Aground [Xbox]
In Fancy Fish Games’ Aground, you play as a nameless character who has washed up on an island during a storm. You set off on the island looking for supplies, as well as shelter, bumping into another survivor: the Builder. Over time you meet other survivors, who can help you to not only build a mini civilisation, but also teach you how to build and utilise farms, workshops and more, elsewhere. You’ll learn to mine, and gather food too, whether that is killing boars, rats or setting up a Pen with pigs for a regular supply. Certain characters you meet will give you tasks that must be completed to progress, so Rejecting the task is essentially you just saying “not now” - the task will remain available to be picked up. However, other characters will ask for help or to join you, and you can reject these, with sometimes fatal consequences. RIP second-save Builder.
It has quite a satisfying feel to it, with each task completed opening up further tasks, or giving you the tools to explore - whether that is deep below the ground (and through strange portals to another world), or across the water to other islands, finding other survivors and island inhabitants to do more tasks. The survival element is well done, and can be truly punishing at times - I’ve fallen victim to running out of stamina whilst mining (and not having enough food to keep me going) way more times than I’d like to admit. There’s a lot more depth here than I’d initially anticipated, and it’s not long before you uncover more and more of the mystery. Going through underground portals to weird worlds filled with danger (and sometimes, fire-breathing chickens), or letting the whirlpool swallow your boat as you cross to other islands, taking you to a totally alternate world filled with pirates and abominable snowmen. It has a tendency to baffle you with surprising encounters and discoveries, but this just made me want to dig deeper to find out just what the hell is going on.
Visually, Aground has a pixelated art style that is very simple. It does the job, of course - characters (as well as enemies) are well designed and easily recognisable as you move around the islands, and buildings each have their own unique appearance (so it quickly becomes second nature as to where you need to go to do whatever it is that needs done) - you can also lay out all of your buildings in the way you want, and demolish them to rebuild if necessary. Making sure you have minecarts to do all the heavy lifting between your storage and anywhere useful (such as to the dock for easy loading) is crucial as it makes for a much smoother process, instead of repeated trips back and forth as otherwise your stamina, then your health, will take a beating. Cutscenes consist of little gatherings of your fellow survivors in the shelter discussing plans going forward. These help to give direction and makes for a more interesting story.
Controls are simple and easy to pick up, with one button being the focus for most actions you’ll take, whether that is attacking (with whatever weapon is equipped) or chopping trees, etc. To access any buildings to make purchases or to collect resources you just simply press up, which helps to differentiate from other actions you may need to take in the area. Placing repetitive items such as rails for your minecart seemed unbelievably tedious at first (stand where you want it, go into inventory and then hit place on the item you want, and then repeat) but thankfully there is the ability to have quick shortcuts mapped for things like this (cutting that process to my chosen RT+down) - and it didn’t take me too long to realise, ha! The part that takes the most to get to grips with is definitely the survival element. It starts out relatively simple, with your health and stamina bars needing to be replenished frequently by eating certain food and getting some shut-eye, but this expands into a much more involved aspect, with Power Plants needed for powering buildings on the second island (and those need re-fuelled often), and more.
There’s plenty to keep you busy in Aground, with everything open for you to explore and follow various quest lines. You can take it easy, taking time to gather materials and craft everything you could possibly need; or you can go for broke, hunting down enemies and completing tasks left, right and centre. Even in death you are learning as this will bump you back to the last time you saved - so as long as you haven’t left it too long since your last save, you’ll be able to get right back to it and hopefully you’ll recognise where you went wrong (such as making sure your weapons don’t break, or that you have enough stamina for the return trip, etc).
At just £12.49 on the Xbox Store, you get masses of value for your money as the game, whilst appearing simple and short from the outset, is absolutely chock-full of things to do. The addictive nature of Aground keeps me coming back for more, and whilst the retro graphics can look a tad muddy at times, this didn’t negatively affect my experience too much. If you’re looking to try out a fun survival game, with elements of Minecraft and Terraria to it, then I’d recommend you give Aground a go.
In the end, we decided to give Aground the Collecting Asylum rating of 8/10.
Have you played Aground yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Whitethorn Digital for the Aground Xbox review code!
