From the undeniably creative minds of artist/designer Derek Yu and programmer/composer Alec Holowka comes Aquaria, an indie title set to be released in early 2007. It’s an action-oriented, non-linear 2D game of exploration (we need a dedicated genre name for that one) with some beautifully crafted scenery. I couldn’t possibly describe the game any better than Derek Yu did on his blog:
…just imagine this possible scenario: you’re swimming around fluidly (using the mouse to control), and bouncing off of rocks, just having fun moving around. Maybe you encounter a school of fish that you swim alongside for awhile. Eventually you come across a small cave sticking off the side of the map that you hadn’t noticed before and you head in (out of curiousity’s sake). A crablike monster scuttles idly by as you do so, and you can ignore him or kill him. If you’re feeling murderous, you can sing a magic song to change to a form that let’s you blast him away. Or maybe you want to sing a song that let’s you pick up a rock and then crush him with it. Or maybe you wait until he gets on the rock and then pick up the rock with him still clinging to it! And then when you go inside the cave, it’s just a cave. Not necessarily a dungeon or level or a “key to the next area” or what have you. It’s just a damn cave! And your experience tells you that there could really be anything inside, from ancient ruins to treasure to mythic angry killer unique monsters…
Sounds perfect. Looks like I’ll be amending my list of games of exploration early next year. Can’t wait! Be sure to check out more gorgeous screenshots to whet your appetite.
Oh, but this is to be shareware!
Good point! I’ll have to make a NEW list of games of exploration. Life is tough. ;-)