Aquarist

While i absolutely enjoyed my time with this game (more so toward the end tho) and have binged through it in a matter of 2 or 3 days, it was also vastly different to what i had expected. Having played aquarium designer first (and LOEVING it!), i wanted to jump into aquarist to get more of this amazing gameplay of creating aquariums, caring for fish, ect. Aquarist sadly felt a bit like a chore at first and really couldn't convince me in its first hours. building aquariums is not as flexible and individual as i had hoped, especially not being able to build little mountains or valleys with the soil was disappointing, as that had added a lot to aquarium designer imo. Building aquarium just wasn't as much fun and ended up feeling like making the same thing over and over again (not too many different kinds of plants etc). earning money is also not so easy, i eventually did the math and found out that from an aquarium you sell for 2.2k, you only make like 100 bucks. it takes the majority of your day to build tho. You can also grow plants, corals and breed fish to earn money, which is more profitable (only in the location you are currently at tho). You have very few quests for aquariums, so i just designed the few that i needed for my shops as soon as i realised that you don't really earn much money doing it. The few quests the game offer are really well done and probably my highlight for aquarist. these quests are very creative and out there, they are quests that are REALLY fun to complete. For me the game only got really good in the last of the three locations you can unlock. There you are presented with a few quests to unlock more parts of the location, and these quests were really well done as well. You also get access to a bonus location that lets you explore the ocean to see all the creatures you exhibited in their natural habitat. All in all, this game is often more of a chore, the "build aquariums" part is drowed a bit in the business side. but the game still has enough aspects that grant it a recommendation. It would be a truly amazing game if it adds more variety in plants and decoration, more options for design in general and a few more quests. Looking forward to the direction this game is gonna go until full release!