History VideoGame / Aquaria

* ItemCrafting: Naija can cook a ''multinational restaurant's menu's'' worth of food items at any time on the pause screen, as well as consume them there before resuming gameplay (see HyperactiveMetabolism, above and on the actual page). [[NintendoHard Thankfully.]] Unlike your forms and other songs, recipes are ''not'' locked before discovery. This makes replays a lot easier, as some of the recipes are too simple ''not'' to remember, even without cheat sheets.

* PowerCopying: Eating certain enemies in Beast form allows you to copy their projectile attacks. In some cases, such as that of the Moneye Squid, ''copies of the enemy itself'' are the projectiles.

* BonusBoss: Many of them, most granting a pet, armor, or tool. The "Simon Says" boss is a straight minigame rather than a fight.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: Exploited trope: [[spoiler: In the secret ending, Mia intentionally wipes Naija's memory so Naija will gain a thirst for adventure and leave her family for the surface. Mia plans to use Naija's ambition to extend the powers Naija, and as a result, she, obtains.]]

* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:Naija is reveal to have been one for Mia in the extended ending.]]

Gameplay is mostly focused around exploration and puzzles, though there is plenty of combat. Think ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'' meets {{Metroidvania}}.

* TalkingToHerself: Jenna Sharpe voices both Naija and [[spoiler:her mother, Mia]].

* StupidStatementDanceMix: In the game's files, there is a remix ("superflyremix.ogg") of the dummied out line, "Quit your jibba jabba and get out of the water!" One can only imagine what it was meant for.

* StupidStatementDanceMix: In the game's files, there is a remix ("superflyremix.ogg") of the dummied out line, "Quit your jibba jabba and get out of the water!" One can only imagine what it was meant for.

* TalkingToHerself: Jenna Sharpe voices both Naija and [[spoiler:her mother, Mia]].

** Taken UpToEleven with the giant crab boss, which is roughly three or four times Naija's height.

An independent video game developed by Bit-Blot. ''Aquaria'' follows the story of Naija, an amnesiac aquatic [[FishPeople Fish Girl]] who has been living in a cave and eating fish for as long as she can remember. Eventually, wanderlust forces her to leave and explore the ocean around her. Not five minutes after she leaves her cave, she encounters a mysterious robed entity, whose touch gives Naija a vision that brings back some of her memories. The entity disappears and Naija follows, leading her on a grand adventure in which Naija discovers more about her homeland than she could have ever imagined.

* AutobotsRockOut: The last area before the final boss -- "[[FanNickname The Gauntlet]]". Nothing but Dual Form combat against some of the toughest enemies in the game, set to an epic guitar track. The music track itself can be found [[http://infiniteammo.bandcamp.com/track/fallen-breed Here]].

* SceneryPorn: Everywhere you go, but the Veil deserves a special mention on the virtue that it's essentially the Bahamas and associated reefs as seen from underwater, and occasionally on land. Also, there's [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys monkeys!]]

An independent video game developed by Bit-Blot. ''Aquaria'' follows the story of Naija, an amnesiac aquatic [[FishPeople Fish Girl]] who has been living in a cave, eating fish for as long as she can remember. Eventually, wanderlust forces her to leave and explore the ocean around her. Not five minutes after she leaves her cave, she encounters a mysterious robed entity, whose touch gives Naija a vision that brings back some of her memories. The entity disappears and Naija follows, leading her on a grand adventure in which Naija discovers more about her homeland than she could have ever imagined.

* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: The absolute last boss battle of the game appears to take place in space. Even though you're still underwater. When Naija leaves in the cutscene afterward, the tunnel out even has stars in the walls.

* AndYourRewardIsInteriorDecorating: Most of Naija's trophies go to fill out out her lair. [[spoiler:The rooms of the lair will mirror her conquest of the game world.]]

* AutobotsRockOut: The last area before the final boss - "[[FanNickname The Gauntlet]]". Nothing but Dual Form combat against some of the toughest enemies in the game, set to an epic guitar track. The music track itself can be found [[http://infiniteammo.bandcamp.com/track/fallen-breed Here]].

* BeautifulVoid: Aside from the occasional PhysicalGod, nobody speaks. The only other mortal Naija comes across is [[spoiler: Li, whose name is far too short for conventional spoilers]], and while it's stated that the two talk, none of it is voiced.

* CatFolk: The Krotites were aquatic cat-people with jaguar-like features.
* ChargedAttack: Several forms have this: Energy form charges from a basic fire blast to a stronger multiblast and Nature form charges from a useless flower to a rather impressive cactusoid. Sun form doesn't have an attack, but charging her "aura" lights up the area for several seconds, which is helpful in the [[BlackoutBasement Abyss]]. Both sides of the Dual form have ''only'' a charged attack, and one is furthermore dependent on the other.

* DevelopersRoom: "Two odd creatures floated nearby, each staring into a glowing orb. They seemed inexorably tied to their fate, caught up in whatever they thought they were accomplishing by staying in one place for long periods of time without rest. I found the whole thing rather silly."

* EarnYourBadEnding: While the regular ending leaves Naija on a happy note, the OneHundredPercentCompletion ending shows [[spoiler: Mia steals Naija away from her family for her own plans]].

* EtherealChoir: Most of the background music have some vocal variants.

* FishPeople: Pretty much every ancient ruined civilization was composed of these sort of people. The Mithalans and, of course, Naija herself tend more toward the "people" end of this trope. While they are still more or less humanoid, the Erulians and the Lumerians are much more fish-like. The Arnassi were anthropomorphic sea horses. The only ones that don't fit this aesthetic are the Krotites, who look more like aquatic CatFolk.
* GiantEnemyCrab: Quite literally. All varieties of crabs and lobsters are at least Naija's size and deal CollisionDamage. Most also drop crab meat. The only truly hostile ones are mechanical ones in the Sun Temple which pack a nasty MagicMissileStorm attack and don't drop anything.

* GRatedSex: Happens during the ending, by Naija and [[spoiler: Li]] being siphoned up vertically through a tunnel while underwater. A crystal spire is visible in the background as another hint at what's going on.

** The cooking, too, if you're trying to find recipes by trial-and-error, instead of finding the completed dish hidden somewhere. The developers clearly expected people to try doing the former instead of the latter, because after every third failed attempt or so, Naija will let out a frustrated cry of, "Not another Sea Loaf!"

* HomingProjectile: Most ranged attacks will home in on their targets and most of the rest will at least arc toward Naija.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Naija can ride sea horses in Song form. There's even an outfit she can win to make them faster.
* HundredPercentCompletion: There are 52 recipes, 32 treasures, 4 pets, and 5 Verse eggs to collect, not to mention 56 maps to explore, ''and'' 26 "achievements" ranging from the inevitable to the esoteric. What makes it harder is that one of the ingredients (Red Bulb) is only available in finite, ''small'', quantities, while others (Special Bulb, Rukh Egg) are closely limited. Good luck experimenting with those! For the Red Bulbs, you don't even get the recipes specific to them until the endgame... but from the beginning, you ''do'' have recipes which can ''waste'' them. There are also a couple of recipes which don't appear in the game at all unless you make them yourself: [[spoiler:Vedha's Cure-All and Vedha Sea Crisp]], [[GuideDangIt both of which require ingredients that no other recipe uses]] (including the aforementioned Sea Loaves).
* HyperactiveMetabolism: The game's protagonist, Naija, is able to eat food to instantly heal, cure status ailments, or apply an assortment of buffs.
* IceCrystals: The cave leading to the Frozen Vale is full of these, forming obstacles on the walls. A few are transparent foreground objects instead.

* KaizoTrap: [[spoiler:During the playable epilogue that appears if you get all the memories, you can take damage from swimming into the thorns, and if you die you will be taken to the last save, which in the very least is before the final boss. However, it is [[EpicFail extremely difficult]] for the player to die at this point unless they are [[SchmuckBait trying to do so]].]]

* MacrossMissileMassacre: Naija's Energy Form can do a minor form of this with a wall-jump-to-flourish charged blast with a lock-on (or a single enemy present sans lock-on), firing six energy bolts at one foe. Some bosses can do this, as well, especially when they go critical.
* MadGod: All of them with the possible exception of [[spoiler:Naija's mother]]. Mithala, the Krotite God, and the Sun Worm are the most so, having been essentially reduced to beasts since their respective civilizations' demise. [[spoiler:The Creator is also a case of (non-romantic) LoveMakesYouEvil.]]

* MoodWhiplash: In the [[TheStinger extended ending]], we find out that [[spoiler:after living some well-deserved happy (if adventure-yearning) years with Li and raising a family, Naija's mother finally reveals herself to her, [[BatmanGambit reveals she was the one who wiped her memory, knowing she'd do what she did during the course of the game]], [[WeCanRuleTogether tries to convince her daughter to join her in her scheme to]] TakeOverTheWorld, and finally incapacitating her and kidnapping her. [[WordOfGod Alec]] said he "was interested in making the statement that there are no happy endings". The game explicitly does say 'to be continued', yet the game developers have split and moved on to other projects]].

* MultiFormBalance: Dual Form [[spoiler:has a Li Mode, which launches a fairly powerful ChargedAttack, and Naija Mode, which emits a screen-blasting scream but must be charged first by destroying enemies in Li mode.]]

** A much more "realistic" samba than most examples of the trope; first you get the standard tripping out, with all its pretty swirling colors and all that, and then comes the crash, when the color scheme goes dark red with ''earthquakes'' and Naija makes painful grunting noises until it wears off. Fortunately her health bar doesn't actually drop during the crash, it's just alarming and ensures you'll never do that again.

* NoobCave: Naija's initial cave, Home Waters. This area remains a useful resource throughout the game.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The leafy sea dragon. In reality, a harmless fish related to seahorses. In game, an enormous monster that roars and breathes green flame.

* ParentalSubstitute: [[spoiler:Why the Creator created the other gods in the first place. He destroyed them and their respective civilizations when they would not love him unconditionally.]]

* PuzzleBoss: Most of the bosses in the game, but the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Simon Says]] creature is notable for being a ''non-combat'' puzzle. It's easier to list the exceptions: Sun Worm, Nautilus Prime, Mermog, Blaster Prime, King Jellyfish, and the first couple of forms of the final boss.

* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler: The lesser gods created by the Creator are meant to replace his mother, who died at the opening scene of the game.]]
* RomanticFusion: The Dual Form, which has a different appearance depending on whether Naija or Li is in control of the form. The Li side has a WaveMotionGun attack that empowers Naija's [[MakeMeWannaShout scream]]. They switch places by spinning.

* SequelHook: In the extended ending, [[spoiler: Naija is abducted by her mother to fuel her plans to TakeOverTheWorld. Afterwards, Naija and Li's grown son leaves Aquaria in an airship, presumably to find her, while the words "To be continued..." appear on the screen]]. Years later, with both devs having moved on to (separate) other projects, it appears this has transformed into the story being LeftHanging.

** The Kelp Forest should be inaccessible without the Beast Form, gained by completing Mithalas. However, it's possible, even easy to just force through the currents without even noticing you did something wrong.
** In earlier versions of the game, it was possible, using the Nature Form, to bypass [[spoiler: the "tongue" leading to The Body]], even before one has [[spoiler: found Li.]] This had the unfortunate result of completely destroying the game: if you did this, you couldn't reach the end.

** The game's data files contain evidence of at least one worm-like more form that was cut.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: The Frozen Veil and Ice Cavern, though in fact they're not ''slippery''.
* {{Stripperiffic}}: Practically all of Naija's wardrobe, considering both her alternate forms, and the alternate costumes for her primary form, though some elements -- goofy helmets, or the claw-gloves of the Crab Armor -- could be considered FetishRetardant. (Yes, there's a "nude mod" available.) Then there's the costume that Naija herself describes as "rather revealing". We'd call it a bikini. In the post-game scenes and stinger, she and [[spoiler:Li, the spoiler of spoiler tags]] wear even less....
* StupidStatementDanceMix: In the game's files, there is a remix ("superflyremix.ogg") of the dummied out line, "Quit your jibba jabba and get out of the water!" One could only imagine what it was meant for.
* SwissArmyHero: Naija.

* ThirteenIsUnlucky: The Creator of Aquaria created 12 gods, and dismissed each as imperfect. The thirteenth, [[spoiler:Naija's mother Mia]] he declared perfect. ''She'' ran away [[spoiler:and set up Naija to destroy him]].
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Ha ha. No, seriously. [[spoiler: Li is mainly along to offer a bit of extra firepower, but only he can open the metal door in the Abyss.]]

* UnderwaterKiss: How Naija and [[spoiler: Li, whose short name still complicates spoiler tags]] meet. Happens partly because Naija doesn't understand the concept of scuba gear. This gives [[spoiler:him]] SuperNotDrowningSkills thanks to it infusing him with the Verse.

** Using a giant thorny plant to fling a monkey from its tree into the middle of the sea isn't particularly useful, but it is noted as an achievement.

** [[spoiler: Mithala]]. He was originally a humanoid resembling the creatures he created, but was turned into a gargantuan beast by the [[spoiler:machinations of a PathOfInspiration]] in sacrificing/force-feeding his own followers to him.

%%* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: In cutscenes/stinger.

* EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity[=/=]GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:It is hinted, both within the game and developer statements, that ''something'' caused Eric to become the Creator.]]
* GlowingFlora: A few varieties of this appear in the Abyss to go with all the bioluminescent critters. You can even take them home with you by finding the right treasure.

** The game's data files contain evidence of at least one worm-like more form that was DummiedOut.

* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler:Naija and Li's son]].

* AbilityRequiredToProceed: Various areas are can only be reached with use of the appropriate form. This is even mirrored inside Naija's home.
** List: [[spoiler:Pearl-bearing statues need Energy form, strong currents need Beast form, darkened areas need Sun form, Blue Portals need Nature form, narrow passages need Fish form, steam vents need Spirit Form.]]

* HeartContainer: The Verse eggs increase Naija's maximum health.

* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: The absolute last boss battle of the game appears to take place in space. Even though you're still underwater.

* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: The normal ending.]]

* BeautifulVoid: Aside from the occasional PhysicalGod, nobody speaks. The only other mortal Naija comes across is [[spoiler: Li, whose name is far too short for conventional spoilers]], and he doesn't say a word.

* BlackoutBasement: The Abyss and later areas.

* ChestBlaster: [[spoiler: [[BigBad The Creator]]]]'s final form.

* CryForTheDevil: In the cutscenes. Nearly all the gods' tales are tragic, but most of all [[spoiler:Mithalas and the Creator himself]].

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: In the course of her travels, Naija will kill or finish off at least 6, and up to 12, "lesser gods" of her world (including gods of battle energy, a personification of nature, the former god of a ruined city, a huge sun worm, and several "species bosses"), then top this off by slaying [[spoiler:the creator of Aquaria.]] ([[spoiler:But not her mother, the Creator's 13th creation, and the game's true puppetmaster. Too bad.]])

* EleventhHourSuperpower: The Dual Form.
* EternalEngine: The Sun Temple.

* EvilMatriarch: [[spoiler: Naija's mother in the extra ending.]]
* [[FeedItABomb Feed It A Fat Poisonous Mutant:]] [[spoiler:Mithala.]]

* FishPeople: Pretty much every ancient ruined civilization was composed of these sort of people, and, of course, Naija is one herself.
* ForbiddenZone: The Abyss.
* FusionDance: The Dual Form, where the Li side empowers Naija's SonicScream.
* GiantEnemyCrab: Quite literally. Complete with a weak spot on its underside.
* EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity / GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:It is hinted, both within the game and developer statements, that ''something'' caused Eric to become the Creator.]]

* HeartContainer: The Verse eggs.

* JamesBondage: [[spoiler:Li, toward the end of the game. Twice.]]

* LittleDidIKnow: In the early stages of the game.

* MegaManning: Eating certain enemies in Beast form allows you to copy their projectile attacks, or in some cases, such as that of the Moneye Squid, to use the ''enemy itself'' as a projectile.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The leafy sea dragon. In reality, a harmless fish related to seahorses. In game, an enormous monster that roars and breathes solar flame.
* PalmtreePanic: The Veil.

* SequelHook: In the extended ending, [[spoiler: Naija is abducted by her mother to fuel her plans to TakeOverTheWorld. Afterwards, Naija and Li's grown son leaves Aquaria in an airship, presumably to find her, while the words "To be continued..." appear on the screen]].
** Years later, with both devs having moved on to (separate) other projects, it appears this has transformed into the story being LeftHanging.

* SentientCosmicForce: The Verse. Naija can channel its power by singing.
** It is named thus because [[spoiler: the Creator could not remember the chorus to his mother's song, but held on to the verse so much that it leaked into everything he made]]. So in a sense, it is [[spoiler: what remains of the Creator's mother]].

** His third form is [[spoiler:insectile, but with the body of a human infant.]]

* {{Stripperiffic}}: Practically all of Naija's wardrobe, considering both her alternate forms, and the alternate costumes for her primary form, though some elements -- goofy helmets, or the claw-gloves of the Crab Armor -- could be considered FetishRetardant. (Yes, there's a "nude mod" available.) Then there's the costume that Naija herself describes as "rather revealing". [[spoiler:We'd call it a bikini.]] In the post-game scenes and stinger, she and [[spoiler:Li, the spoiler of spoiler tags]] wear even less....

* TheStinger: If you collected all the lost memories.

* UnderwaterKiss: How Naija and [[spoiler: Li, whose short name still complicates spoiler tags]] meet. Happens partly because Naija doesn't understand the concept of scuba gear.

* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: Naija in the extended ending.]]

* WarpWhistle: Ancient Turtles.

* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: In cutscenes/stinger.

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler: A little boy who fell into the ocean somehow became the creator of all Aquaria. And then he gets [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu slain by Naija]].]]

Not to be confused with the online game ''Aquaria'', the Brazilian metal band Aquaria, or the reigning [[Series/RuPaulsDragRace Next Drag Superstar]].