PlayStation Basement #44 - Aquanaut's Holiday

This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on June 29th, 2019.

Have you taken a vacation this year? A summer holiday to somewhere tropical or somewhere cool? In today’s PlayStation Basement we might do just that with a review of an odd or obscure game for the original PlayStation. Games are rated Good, Bad, or Neutral. Let’s take a trip.

Aquanaut’s Holiday is another Artdink game. If you’ve been following along since the beginning, you’ll remember Notam of Wind, a game that Artdink released in Japan and nowhere else. The company released some perfectly PlayStation Basement titles when they developed games for the PS1. Aquanaut’s Holiday is a game about exploring the dark oceans. What will you find there that’s been lying dormant since this game was released 24 years ago on June 30^th, 1995 in Japan (and September 1996 and October 1996 in North America and Europe respectively)?

Before diving in, let’s look at the cover art. The North America cover art shows a dark underwater scene with the shadows of creatures and objects in the distance. There’s an element of mystery to it. The title is written out in both English and Japanese upon a faded disk. The Japanese cover features the disk in high contrast. It’s a more artistic cover with shadows of fish from a dream. The European cover features the disk again, this time with the text in English and upon a bursting orb. Of all three, I prefer the Japanese cover. The North American art is the least inspiring.

In the game, there’s a lot of dark ocean to explore like on that North American cover. I guess it’s good to show what the game is like, but it’s almost too plain. You might think that of Aquanaut’s Holiday as a whole. The ocean can be empty in some regions and full of life in others. The ocean life has a tendency to pop up out of the dark waters, erring the simulation a bit. In addition to fish, whales, and crustaceans, there are also some mysterious objects to find. While out in the water, I came upon the head of a statue resting on the ocean floor. Who is this fellow? How did he get there? He’s not talking, so I think we’ll have to draw our own conclusions.

The sound set of Aquanaut’s Holiday is also a bit mysterious. The sound effects are sparse, sounds of fish and collisions. The player can generate sonar waves to communicate with the denizens of the deep as well. The musick feels like it’s generated organically with some kind of algorithm. I think that it’s probably not, but it will smoothly transition from nothing to small rumbles and blips to full minimalist industrial songs. The soundtrack is a really interesting element for sure.

There’s not much more to say about the gameplay of Aquanaut’s Holiday. You swim around with sea creatures; you try to communicate. I found a whale that led me on a small journey through the waters. It felt special to me, but it didn’t seem to be a major plot point or something equivalent. Aquanaut’s Holiday is about you and what you find.

There is one other element worth mentioning – the game allows the player to construct a coral reef with pieces that are found by exploring the map. I’m not sure how these pieces are actually obtained; they seemed to just appear when I returned to base. You can use different colors and different elevations to make something that will attract different creatures. As I constructed my reef I began to wonder if the reef had some influence on the exploration too. I’ll have to keep exploring to find out.

Aquanaut’s Holiday is not a game as you might expect it. There are no Bowsers to fight, Peaches to save, or mushrooms to eat. I became more interested as I played. The short phrases and images that accompany the menus and the like contribute to this marvelous mystery with each step. Aquanaut’s Holiday is really a treasure of the deep.

Aquanaut’s Holiday receives a Good.

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