The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human is a brutal metroidvania game in which you explore a marine maze and fight intense bosses. As you progress you unlock new abilities, which gives you access to more of the map, and more bosses, and so on. In some ways it also feels like a puzzle game, in that most bosses have a specific weakness or at least a winning strategy (though none of the bosses are easy, even if you know exactly what to do).

TAAotLH is set underwater on a distant-future post-apocalyptic earth. Humans are long gone and the earth's continents are submerged. The only remaining beings are fish, crustaceans and all manner of ocean creatures. After travelling into this desolate future, you're the last human alive (as the title suggests) and thus you're tasked with figuring out what happened to humanity. As you move around this submerged maze, you hear the sounds of bubbles, creatures, and watery echoes; the floaty motion and inertia of your submarine and the controls also helps to give a very convincing feeling of being underwater.

Upon starting this game I was immediately impressed by the gorgeous hand-drawn pixel art. Every last detail of creatures, coral, seaweed and structures is all carefully drawn and it's beautiful to behold. You feel like you're looking into a fish tank and your little submarine feels so tiny and insignificant in comparison to the towering marine creatures and structures around you. There's a diverse range of environments to explore, everything from deep sea vents and the darkest depths, algae blooms in tropical waters. the mammals and frozen oceans of the arctic, underwater caves, polluted industrial areas, etc. The setting actually looks/feels similar to Rain World in some ways. The visuals are perfectly complemented by the soundtrack which I noticed immediately; it's one of my favourite things about the game. Just feast your ears on this theme music for the starting area.

But don't be charmed by the cute visuals and the delightful soundtrack: this game is absolutely brutal and surprisingly difficult. In fact, I started playing this several months ago and only finished it last night: I would pick it up occasionally and make an attempt, though I would often abandon it in frustration. In the end I realised the key was to collect all of the powerups: the last boss is borderline impossible unless you've uncovered all of the hidden areas and collected every last bit of help you can find. I will say though that the gameplay is really well-designed and the bosses all feel unique. Sometimes death seems unavoidable or unfair, but not frequently. There are frequent checkpoints and fast travel, so you can't complain too much.

My final note about the game is the story. This game touches on issues like climate change, overpopulation and the human impact on the oceans and the earth. Usually when games try to approach such issues it comes off sounding dogmatic or forced, but this game pulls it off perfectly and convincingly. The environmental narrative is an integral part of the subtext, it is woven into the fabric of the game, and the player is left to make his/her own decision rather than being forced to share a certain view. Since I care a lot about the oceans, whales and other sea creatures, I thought the story was particularly powerful and moving.

This is definitely a good game, but be warned about the difficulty. I really loved the experience, but I wonder whether the intense challenge would be a barrier to some players.