Drawquarium is one of the most relaxing sandbox games I’ve played in a hot minute, even if it did remind me I have zero artistic skill

I’ve never been much of an artist, but when I first saw Drawquarium I thought to myself ‘how hard can drawing a fish really be?’ I now know that answer to that question and, as it turns out, it’s pretty darn difficult.

Drawquarium is simple: you draw different fish and plants to fill your aquarium with in order to make it as attractive as possible to potential customers. The demo, which is currently available, only has a handful of base designs for both fish and plants, but that’s not a massive issue for someone as creative as I am.

You see, you can design each fish however you see fit. I started off populating my aquarium Any Fin Goes (I’m quite proud of that by the way), by spending way too much time trying to create a pretty ombre design. Bear in mind I don’t have a drawing tablet so this was all done with a mouse and keyboard. Despite putting a considerable amount of time and effort into it, the final product looked like something your toddler would ask you to pin on the fridge, but I was still proud of my simple creation.

I had a better time designing my plants—of which there were many—and my shark turned out alright, although its eyes ended up looking a bit wonky. I’ll also admit that the effort levels for each fish design dwindled with each new creation. But once there are loads of fish all swimming around together their designs look a little better, especially if you look at them from a distance and squint.

After creating the fish for your aquarium you then need to look after them. This is a pretty simple task, you just need to make a nice tank and feed them when they’re hungry. The more you look after your fish the better they’ll look, as they slowly develop a holographic shine and can even turn gold in the right circumstances (not that any of mine have become this beautiful).

Drawquarium will have more than just a demo soon, even if there’s no release date announced yet. Once this is live you’ll be able to do even more with your aquariums with more decor, themes, and custom backgrounds. And as I’ve already established, while creativity certainly helps in this sandbox, it’s certainly not necessary to have a peaceful and mindful break.