Aquaria

I enjoyed playing the game and made it to the end. The graphics, music and sound are very nice and the overall atmosphere was really fitting. The only problems I had with this game are some design issues which made the game for me - at some points - really annoying. You use skills and switch form by singing a specific order of notes. At first this seems pretty cool - but the longer you play, the more annoying this feature gets. Anyhow you can switch forms by using the number keys. The world is really beautiful, but at the same time very large and uninteresting from a playing perspective. Considering this is a MetroidVania game which includes backtracking, large, empty spaces you have to swim for several minutes get boring very quick. During my first (and last) playthrough I swam through the same areas many times before I found out where I have to go. There is a fast travel system, but the spots are sometimes hidden and rarely found throughout the map. My last issue is, that some puzzles are too hard. *Spoiler* To enter the final region of the map you have to find a companion, who unlocks this area. If you don't find him, you stand in front of the door with no clue how to open it. *Spoiler End* Additionally some puzzles in the last area forced me to look up the results. This can get very frustrating. Overall a nice game with some design issues. Could have been a better game with some design changes.

La bande son est juste sublime, la carte gigantesque, et le gameplay propose un croisement entre un metroidvania et un shoot'em up.

I've had the pleasure of finding this game back in 2009 and fell absolutely in love with it. As someone obsessed with mermaids and underwater worlds and mysteries as a child and adult, Aquaria scratches the itch I have for beautiful stylised underwater exploration adventure with a gorgeous soundtrack, I keep coming back to again and again. The gameplay is quite simple and uses the mechanics it introduces very well as you progress through the game. As you gain new abilities, there's an incentive to go back to areas you've already been to to explore areas that were previously unavailable. The story is intriguing and ends on a mysterious note - very unfortunate that we will probably never get a sequel to it, although in my opinion it still holds up as a standalone game. This game might not be for someone who wants something more complicated in terms of game mechanics, but would definitely recommend it to someone who enjoys a good platform adventure game set in an underwater world, that holds dark secrets but also provides an atmosphere of comfort and whimsy.

one of the best metrovania ever made!

This could have been a great game. I really wanted to like it, but it was not possible. I have nothing against games that are slow paced. Good slow paced games are games that want the user to experience more than gameplay. The problem with Aquaria is that it doesn't have much to show. The art is nice, considering it was released back in 2007, but the overall gameplay design is very poor. -Enemy design: when I started the game I crossed paths with an eel, a very aggressive kind of fish... nothing happened. Two minuted later I was severely harmed by touching a harmless looking turtle. WHAT?! -Map: everything is sooo big... and empty. You may spend 10 minutes swimming around without finding anything interesting. No puzzles, no interesting enemies, no different landscapes... just the same water and rocks over and over again. Even your personal cave is so big you can get lost in it. Again, nothing interesting. -Music: sounds nice for the first two minutes. After that you'll start considering turning the music off and looking for something in your personal music collection. -Story: there may be some story there... but after spending half and hour trying to play this game you'll start to wonder where is it. It's like the developers wanted to make an aberrant mixture of a Metroidvania game and a "walking simulator" without actually exploring the characteristics of the genre. It seems that some people like this kind of mixture... not me. If you want slow and relaxing games better try flow. If you want a good metroidvania try Guacamelee.