Aquamarine: Explorer’s Edition from Dolores Entertainment, Moebial Studios, and Hitcents is a turn-based playable comic book about surviving in an alien ocean, as you try to find a way back home. Check out our Aquamarine: Explorer’s Edition review!
Aquamarine: Explorer’s Edition from Dolores Entertainment, Moebial Studios, and Hitcents is a turn-based playable comic book about surviving in an alien ocean, as you try to find a way back home. Your journey began a while ago, at the edge of the known galaxy. You were appointed the new seeker and tasked with finding a new path for humanity’s survival. This, unfortunately, led your efforts toward a planet that had been lost to time: the titular Aquamarine. This meant that before worrying about humanity’s survival, you first had to find a way to survive on your own.
Indie Moebial Studios took the original Aquamarine to Kickstarter back in 2020, seeking a very specific $12,540 in funding to cover the game’s development. Once the crowdfunding campaign was over – and thanks to the support of more than 700 backers – the Kickstarter ended up with close to $19,000 in overall funding. This made a Steam release possible in 2022. The game was later ported to the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch with the help of Dolores Entertainment, and it’s the second version on Nintendo’s console that we’ll be taking for a spin in this Aquamarine: Explorer’s Edition review.
This release offers four game modes for you to choose from: Normal, Relaxed, Explore, and Expert. The Normal one offers the standard experience, balanced so as not to overwhelm you. The Relaxed game mode dials things back a bit by allowing you to have an easier experience without having to worry too much about the resources that you need to collect along the way. The Explore game mode will provide you with abundant resources, and permadeath will be turned off. As for the Expert game mode, it goes in the opposite direction of the Relaxed game mode, which is why it’s locked away until you complete the game once.
After the intro cutscene ends, your new mission will begin after your pod manages to land on a small island. Your ship has crashed on another island, and you’ll need to reach it before it’s completely destroyed. The smoke coming out of the crash site is certainly not going to be very reassuring. Your pod will have some fuel for moving and hull energy to protect you, but it’s not enough to reach it.
You’ll be taking control of a cursor that you’ll move around the screen by using the left analog stick as you press the A button to interact with the different points of interest. At the bottom of the screen will be two options: map and stock. Since you’re already used up all of your stock, you’ll need to use your survival-class amphibious pod to dive and see what you can find. You will select icons that indicate where you can travel. Pick one icon to add ot to the pod’s navigation path. Pick the same one again to move to said space.
Every space that you move will use up one bit of the pod’s fuel reserves. While its tank is certainly running low even during your first dive, the engineers who created it knew this could happen. The pod’s engine can convert some objects into energy, as is the case with the nearby gems located on the ocean floor. Just move the pod over each set of gems to get some extra energy, which needs to be added to the fuel tank. To do this, press the ZR button to access the pod’s control panel.
Once the control panel is up, just press the L button or click on the battery button to transfer one bit of energy from the pod’s reserve to the fuel tank. Just hold down the button if you want to transfer more than one at a time. On top of this, energy can also be used to repair the pod’s hull when it’s damaged. To do this, press the R button or click on the shield button. Your pod is not the only one that needs energy… so you’d better search for some food so that you can continue to be alive! The pod will monitor your vitals, which you can review on the right side of the control panel. Click the heart button there to eat the food displayed on the screen. Once you’ve collected enough energy for the pod, you can activate the long-range engine to be able to travel between areas.
There’s a scanner in the pod that can detect whether a unique item is in the current area. Perhaps if you collect it, you might boost your odds of survival! You can press the up button in the center of the pod’s panel to shift into the surface… unless the light is off. If that’s the case, then it means that there’s something in the way and you can’t shift there. Once you find the right spot on the surface for you to dive back down, all you’ll need to do is press the same button.
Since you can’t analyze the new item you’ve just picked up, you’ll need to go back to the surface and return to the small nearby island. The good news is that the pod has an autopilot system that lets you have it return there at the press of a button, as long as you have enough energy for the journey. Simply press the ZL button to open the internal map, then select the info bubble to see how much energy is required for that trip. Once you’re back at the island, you’ll realize that what you picked up is a disk you can analyze to unlock a pod module that you can craft with 25 energy. This pod mod will push back all objects around the pod, but it will cost 25% power to equip. Power is how the game will balance which mods and how many you can install, so that the challenge doesn’t just vanish. This is only the first step in your journey to try and stay alive on this new planet, but it will give you an idea of what to expect from the gameplay loop.
Aquamarine: Explorer’s Edition is a turn-based playable comic book about surviving in an alien ocean, as you try to find a way back home. Your journey began a while ago, at the edge of the known galaxy. You were appointed as the new seeker and tasked with finding a new path for humanity’s survival. This, unfortunately, led your efforts toward a planet that had been lost to time: the titular Aquamarine. This meant that before worrying about humanity’s survival, you first had to find a way to survive on your own. Will you manage to succeed?
As you can tell from the art style in the trailer and screens in this Aquamarine: Explorer’s Edition review, its presentation has been heavily inspired by the psychedelic sci-fi art of the 1970s and 1980s, which certainly helps it stand out on Nintendo’s console. Aquamarine: Explorer’s Edition is out on Nintendo Switch with a $19.99 price tag.
Disclaimer
This Aquamarine: Explorer’s Edition review is based on a Nintendo Switch code provided by Dolores Entertainment.
