Chillquarium
Last updated: 2025-03-24
- Relaxing aquarium with appealing fish.
- Extensive fish collection and gacha elements.
- Aquarium customization and personalization options.
- Appeals to collectors and idle game fans.
- Repetitive, grindy gameplay loop.
- Slow fish growth and unbalanced economy.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 81% · Negative 19%. Score: 19 / 100
Positives:
- The game provides a relaxing aquarium experience with visually appealing fish designs and animations. Players enjoy watching the fish swim, grow, and interact, finding it calming and enjoyable. The game accurately represents various types of fish, which is appreciated by aquarium enthusiasts.
- The game features a wide variety of fish species and variants to collect, including normal, painted, golden, and rainbow versions. Collecting all the fish and completing the fish encyclopedia is a satisfying goal for completionists. The game also includes a gacha system for obtaining new fish, which adds an element of excitement and anticipation.
- Players can customize their aquariums with decorations, lighting, and other items. This allows for personalization and creativity in designing unique underwater environments. The ability to decorate tanks adds variety and replay value to the game.
- The game features a cute and appealing art style that is well-executed. The fish designs are visually pleasing and contribute to the overall relaxing atmosphere. The art style is often compared to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which is a positive association for many players.
- The game is addictive and enjoyable to play, with many reviewers leaving it running in the background while doing other tasks. The game continues to generate in-game currency even when it is closed, making it a convenient way to earn money. The game is also suitable for short breaks during work or study sessions.
Negatives:
- The core gameplay loop becomes repetitive and grindy, especially when pursuing rare fish variants or achievements. Players must endlessly buy and sell fish, open packs, and wait for fish to grow, leading to boredom and frustration. This is exacerbated by the game's gacha mechanics and low drop rates for rare fish.
- Fish growth takes a very long time, requiring players to wait for days to progress. The game lacks engaging activities beyond feeding and selling fish, making the experience feel passive and unrewarding for active players.
- Obtaining golden and rainbow fish is extremely difficult due to very low drop rates. This makes completing the fish collection and associated achievements a tedious and time-consuming grind, often requiring hours of repetitive pack opening with little reward.
- The game features an unbalanced economy with exponentially increasing costs for fish, tanks, and decorations. This forces players to grind extensively to progress, and lower-level fish quickly become obsolete, diminishing the value of early-game efforts.
- The game offers limited customization options for fish tanks, with few decorations, lighting choices, and placement restrictions. This results in similar-looking tanks and restricts creative freedom, diminishing the appeal of the aquarium simulation aspect.
Gameplay:
- The game features a core loop of buying fish, raising them to adulthood (either actively or passively), and then selling them for profit. Fish growth occurs in real-time, with varying growth times depending on rarity. Players can choose to actively feed fish to accelerate their growth or allow them to mature passively.
- Fish have different rarities and grades that affect their value and income generation. Rarer fish take longer to grow but provide higher returns. Players strategically manage their aquarium by keeping high-income fish and selling off less valuable ones to maximize profits.
- The game includes a 'fewer clicks' mode that automates fish feeding, reducing the amount of active input required from the player. This setting functions similarly to an autoclicker, allowing for a more hands-free experience.
- The game features a user-friendly interface and simple mechanics, making it easy to pick up and play. The simple commands and rules contribute to a chill and relaxing vibe.
- Feeding fish can be sped up by luring them to a corner, allowing players to feed multiple fish at once. However, feeding becomes less relevant once fish reach adulthood.
Performance:
- The game's performance is generally good, with many players reporting smooth gameplay and low CPU usage even on lower-end hardware like laptops and the Steam Deck. Some reviews highlight the game's ability to run on very basic systems, while others provide specific CPU usage figures.
- Some players have reported optimization issues, including lag and screen freezing, even on systems that should be capable of running the game smoothly. One specific bug involves continuous fish feeding when using alt+tab.
- The game can be windowed, and black bars can be removed by adjusting the window size. This allows players to customize the display to their preference.
- Some players have reported that the game's music sometimes stops randomly. This can detract from the overall gaming experience.
- One review mentions how to take a screenshot on Windows 11. This is not a bug or feature of the game, so it is not important.
Recommendations:
- The game is often recommended for fans of idle games, collecting games, and those who enjoy raising virtual fish. The core gameplay loop revolves around collecting fish, customizing aquariums, and watching them grow. This makes it appealing to players who enjoy progression and collecting without demanding gameplay.
- Many reviewers find the game worth its low price, especially when on sale. Some suggest waiting for a discount before purchasing, while others believe it's worth the full price. A few reviewers felt the game was overpriced for the content offered.
- A significant number of reviewers express concerns about the game's excessive grind, especially for achievement hunters and completionists. Some reviewers even uninstalled the game due to the time commitment required to complete all achievements. This point reduces the score due to the negative sentiment and lack of specific details.
- Several reviewers express a desire for more content, updates, and features to enhance the game. This includes more fish types, decorations, and gameplay mechanics. Some reviewers also suggest ideas for similar games with different themes.
- Some reviewers are excited about the developer's upcoming game, Wing Haven, and express interest in seeing similar games from the developer. This indicates a positive impression of the developer's work and a desire for more content in the same style. This point has a lower score due to being about a different game.
Miscellaneous:
- The game features a large variety of real-world fish species with different color variations, presented with cute visuals. Players can learn about and catalogue these fish, and some reviewers have a particular fondness for certain types like axolotls. Small gifs in the painted fish pokedex show different shapes of them.
- The game is a bug-free, buy-to-play title that does not feature a dedicated story, which is typical for the idle genre. There is also no option to spend money in it.
- The game includes features to streamline gameplay, such as a 'Reduce Clicks' setting for continuous feeding and a shortcut key ('S') for selling individual fish. These options allow for more efficient management of the aquarium.
- Higher-tier normal fish are significantly more expensive than lower-tier legendary fish, so it's best to upgrade immediately when possible. Most fish have a higher immediate sale price than their daily income, so selling fully grown fish quickly is optimal.
- The 'Golden Ticket' update added the ability to purchase 'Golden Packs' that only contain golden fish. The demo version gives more fish per pack (5 instead of 4) and a higher chance of rare/epic fish (one per pack).
