpose is just to get them 3 resource types. Food, Basic good, and luxury goods. Now most games have something new for you to do once you do that. This one doesn't. Once you meet that necessity, after a short time the citizen will now demand more types of those same resources, plus ones that are of a higher grade. Driving you to build more of your production building, and more expensive tiers as well. Most games will treat these higher tiers as a bonus; in this game they are a 100% demand. Meaning you always have to be producing everything at all times and one small hiccup in the supply chain can lead to a cascading failure. Potato farm go down? Guess you can't make your fish and chips this year. 5 people will now starve to death, not because there is no food mind you; you have literally thousands of units of salmon and sea cucumbers after all. But because they will ONLY eat fish and chips and will stubbornly starve to death rather instead. These demands only get sillier as the game goes on and there's really no strategy but to be constantly building everything, all the time with no real thought to the design of your colony other than these people in a post apocalyptic setting will literally walk off into the ocean to die than live somewhere without gold jewelry. Beyond the basic gameplay loop, the story leaves much to be desired. 90% of the missions are just, give us X amount of resources to do something you never see off-scene in order to advance to the next stage. Because of this your best to just ignore the story until you have a massive end game colony, then just fulfill all the mission requirements 1 after the other in short order.

Game is OK, but very unpolished. Lacks "magic" imo

https://youtu.be/3rYcjEoFUKs Laying pipe has never been more frustrating due to the one connection limit, while the unclear economy numbers makes planning ahead more difficult than desired.

I would not be too scared of the 'Mixed' rating this game got. It seems to me a lot of pressure is put on the game to deliver but what it is compared towards is a bit of a mystery to me -> How many undersea city building sims are there out there? As far as i know the big names where you build on dry land got bugs too. Now at approx 6 hours in and a city spread half-way trough the map it's quite decent game in my opinion. I have seen some of the bugs people complain about ex. resources not finding their way towards the target so finding out solutions and a work around are a thing but so far at least the issues have been gone very quickly. More depots? having enough drones and idle workers? Don't exactly know the solution but issues have solved and i moved on. What i don't get at all is the complaints of not being able to understand what you need. wydm? you have your balances right there in front of you all the time and they update instantly when you do a refinery upgrade be it upkeep reduction or production output boost. Resource management is a breeze and only thing of note here is that there is a ton of stuff to juggle about but mostly they are there just to satisfy diversity requirements e.g. colonists want different kinds of foods. I got this game from a bundle and was not expecting much of anything but if you have played Surviving mars or sim cities or skylines you should get a hold of things rather quick. So 'surprisingly good' is what i would carefully say with these gaming hours. Who knows maybe i encounter something catastrophic later but i doubt it.

Aquatico (2025 Review) Platform: PC Genre: City Builder / Survival Strategy Developer: Digital Reef Games Release Date: 2023 🌊 The Good 1. A Fresh Take on City-Building After years of building cities on land, Aquatico drops you into the deep blue. The underwater setting isn’t just a gimmick—it changes how you think about expansion, resources, and infrastructure. It’s like SimCity and Subnautica had a very orderly child. 2. Smooth Gameplay Loop In my ~24 hours of play, I found the progression well-paced. Gathering resources, expanding domes, and balancing citizen needs always kept me engaged. Every new layer of depth (literally) felt rewarding. 3. Gorgeous Setting The undersea visuals are calming and atmospheric. Watching your domes light up against the deep ocean backdrop never got old. It’s a vibe. 4. Unique Challenges Managing pressure, oxygen, and limited build space adds tension that feels fresh compared to the usual land-based city builders. It’s familiar but different enough to keep things interesting. ⚠️ The Not-So-Good 1. Limited Long-Term Pull While the first 20–30 hours are captivating, the game struggles to maintain momentum beyond that. Once you’ve stabilized your colony, the sense of discovery fades a bit. 2. Repetitive Mid-Game Resource chains and expansions can start to feel samey after a while. You’re building more of the same, just deeper and bigger. 3. Lacks the Chaos Factor Unlike something like RimWorld or Surviving Mars, the drama here is toned down. That’s great if you want chill city-building, but if you’re looking for emergent disasters and wild stories, it may feel too safe. ⚖️ Final Thoughts Aquatico is a beautiful and refreshing spin on the city-building formula. It doesn’t quite have the long-term hook of the genre’s giants, but for 20–30 hours of relaxing, thoughtful gameplay in a unique underwater setting, it’s well worth diving into. ⭐ Rating: 7.5 / 10 A strong, stylish city-builder with a fresh theme—just don’t expect it to keep you hooked for hundreds of hours.