Aquatico
Aquatico is a classic city builder set within the depths of the sea. Strategically build an underwater colony atop the ocean floor and face the challenges that accompany oceanic life.
Sync your Steam wishlist to find the lowest game prices instantly. No login required, just paste your Steam profile URL!
⚡ Try Wishlist Radar!
Sync your Steam wishlist to find the lowest game prices instantly. No login required!
⚡ Try Wishlist Radar!
Close
Surviving the Abyss on Steam
Quick menu
Earth, 1976. You have been tasked with managing a deep-sea science facility working to perfect cloning. Explore the darkness and keep your crew alive in this hardcore survival colony builder. And beware. The darkness hides untold horrors.
Surviving the Abyss is a city builder, colony sim and exploration game
developed by Rocket Flair Studios
and published by Paradox Arc.
Released on November 05th 2024 is available on Windows, Steam Deck and Steam Machine.
It has received 1,045 reviews of which 669 were positive and 376 were negative resulting in a rating of 6.2 out of 10. 😐
The game is currently priced at 19.99€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Surviving the Abyss into these genres:
City Builder
Colony Sim
Exploration
Underwater
Building
Management
Base-Building
Survival
Difficult
Economy
RTS
Strategy
3D
Alternate History
Post-apocalyptic
Choices Matter
Simulation
Realistic
Atmospheric
Mystery
Here is the detailed breakdown of supported languages for Surviving the Abyss:
| UI | Subtitle | Audio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| English |
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Surviving the Abyss through various videos and screenshots.
Load More
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7 64-bit or newer
- Processor: Intel Core i5-3570K or AMD FX-8310
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: GeForce GTX 950 or Radeon HD 7970
- Storage: 8 GB available space
Steam Price & Best Deals
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Only at about the mid-game (or beginning of at least) and I am enjoying the game so far. edit/TLDR after beating the campaign: Game definitely has no replayability. It's not like Civ or Stellaris where there's multiple win cons; it's just a single all or nothing tech tree with the same final goal. Pick up on a good sale and don't expect to get more than a handful of runs out of it. Game's got good bones but no meat. My save file also began dropping frames HEAVILY in the last hour or so of the campaign; once you get close to the anomaly. I beat the game at 6FPS. PC's pretty beefy so don't know what's going on there lol. I can understand the reason for the mixed review at the time of writing. Things are primarily hard in the early-game due to the cloning system in the game. Your clones will only live for about 5-9 days when you first get your cloning lab up. And you very likely won't have higher than a 65% success rate at cloning, so every 1/3 clone will just fail. Add in that some clones can come out mutated w much lower lifespans (1-3 days) and sustaining a working population is hard. You start with a dedicated group of workers from the surface who are essentially immortal, but your base will quickly need more. So far I haven't had any opportunities to gain more workers from the surface, so clones is all you will have going forward. Game's resource management is fairly simple. Coal is one of the only "must always have" resources as it's the easiest way to generate power. But you can also generate via biomass and deep sea currents (essentially wind power). Generating power via biomass takes up a wildlife resource, which reduces the DNA sources you have for cloning and slowly destroys the resource node. There is a staffed building you can place nearby to prevent the node from decaying. This is basically the loop of most resources in the game. There's a basic resource, then there's an intermediate resource that requires the basic resource, then advanced resource that requires intermediate. I love these types of system so am having a good time building out a base. There isn't much for replayability though. There's no skill trees (there's a tech tree but it's very all or nothering) or ways to diversify your run. There is a custom scenario mode, which I haven't tried yet, so perhaps you can do some intersting things with that. But so far, every run feels like it's going to have the exact same order of operations because there's no modifiers for your "civilization". Besdies the unorthodox cloning system, I also have issue with the way buidlings assign workers. The process is mostly automatic. You can manually assign workers but they can and will be taken out of that role by the auto-assign feature. You can also lock a role so that no worker can be assigned there. And you can set building's priority for auto-assign. But there's no way to toggle auto-assign and there's no way to lock specialists to only taking specialist positions. For example, if I have an unemployed scientist, they will take roles meant for basic or generalist workers, then if a new scientist role opens up I have to search for the scientist doing the basic pop's job somewhere in the base. Buildings will constantly be missing employees because the auto-assign are moving them around. I always feel like I'm fighting against the system. Game is thoroughly creepy if you have thalossophobia though. So far I've only heard things, but I'm constantly scanning the edges of the darkness hoping and fearing to see something lmao. The underwater vibes aren't all spooky though and when Cthulu isn't howling in the distance, watching the underwater life is quite nice. Game looks and sounds nice! ALTHOUGH... your entire base will get showered in aggressive red light at the slightest inconvenience. Not making enough coal as you're using, whole base on high alert. -1 on oxygen production, red alert. Etc etc. At first it seems reasonable, but it gets outta hand real quick. Wish there was a way to silence it.
This game is effing great, it's a shame people trash it for stuff that's water under the bridge at this point-- I personally don't care about what happened in development, I'm just here to play games. And this is a fantastic and very unique city builder. City builders are my favorite genre and I've played them all, and Surviving the Abyss is a much needed breath of fresh air. The reasons: --It's as much a horror/survival game as a city builder. No spoilers. --The ambience is GREAT, it feels like youre playing The Abyss or something. You just don't know what youre building next to and are always trying to put up lights to ease your mind, but this comes at the cost of much needed power, so you're in a constant fun state of weighing your options. --Unlike every other city builder where you're chopping lumber and mining etc same old same old, here you're exploring sunken points of interest, trying to make oxygen, acquire protein and carbohydrates, and find various novel genetic materials from the ocean floor to clone better super humans. --That's right, much of this game is about cloning and cloning-related mad science. On the ocean floor. In a massive city you're building. While something out there is hunting you. --It's a story game as well, the narrative is cool. --The graphics are great, there tons of unique buildings and paths you choose between on numerous skill trees. The cons: --It's primarily a story campaign. This might hurt replayabiity for some. The campaign is cool but I wish there were a sandbox mode or some scenarios to change things up. --It's on the short end, 10 hoursish. There's plenty of game here but it's no sprawling Frostpunk. But it's priced appropriately I think. I snagged it for 10 bucks and it was a steal at that price. Underwater Frostpunk basically, but personally I like the world, theme and vibe here more. Does NOT feel unfinished, maybe it did at some point-- don't know dont care about any of that, if you're like me and finding the game at this date and just want a badass underwater city builder with horror splashed in, this is a must have.
besides the constant crash to desktop and extreme game slow down late game, i like it and got to near the end, but with the slow down and stutter and constant crashes cannot finish. otherwise 4 stars. it is quite difficult to balance everything and with limited population gets extremely difficult. got to manage everything in micro-doses
It's worth your time and money, but the devs still have some graphical bugs to work out. It really ruins the immersion when your 30 ton light post hovers 10 meters off of the ocean floor with no supports after you build it. And why does it hover? Why does a 30 ton light post appear to float just above the sand? Well... that terrain you built it on, that terrain you couldn't see in the dark, wasn't absolutely 100% perfectly flat. So you get to either reload your game, destroy the light post and rebuild it for an unfair loss of resources, or just have the light post look really horrible for the entire game. I've got a boss graphics card and everything set to high and ultra. There is no excuse for this beyond lazy devs. But still a good game.
Similar games
View all
Settlement Survival
In this city-building game, you will lead a group of survivors in their search for a new home. Manipulate the landscape, manage limited supplies, plant crops, hunt wildlife, gather resources, and develop trade routes to build a bustling and unique town.
MEMORIAPOLIS
Memoriapolis is a historical city builder where your city grows organically across 5 ages, from Antiquity to the Industrial Revolution. Manage resources, interact with factions, and shape your dynasty toward building a final Wonder with easy, normal, or hard difficulty levels.
The Colonists
Build a new home for your team of robots as they begin a new life for themselves on a distant planet where they can fulfil their ultimate dream: to be human.
Ratopia
Ratopia is a new game that has combined elements of both strategic survival and city building. With plenty of content available, and more planned, enjoy a vast world to adventure and populate with citizens! Build your own economical system to sustain your ideal city of Ratopia.
Land of the Vikings
Land of the Vikings is a survival colony sim game. Build and lead your village, and expand it into a thriving city. A wise Jarl must manage resources, survive harsh conditions, and guide their fellow Vikings to work together through social conflict. Skál!
Founders' Fortune
A fantasy village builder focusing on creative building, colonist psychology and base defense. Handle resources, farming, production, tools, diplomacy, families, trading, defense, and research, as well as the wishes, expectations, thoughts, and equipment of every villager.
Patron
Patron is a survival city builder with a unique social dynamics system. Gather and produce resources, build your fledgling village into a prosperous city and navigate the intricate social tensions before they reach boiling point.
Kubifaktorium
Build, manage and grow a thriving colony in Kubifaktorium. The game features different biomes to explore, plenty of resources to exploit, complex machinery to build and interesting production chains to master.
Steel Artery: Train City Builder
Hardcore city-building sim in a fantasy steampunk world. Manage multi-racial colonies with hundreds of autonomous citizens, balance their needs, grow the economy, build logistics, and travel a vast world carrying out the Emperor’s orders.
Oxygen: First Breath
This is a free version of Oxygen, featuring the first 50 game-days. Build your city around the Oxygen Center and ensure your people's survival in a post-apocalyptic future, threatened by crack explosions, deadly winds, droughts and frosts. Lead your people and keep the Oxygen Center running!
Frequently Asked Questions
Surviving the Abyss is currently priced at 19.99€ on Steam.
No, Surviving the Abyss is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 19.99€ on Steam.
Yes, Surviving the Abyss received 669 positive votes out of a total of 1,045 achieving a rating of 6.23.
😐
Surviving the Abyss was developed by Rocket Flair Studios and published by Paradox Arc.
Yes, Surviving the Abyss is playable and fully supported on Windows.
No, Surviving the Abyss is not playable on MacOS.
No, Surviving the Abyss is not playable on Linux.
Yes, Surviving the Abyss is playable on Steam Deck, though it might require a few minor tweaks. Make sure to check the Steam store page and community feedback on ProtonDB for exact compatibility details.
Yes, Surviving the Abyss is playable on Steam Machine, though it might require a few minor tweaks. Make sure to check the Steam store page and community feedback on ProtonDB for exact compatibility details.
No, Surviving the Abyss does not support VR.
Surviving the Abyss is a single-player game.
No, Surviving the Abyss does not currently offer any DLC.
No, Surviving the Abyss does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
No, Surviving the Abyss does not support Steam Remote Play.
Yes, Surviving the Abyss is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Surviving the Abyss.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 24 September 2026 09:08 UTC |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 14 October 2026 07:03 UTC |
| Steam price | 27 October 2026 03:31 UTC |
| Steam reviews | 19 October 2026 06:01 UTC |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Surviving the Abyss, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Surviving the Abyss
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Surviving the Abyss concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Surviving the Abyss compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
1
Developer
Rocket Flair Studios
Publisher
Paradox Arc
Release
05 Nov 2024
Platforms