About the Game
A living simulation
Starting with just a few tanks and the most basic of livestock, you’ll grow your aquarium to a thronging metropolis filled with hundreds of guests, tens of staff and a multitude of different aquatic lifeforms, each with their own unique care requirements.
Design your exhibits
Megaquarium features almost 100 different marine species including fish, sharks, crustaceans, corals, jellyfish, other invertebrates and even a turtle! You’ll be spoilt for choice as you design, decorate and populate your tanks.
The right staff for the job
You won’t get far without the right staff. Choose who to hire based on their skills and future potential. Will you train up a team of multi-disciplined staff or a set of super-focussed experts? You’ll have to weigh up the pros and cons of each strategy and work out what is right for your aquarium.
Research new animals and technology
As guests experience your displays you’ll earn points which you can assign to discovering new livestock and equipment. Keep upgrading and expanding your aquarium and work your way up to the most prestigious animals and displays in the aquarium industry.Manage your finances
The latest fish might look cool, but have you considered its impact on your aquarium’s bottom line. Tricky animals may require new staff to be hired, expensive fish food or supplements and the best tanks are a hefty investment! As aquarium curator you’ll need to master creativity and economics to succeed.
Manage your guests!
Keep your guests happy by providing them with seating, food, drinks and toilet facilities. Then at the end of their visit, direct them through the gift shop to boost your profits!Curator school
Start your career in the campaign mode where you’ll learn everything you need to know about designing and managing an aquarium. Each of the 10 levels challenges you to build an aquarium with unique gameplay conditions and objectives, while new features and concepts are explained along the way.
Dive into the sandbox
Next explore sandbox mode where, with customisable settings and a random challenge generator, you can find virtually unlimited fish-related gameplay!Easy to learn, difficult to master
Running an inefficient aquarium is easy. To really thrive and take on the greatest challenges you’ll need a lateral thinking brain and attention to detail. Will you group your animals by food type, water quality or something else entirely? Will you locate your equipment in a centralised hub using pumps or spread them out embracing the zoning system? How will you optimise your layout so that visitors can find your tanks and staff can easily access them?Every decision you make in Megaquarium has consequences. Your choice of animals, filters, tanks, staff and layout all have subtle and far reaching effects on each other. Experiment, adjust, learn, reapply and most importantly, have fun!
Features
- 10 level ‘learn the game’ campaign
- Sandbox mode with full customisation and random challenge generator
- 97 species of livestock to discover each with their own unique care requirements
- Over 100 different objects to place including filters, skimmers, nitrate reactors, chillers, heaters, food boxes, equipment stations, doors, gates, food and drink dispensers, balloon stands, decorations, paint and more!
- Plan staff talks down to the subject, time and frequency to increase your point income even further!
- Gift shop and guest facilities
- Fully featured theming and decoration system
Screenshots
7 images
Version Information
Steam Patch Notes
Official update history
Dear Curators,
A few small bug fixes this time. Details below.
Tim Twice Circled
v5.1.5 Changelog
Fixed bug: Schooling Bannerfish had a warning icon but nothing listed unless Invertebrilliant DLC was installed.
Modding: menuTag is now added to tags automatically on load giving better forward and back compatibility with custom objectives.
Modding: Blue and Red Slushie sales are now tracked separately for custom objectives.
Dear Curators,
Just a single bug fixed, introduced 2 patches ago with the optimisation updates.
Tim Twice Circled
v5.1.4 Changelog
Fixed bug: simulation stalled if you added lights to a polar dome, saved and then reloaded that game.
Dear Curators,
This patch contains bug fixes.
Tim Twice Circled
v5.1.3 Changelog
Fixed bug: game was giving 'eat or damage' warnings incorrectly for Button Polyps (heavily armored).
Fixed bug: minor issue with Species Time Trial where it would not be checked unless a new animal was added.
Fixed bug: Staff could be spawned with no skills if you started a sandbox at rank 1.
Fixed bug: Explorer trait was counting different sized backdrops of the same type as unique decorations.
Fixed bug: Backdrops could be built anywhere in larger polar domes. Also backdrops are now allowed on viewing walls of polar domes because they are deep enough that the view is not blocked.
DF 3. Sulasi: Replaced large heater with mega heater on deep outcrop tank.
UI: Squeezed a bit more horizontal pixels into the area windows can appear so you can have 3 staff windows + the staff management window open at the same time (16:9 aspect ratio).
Modding: Made staff item allow/disallow/prioritise grid scroll if it gets too long due to additional items being added in mods. The value when this starts to scroll can be edited in gui.data: staffItemGridMaxHeight via a mod if desired.
Dear Curators,
This patch contains bug fixes and some minor performance improvements that could help very large aquariums.
Tim Twice Circled
v5.1.2 Changelog
Optimisation: Reduced the frequency of multi-tank system updates to reduce CPU load in late-game aquariums with many tanks combined into a single system.
Optimisation: Utilise caching and adjusted logic to reduce CPU load from objective checking (helps most in late game aquariums with 1000+ objects).
Fixed bug: game was giving 'eat or damage' warnings incorrectly in some circumstances.
Fixed bug: Prestige window species count was not reducing when you sold a species until the game was reloaded.
Fixed bug: One of the placements on the Small Centerpiece was off.
Modding: Added additional resilience to campaign missions with regards to mods which change tank sizes. Campaigns will not work exactly as intended, so it's not recommended, but it will be less likely to cause a situation where the player cannot progress.
Hello Curators,
It's been a busy time since the launch of the Invertebrilliant Collection last month. Thank you to everyone who purchased the DLC, and welcome to all the new players who have joined us since the launch.
Based on the feedback from players over the last month, I've chosen a selection of features and improvements and put these into a larger-than-normal update. Let's take a look.
Replay base campaign with DLCs
One of the key bits of feedback I received about the Invertebrilliant Collection was the desire to play the base campaign levels with the DLC enabled. While this was possible with some save file editing, I can totally understand the desire for an official feature.
So that's what I've done.
[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31013793/db2629e2eeb265973494630e494e9cd7d7ae5be7.png"]
As an added bonus, you can play with the Architect's Collection DLC too! DLCs with their own campaigns (Freshwater Frenzy and Deep Freeze) are not supported because these have too many separate technologies (freshwater, polar domes, abyssal etc.) to incorporate well into the base campaign.
I've curated the levels so that you have access to a different selection of DLC animals in each, to maximise variety. You'll also unlock the various Science-based objects during the campaign, when it makes the most sense from a level-design standpoint.
None of the objectives have been changed although there are certainly opportunities to complete the original objectives using DLC animals.
The prestige requirements for the levels remain unchanged, so you'll often find you don't need to use all of the animals available to complete each level. I like this approach because it offers the most flexibility and variety.
The one exception is 10. Megalopolis, where the prestige requirements for each rank are increased in line with how it works in Sandbox mode. So if you want an extra challenge, this is the one to go for!
'May eat or damage' warnings
In a complex aquarium, with several DLCs worth of animal content, the brain-fatigue of tracking animal compatibility can become a drag. To help with this, I've added warnings which appear above tanks when a predator may eat or damage another animal in the tank.
[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31013793/5a7b7b64937b7f35457318243e0a00f6b106a4a4.png"]
Players can continue to play in 'hardcore mode' by disabling these warnings in the settings. However, for most players, this handy warning should avoid those "ah dam" moments, while maintaining the compatibility puzzle that Megaquarium veterans know and love!
Copy from task bubble
This is a small addition that could save a lot of player time, so I wanted to draw attention to it. You can now use the Copy Object hotkey (default: c) while hovering over a task bubble (e.g. Orange Pellets appearing above a tank) to immediately grab the associated dispenser from the build menu.
[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31013793/7658d0630c6bd0b67a50d92b9cb0dff6322dd59c.png"]
This makes placing down the requisite dispensers after building a new tank a cinch!
v5.1.0 Changelog
Feature: You can now replay the base campaign with the Architect and Invertebrilliant Collection DLCs enabled.
UI: Added 'dangerous' warning above tanks when a predator may eat or damage another animal. Toggleable in settings.
UI: Added ability to 'copy' from task bubbles that appear about tanks and equipment. E.g. Hover over the circle with Orange Pellets above the tank, press the copy object hotkey (default c) and you will now be placing Orange Pellet Dispenser.
UI: Added dedicated 'Copy Object' tool in the top left bar and made the default key for this 'c'. If you have already set a different hotkey in the settings, this will not be overridden.
UI: Added a dedicated 'Copy Paint' tool in the top left bar and made the default key for this 'v'. If you have already set a different hotkey in the settings, this will not be overridden.
UI: Added a 3rd 'Research Mode' setting. The options are now:
Must choose (default)
Allow no project
Auto (new) - automatically start researching the next project in the list.
UI: Added a note to the Armored tooltip which tells you the effective size when fully grown.
UI: Current object count is shown in Research Window as well as build menu.
UI: Current object count is shown in Message Log if 'always show object count in build menu' setting is on.
Balance: The time it takes to level up a staff member is now based on their highest skill level, rather than their total skill levels. This makes multi-disciplined staff less punishing to level-up.
Balance: Increased concentration of staff skill levels on randomly generated staff for hire in Sandbox. In other words, it's more likely that you'll get a staff with several levels in the same skill rather than a mixture. Mixed staff will still be generated, but less often than before this update.
Simulation: Total number of squares that can be added to zones increased from 16,383 to 536,870,911.
Sandbox: Animals with lighting requirements will generally only be offered as rewards if you have unlocked or can unlock the level of lighting they require.
Fixed bug: Tooltip for 'Memory' talent. "Days to level up" will never show a negative number. However, experience does continue to accrue in the background even if you don't choose a skill to level up immediately.
Fixed bug: On 8. Le Dufont, if you already owned a species of coral and tried to place it again with a default mount (small rocks), it would place the small rocks anyway. Now it doesn't place the small rocks unless you can also place the coral.
Campaign: From level 8 onwards, changed many objectives to use 'All requirements met'. This makes the compatibility requirements more interesting.
Campaign: On 8. Le Dufont, the oddballs side objective now requires 2 oddballs and 2 crustaceans. This change was implemented to facilitate the use of 'All requirements met' as described in the previous bullet.
Dear Curators,
This patch is mostly bug fixes, but there are a couple of niceties such as pumps reconnecting automatically after moving and some extra info regarding mounting points while placing corals.
Tim Twice Circled
v5.0.14 Changelog
UI: Pumps, compressors and pumps reconnect automatically when moved. They can still be disconnected manually and will disconnect when placed outside of range to whatever they are connected to.
UI: land animals can always be returned to tanks after being picked up, even if there is not enough land due to a reduction in ice.
UI: Added a 'mounting point' count to the bottom game bar when placing a mountable object on an object with mounting points.
UI: When holding an existing object, the name will appear on the bottom game bar.
Fixed bug: incorrect number shown for land animals "when fully grown" when hovering over the capacity icon on a tank.
Fixed bug: you could place objects where the stairs were on underfloor tanks.
Fixed bug: large underfloor tank capacity was 4 too many because the stairs were being counted as water in the volume calculation.
Fixed bug: the corner in the underground tunnel was not painted.
Fixed bug: when placing a coral with a default mount (rocks), it would allow you to buy the rocks without the coral if you couldn't afford both. Now the purchase is completely blocked unless you can afford both the rocks and the coral.
Simulation: Walls placed against the inside walls of bridges no longer block guests.
Balance: Cost of unlocking animals via merchants in sandbox rebalanced so it's based on animal rarity, not rank.
Balance: Statically mounted animals e.g. corals never give -1 prestige from being overviewed by guests.
4. Valberg: number of Cuckoo Wrasse required for 1st objective reduced to 5 to make fully grown match minimum volume of tank requested on the obejctive.
Graphics: When placing a new animal, the animal that appears at the mouse is at full size, rather than starting size.
Dear Curators,
All patches associated with the v5.0 release will be combined into this post to keep things tidy.
Tim Twice Circled
v5.0.13 Changelog
Fixed bug: Calcium Reactor was not available in 3. Sulasi in the Deep Freeze campaign.
v5.0.12 Changelog
Reduced requirement for Sandbox Trials - Species time trial to 70 species. Well done to everybody who already completed it, you did it on hard mode!
Improved mod update code to be slightly more resilient.
v5.0.11 Changelog
Translation: Words for 'Centerpiece' and 'Slushie' in Chinese changed to better fit meaning.
Translation: Words for 'Centerpiece' in German changed to better fit meaning.
Fixed bug: Button Polyps were getting unlocked incorrectly when a finite number were purchased or given as a gift.
Fixed bug: Mounted objects were getting double subtracted from the in-game count in the build menu, when the tank holding their parent object was sold.
Fixed bug: Floating plants could be put anywhere in magnifying tank - now they can only be placed at the back.
Fixed typo: Horseshoe crab description.
Graphics: Items on gift shop shelves and tool dispensers are now visible when picked up.
v5.0.10 Changelog
Fixed bug: Centerpiece and backdrop objectives were being generated even when Invertebrilliant Collection was disabled in Sandbox.
Fixed bug: When aquascaping is provided as part of an objective in Sandbox mode, it has to match the salinity of the animal.
Fixed bug: Octopus Custume was not spawning.
v5.0.9 Changelog
Fixed bug: Slushie machine refill cost was incorrect and final red slushie was not being purchased.
Fixed bug: Long-Spined Urchin was not being classed as an invertebrate for the Invertebrate Poster.
Fixed bug: Frozen Paint 3 was overridden by Underwater Paint 3.
v5.0.8 Changelog
Gameplay: Corals are now mounted on existing decorations.
Gameplay: You can prioritise tasks associated with specific items or skill levels on the advanced staff tab.
Gameplay: Calcium is now a hard requirement for some animals. Calcium Reactors need to be fixed with Calcium Refills when they break down.
Gameplay: Lights can go on any tank.
Gameplay: Rounded tanks cost slightly more, non-rounded tanks cost slightly less.
Gameplay: Backpacks double carrying capacity of more than just food now: gift shop, RO membrane refills and Calcium Refills are all compatible now.
Gameplay: Base game polish/rebalance.
Gameplay: Prestige is now earned for food/drink variety.
Gameplay: Copperband Butterfly is dangerous to Bivalves.
Gameplay: Outcrop tank max size is increased.
Gameplay: Arapaima can no longer eat Pacu.
Gameplay: You can build one-way gates underneath archways.
Gameplay: Reduced range of podium to 12.
Achievements: 2 new 'time trial' achievements have been added.
UI: Extra message log filters.
UI: Build menu remembers last position.
UI: Tank capacity icons shows an additional value for when all animals are 'grown up'.
UI: Added support for 'dangerous' tag in search.
UI: Added negative support in search using exclamation mark. e.g. "!dangerous" means animals which are NOT dangerous.
UI You can pick up multiple immobile objects at the same time now by right clicking on their portraits on a tank window.
Many, many bug fixes.
Dear Curators,
All patches associated with the v5.0 release will be combined into this post to keep things tidy.
Tim Twice Circled
v5.0.13 Changelog
Fixed bug: Calcium Reactor was not available in 3. Sulasi in the Deep Freeze campaign.
v5.0.12 Changelog
Reduced requirement for Sandbox Trials - Species time trial to 70 species. Well done to everybody who already completed it, you did it on hard mode!
Improved mod update code to be slightly more resilient.
v5.0.11 Changelog
Translation: Words for 'Centerpiece' and 'Slushie' in Chinese changed to better fit meaning.
Translation: Words for 'Centerpiece' in German changed to better fit meaning.
Fixed bug: Button Polyps were getting unlocked incorrectly when a finite number were purchased or given as a gift.
Fixed bug: Mounted objects were getting double subtracted from the in-game count in the build menu, when the tank holding their parent object was sold.
Fixed bug: Floating plants could be put anywhere in magnifying tank - now they can only be placed at the back.
Fixed typo: Horseshoe crab description.
Graphics: Items on gift shop shelves and tool dispensers are now visible when picked up.
v5.0.10 Changelog
Fixed bug: Centerpiece and backdrop objectives were being generated even when Invertebrilliant Collection was disabled in Sandbox.
Fixed bug: When aquascaping is provided as part of an objective in Sandbox mode, it has to match the salinity of the animal.
Fixed bug: Octopus Custume was not spawning.
v5.0.9 Changelog
Fixed bug: Slushie machine refill cost was incorrect and final red slushie was not being purchased.
Fixed bug: Long-Spined Urchin was not being classed as an invertebrate for the Invertebrate Poster.
Fixed bug: Frozen Paint 3 was overridden by Underwater Paint 3.
v5.0.8 Changelog
Gameplay: Corals are now mounted on existing decorations.
Gameplay: You can prioritise tasks associated with specific items or skill levels on the advanced staff tab.
Gameplay: Calcium is now a hard requirement for some animals. Calcium Reactors need to be fixed with Calcium Refills when they break down.
Gameplay: Lights can go on any tank.
Gameplay: Rounded tanks cost slightly more, non-rounded tanks cost slightly less.
Gameplay: Backpacks double carrying capacity of more than just food now: gift shop, RO membrane refills and Calcium Refills are all compatible now.
Gameplay: Base game polish/rebalance.
Gameplay: Prestige is now earned for food/drink variety.
Gameplay: Copperband Butterfly is dangerous to Bivalves.
Gameplay: Outcrop tank max size is increased.
Gameplay: Arapaima can no longer eat Pacu.
Gameplay: You can build one-way gates underneath archways.
Gameplay: Reduced range of podium to 12.
Achievements: 2 new 'time trial' achievements have been added.
UI: Extra message log filters.
UI: Build menu remembers last position.
UI: Tank capacity icons shows an additional value for when all animals are 'grown up'.
UI: Added support for 'dangerous' tag in search.
UI: Added negative support in search using exclamation mark. e.g. "!dangerous" means animals which are NOT dangerous.
UI You can pick up multiple immobile objects at the same time now by right clicking on their portraits on a tank window.
Many, many bug fixes.
Dear Curators,
All patches associated with the v5.0 release will be combined into this post to keep things tidy.
Tim Twice Circled
v5.0.13 Changelog
Fixed bug: Calcium Reactor was not available in 3. Sulasi in the Deep Freeze campaign.
v5.0.12 Changelog
Reduced requirement for Sandbox Trials - Species time trial to 70 species. Well done to everybody who already completed it, you did it on hard mode!
Improved mod update code to be slightly more resilient.
v5.0.11 Changelog
Translation: Words for 'Centerpiece' and 'Slushie' in Chinese changed to better fit meaning.
Translation: Words for 'Centerpiece' in German changed to better fit meaning.
Fixed bug: Button Polyps were getting unlocked incorrectly when a finite number were purchased or given as a gift.
Fixed bug: Mounted objects were getting double subtracted from the in-game count in the build menu, when the tank holding their parent object was sold.
Fixed bug: Floating plants could be put anywhere in magnifying tank - now they can only be placed at the back.
Fixed typo: Horseshoe crab description.
Graphics: Items on gift shop shelves and tool dispensers are now visible when picked up.
v5.0.10 Changelog
Fixed bug: Centerpiece and backdrop objectives were being generated even when Invertebrilliant Collection was disabled in Sandbox.
Fixed bug: When aquascaping is provided as part of an objective in Sandbox mode, it has to match the salinity of the animal.
Fixed bug: Octopus Custume was not spawning.
v5.0.9 Changelog
Fixed bug: Slushie machine refill cost was incorrect and final red slushie was not being purchased.
Fixed bug: Long-Spined Urchin was not being classed as an invertebrate for the Invertebrate Poster.
Fixed bug: Frozen Paint 3 was overridden by Underwater Paint 3.
v5.0.8 Changelog
Gameplay: Corals are now mounted on existing decorations.
Gameplay: You can prioritise tasks associated with specific items or skill levels on the advanced staff tab.
Gameplay: Calcium is now a hard requirement for some animals. Calcium Reactors need to be fixed with Calcium Refills when they break down.
Gameplay: Lights can go on any tank.
Gameplay: Rounded tanks cost slightly more, non-rounded tanks cost slightly less.
Gameplay: Backpacks double carrying capacity of more than just food now: gift shop, RO membrane refills and Calcium Refills are all compatible now.
Gameplay: Base game polish/rebalance.
Gameplay: Prestige is now earned for food/drink variety.
Gameplay: Copperband Butterfly is dangerous to Bivalves.
Gameplay: Outcrop tank max size is increased.
Gameplay: Arapaima can no longer eat Pacu.
Gameplay: You can build one-way gates underneath archways.
Gameplay: Reduced range of podium to 12.
Achievements: 2 new 'time trial' achievements have been added.
UI: Extra message log filters.
UI: Build menu remembers last position.
UI: Tank capacity icons shows an additional value for when all animals are 'grown up'.
UI: Added support for 'dangerous' tag in search.
UI: Added negative support in search using exclamation mark. e.g. "!dangerous" means animals which are NOT dangerous.
UI You can pick up multiple immobile objects at the same time now by right clicking on their portraits on a tank window.
Many, many bug fixes.
Current Release
22127116
Uploaded Mar 09, 2026
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How to Install
Megaquarium.exe to play
Troubleshooting tips
• Run Redist/_CommonRedist installers if game won't start
• Add folder to Windows Defender exclusions
• Run as administrator
Download
Direct link available
386 MB
22127116
3B3FC158
fa4b072eec42ddf6e6e23ed3c984f6deb27eaa051b9f7c051b54e1c8710c3679
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Download Megaquarium for PC with a direct link or via torrent. Get the full version of Megaquarium for free. Megaquarium is a Casual released by Twice Circled.