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Author Topic: Finally finished Aquaria... now what? Any other similar games available?  (Read 18416 times)

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Offline miler

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I finally finished Aquaria after 50+ hours of gameplay.  I beat all the bosses, found all the treasures, made as many recipes as possible etc.  Aquaria was the best and the most beautiful game that I ever played in my life, period.  I plan on playing the entire game again, hopefully in fewer hours this time.  But now I'm feeling down because I can't ever imagine another game out there that will replicate the pure magic of playing Aquaria.  Anyone out there who has recommendations for any other games that are similar to Aquaria or which have the same beauty and fun as Aquaria?

Offline Alphasoldier

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There is always this: http://infiniteammo.ca/games/#marian
Also by Alec, one of the two creators of Aquaria.

But it's not finished yet.
God sees and knows everything, but at least he won't gossip about it.

Offline Hiro

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Um its not exactly the same, but Cave Story is a really awesome game. Platformer shooter kind of thing, but really really well made. Its not shiny though, its made to be homely with pixel graphics and low-bit music. But I really liked it. ;)
http://www.miraigamer.net/cavestory/
My site is: http://www.therathole.co.nr/
Where I put pictures and blog posts and stuff..

Offline Echolocating

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Endless Ocean and Endless Ocean: Blue World for the Nintendo Wii are amazing experiences. They don't have life meters and things to kill, but the sense of wonderment, beauty, and satisfying exploration is practically unmatched. Highly recommended with a large wide-screen TV. The music is fitting and relaxing as well. The Endless Ocean games focus on many of Aquaria's most notable attributes.

Offline sudol

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This game is very, very (too?) similar to Ecco the dolphin for Megadrive / Mega cd (really, listen to the cd music), there are some other versions around.
Provided, Ecco was released by 1993 or so: technology has changed a bit since then.
But anyway, the peaceful sensation of diving into the ocean and solving puzzles is there.

Offline Alec

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This game is very, very (too?) similar to Ecco the dolphin for Megadrive / Mega cd (really, listen to the cd music), there are some other versions around.

Uh, in what way is it too similar?

You mean the part in Ecco where you play as a mermaid and swim around to shoot things, right?

Oh wait, Ecco is a game about a Dolphin.


Offline Xiagan

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You mean the part in Ecco where you play as a mermaid and swim around to shoot things, right?

Oh wait, Ecco is a game about a Dolphin.


 :D

totally unrelated picture:


"Sire, I had no need of that hypothesis." (Laplace)

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Offline Alphasoldier

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Baww, now don't downgrade Ecco, it's still a nice game.

None the less Aquaria is superior to it in pretty much every way, yet has so much more.
God sees and knows everything, but at least he won't gossip about it.

Offline H-Falcon

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You mean the part in Ecco where you play as a mermaid and swim around to shoot things, right?

Oh wait, Ecco is a game about a Dolphin.


 :D

totally unrelated picture:



LOL that's funny xD.

Indie game developer vs Sega

Offline Muado

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The original La-Mulana (Wii remake still in the making)! Cave Story has already been mentioned and rocked my socks as well.

Consoles (or emulators): Castlevania (Symphony Of The Night, all the GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS titles), Metroid games (Super Metroid, Fusion and Zero Mission)..

Offline dugan

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The "interactive fiction" (text-based) game Worlds Apart also has you playing as an aquatic humanoid with mother issues. It has a similar ending too: you find your mother.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2010, 04:16:08 pm by dugan »

Offline Garcin

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Check out Saira. It's another beautiful platformer with great puzzles.

Offline farvardin

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You can also play at an old dos game (using dosbox), released by Lucasart and called "Loom". It's a bit similar to Aquaria because it's very poetic, and you can make some magic by playing some music (in fact it's your only way to interact with things). If you play the notes you've learnt in the reverse order, it will have the opposite effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loom_%28video_game%29

you can find some screenshot on http://www.salikon.dk/loom.html

It's one of my all time favorite adventure game (even though it's quite easy to finish)

Offline morganmcalister

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Loom was great, I agree.  It's really very hard to fully appreciate PC games from that long ago as much now, though.  One of the things that makes Aquaria special is that, although simple, it really is beautiful.  That just wasn't an option back then - except for us Amiga users ;) - but because we were comparing it to everything else prior to its arrival, it sort of took a grander place in my memory than it otherwise would.

That's the danger with all of those sorts of euphoric recall types of things.  You ever make the mistake of going back and actually watching some of the Saturday morning cartoons that so fascinated us as kids?  With very few exceptions (old Looney Tunes, for example) they were just utter crap, but I remember them as magic. 

Going back and watching the original Knight Rider now makes it obvious why the relaunch failed: it was WAY too much like the original, and the original was, frankly, awful.  I *worshiped* Knight Rider as a kid, and my memories are still extremely positive, but I went back and watched some episodes on Hulu recently, and... WOW.  Without nostalgia, that show was terrible.