Aquamarine: Explorer's Edition is a Subnautica-like, turn-based playable comic

• Want to take on the challenge of aquatic survival in a sci-fi setting?
• Nope, it's not Subnautica! It's Aquamarine, available now for iOS
• Explore the depths of an alien planet in this turn-based, roguelike RPG

With the upcoming launch of Subnautica: Below Zero on mobile, you may be hankering for some underwater exploration to tide you over. But surely there's nothing that can scratch that itch? Well, hold your horses because Aquamarine: Explorer's Edition from Moebial Studios might be what you've been waiting for!

Inspired by the works of comic artists such as Moebius, Aquamarine is available to purchase on the iOS App Store and is free to try before you buy.

You play as a lone explorer known only as The Seeker, and end up stranded on a mysterious aquatic planet. Fortunately, you're not restricted to just a wetsuit and survival knife, as you'll have access to your own high-tech submersible pod with which to explore your surroundings.

The challenge is, simply, to survive. Exploring the ocean in a turn-based fashion, you'll be acquiring resources such as food and materials, gradually upgrading your survival pod and exploring the strange aquatic world you find yourself in.

Water, water, everywhere

With inspiration drawn from the best of 70s and 80s independent comics, and a synth-inspired soundtrack, I think it's safe to say that Aquamarine offers much of the same appeal as Subnautica, just in a very different package.

The turn-based aspect in particular intrigues me, as one of the few things that puts me off survival games is the constant stress and time crunch involved with them. But being able to (relatively) slowly plan out your moves and strategise is something that I think would take the pain out of it, for me at least.

Still, we're always talking about new releases here, aren't we? Why don't we dig into old releases instead? Well, take a look at our ongoing retrospective series for Pocket Gamer's 20th anniversary that covers each year and the biggest new releases from each year since we first launched!