Aquadine

by Mikhail Aug 28, 2022 | 1 Votes | 52 Played | 0 Reviews

10 rate

Genres:

Adventure , Anime

Graphics:

Labels:

Adventure , Storytelling , Visual Novel , Anime

Platforms:

Publishers:

Ratalaika Games Aquadine is a visual novel adventure by Ratalaika Games featuring a fantastic anime art style, beautiful backdrops, and a well-written story. Go through the story as Robin Riyun, a gondolier and tour guide, and choose among the four heroines and interact with varied characters. Play Now Similar Games

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Summary Plotline Gameplay Graphics/Sound Conclusion

Summary

Visual novels are among the most underrated games out there. They are quite a niche genre and are hardly considered games; after all, you barely do anything in them except go through the story and pick a few choices. Some games involve picking difficult decisions that would make you question your morality, while others go for the lighthearted route.

Aquadine belongs to the latter category and is what you would consider a standard entry in the genre. However, it is set apart thanks to its unique setting and highly-interesting characters. Coming into it completely blind, it’s not what I expected, having played games like Danganronpa (partially a visual novel) and Steins;Gate. Instead of a thriller enough to make your gut wrench at every turn, the game treats you to a rather uplifting and lighthearted story set in a city with mythical origins.

Published by Ratalaika Games and now available on the Nintendo Switch, is it something you’d want to try out? Before you head into the world and lore of Aquadine, let’s first check out what it has to offer:

Plotline

Aquadine’s story, like most visual novels, is one of its main attractions. Right off the bat, you’ll immediately get to dive into the setting’s lore by building the world through character conversations. Apparently, Aquadine is a water-themed city with mythical origins, and almost every aspect of its design and architecture involves water. For example, school blackboards have built-in aquariums, the town produces the least water pollution in the world, and it is a major exporter of bottled water. In a way, the city looks like an amped-up and more picturesque version of Venice. There are canals that run through the city where tourists ride boats to see the sights while singers perform classical Italian songs on the streets.

Without diving deep into spoiler territory, you will follow the journey of Robin Liyun, a gondolier and tour guide with a secret double life. Apart from his job, he is also a student in the local high school and someone who has had a few supernatural encounters, specifically with mermaids. The story is centered around him, his grandfather, his mother, and four heroines, each with distinct and trope-ish personalities. These include Anya, an avid painter with a blunt personality; Diana, a cheerful teenage girl; Cameron, a sporty girl; and Elisabeth, a singer who just moved into town. Though the tropes may make it appear that every character is one-dimensional, they aren’t. Let’s just say they all have their own quirks that will make you appreciate them.

Gameplay

There isn’t much to say about Aquadine’s gameplay. You’ll have to trigger the dialogue or set it to auto, so you wouldn’t have to do it manually. Like most visual novels, it’s like watching an anime series; there’s little to no interaction involved on your part. However, you will pick one among the heroines, which may be a rather difficult choice.

Each route in Aquadine takes approximately a couple of hours to complete and depends on your heroine choice. Thankfully, you don’t have to go through the first part every time since the Switch menu lets you pick the route you want to move on to next.

Aquadine’s user interface is as straightforward as it gets. As you play, the game displays the controls on the bottom part of the screen. One of its best features is you can hide the dialogue box, which is nifty if you want to take screenshots of the character sprites and backgrounds.

Graphics/Sound

In terms of presentation, Aquadine is nothing short of excellent. The character sprites look like they were taken out of a high-production shoujo romance anime, while the backgrounds are simply sublime. Looking at them makes you wish Aquadine were a real-life location you could visit. I’m not someone who can provide a valid art appraisal, but they all are a joy to the eyes. The same can be said about “cutscenes” and

Aquadine has a limited amount of voice acting. Characters speak during dialogues but are limited to only a few words or fewer. It would have been better to hear more of them and ambient sounds of the imaginary city to increase overall immersion. Though it’s enough to keep players interested, we can’t help but want more voiced dialogue.

Conclusion

Overall, Aquadine should be one of your prime choices if you’re looking to play a visual novel on the Nintendo Switch. It’s like watching a top-tier drama/romance anime in game form without added stress, thanks to its lighthearted tale. Its characters, even the side ones that barely play a part, are relatively interesting; getting to know them was a pleasant experience, and the only bad thing we could say about them is we didn’t get to learn more about them.

Moreover, the game has a decent amount of worldbuilding and presents it in a way that will grab your interest, making you invest more time in getting to know the town and the lore, not just the characters. And finally, it has a top-tier art style that puts you deeper into the world even more.

So, start your journey in Aquadine today; now available on the Nintendo Switch.

New Game Added: Aquadine

by Mikhail Aug 28, 2022

Aquadine is a visual novel adventure by Ratalaika Games featuring a fantastic anime art style, beautiful backdrops, and a well-written story. Go through the story as Robin Riyun, a gondolier and tour guide, and choose among the four heroines and interact with varied characters.