Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2019
Biotope
Developer MBL Development
Biotope will be the most detailed and realistic aquarium simulator on the market. Biotope makes it possible to create complex aquarist ecosystems and simulate realistic life cycles of plants and fish. From the Steam store page
89 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Sep 10, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
35
Rotten
30 positive · 56 negative
95% range 26–45%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 30 | 56 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
3 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mixed
92 of 219 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 89 · most liked firstI really, really wanted to like this game, and I wish I could give it more of a mixed review instead of a yes or no. The graphics are decent, and there's a lot of depth to the game. That being said, 99% of the game is managing water chemistry, and some of the mechanics are exaggerated. pH in particular fluctuates way too much to be realistic, and for some reason, a brand new tank doesn't even register on the scale, despite water having a pH around 7. I thought this game would be more about…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I feel like this could get a kicking in its reviews, for a number of reasons (and these are all first impressions, based on very little play.) 1. the graphics run at a low res and scale up to your screen size, so its not a good look on your HD monitor currently. 2. its not really a game, its an aquarium simulator, a bit of an aquarists toy to tinker with. 3. even though initially there are a load of locked items and fish, the full range still appears to be very very limited (particularly…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do Not Buy! Abandoned project, no developer communication or updates after release into Early Access. Consumers have been essentially scammed into what seemed like a realistic aquarium simulator in its shell form, that has basically become another dead app on the Steam platform.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Excellent simulator. The only thing I would add is a Sandbox mode without any money restrictions and all features unlocked. Keep up the great work, been waiting for something like this for years! Been in the Hobby for 37 years now. Thank you. Michael Recagno.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. This is an unfinished game that has been abandoned by the developers. There is no communication from the devs and no update since November of 2019. Be aware that if you buy this and decide to wait and give it a chance, you will be denied a refund if you go over the two week refund policy, even for an abandoned game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do not buy this game, the developers have completely stopped updating it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Agree with the positive reviews so far :) A challenging simulation for fish keepers old and new. Scratches an itch for me as I don't have any tanks right now. Will leave running on my screen to persuade my partner that we have room for real one. Though this is cheaper than the real thing :) Plenty of things to tinker with at the moment - hope the project has legs... or fins, even.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This has a lot of potential but also lots of issues. Potential as in introducing novice fishkeepers to the nitrogen cycle and proper husbandry. Issues as in the pH fluctuates unrealistically. I think the focus needs to shift more to aquascaping, creating habitats, and choosing compatible fish rather than a focus on water chemistry. The chemistry should be semi-realistic and simplified to make this more enjoyable and approachable. With a simplified chemistry, you could then introduce more…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow our curator page: IndieGems if you like and want to see more reviews like this one. Biotope is not a real game, but an aquarium simulator. It is not finished, and clearly has some rough edges. It hopes to add a lot more content during the remainder of its Early Access stages. In this early stage so far, I find Biotype to be rather pleasant and relaxing. Currently, there are four different scenarios to choose from, the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lack of updates, no communication from devs. Hold your money.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Early Access review: - Livestock content is really thin (not enough common fish, invertebrates or other animals) - Interface (swapping between two menus to achieve a single task) is clunky at best - Tank types are also extremely limited - Graphics seem acceptable, but model complexity is too simple, especially for the fish - Balancing is not accurate, and not representing the real world experience (especially pH) As it stands, it feels like a glorified screensaver builder. Refunded, but will…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Showed promise, but is sadly abandoned.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →No word from developer for a long while. Broken state currently. do not buy unless something major changes.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This program needs work and that's just after having only tried it for an hour or so. For instance, you can't fix the parameters of the water you're using for a water change. I've never done water changes in real life without first fixing the new water's chemistry. They should also be sure to include NO3 in the "stress" field of fish and plants so you don't have to look at the "history" to figure out if the NO3 is what's causing a problem. Another thing I noticed, the pH can swing 2 points…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Abandoned project... :-(
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Development has evidently completely stopped, and the developer has disappeared. Who knows when/if development will continue, but I would not count on it. If you want a very broken water pH simulator, feel free to buy it, but I would recommend giving Biotope a big pass for now.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hugely disappointing game. The promise of ultra realistic graphics and lifelike simulations pulled me in. The game has that potential but the project appears to be dead in the water. No real post-release support, I feel a bit scammed considering how expensive it is. Full of bugs, bad graphics, pretty much nothing to do. Bit of a shame.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Seems to be abandoned
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →dont buy.developers ditched the game after early access release.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unplayable due to graphics bugs that render ever tank in your save file black. No updates or a word from devs in three weeks and the game is barely a month old. Not a good sign for future support. Consider it abandoned now.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a potential scam to grab some money then bail. I assume so that development will continue on the phone version of this game. The devs seem to be focusing on the phone side versus the pc side.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the very first game I have ever requested a refund for. Even much worse games have some level of enjoyment for a few hours. This... has promise but desperately needs to have some significant changes to make it both realistic and enjoyable. The PH is so horrifically flawed that this game should be called "PH Manager". It is in no way realistic for a tank to dive from PH 7 to 0 in 24 hours. That just... doesn't happen. PH should not drop by 0.2 every minute of gameplay. It makes it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Glitchy and abandoned.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Close to a year since EA release. There were promises. There were dreams. But since, devs went into hiding and the game died just like that.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too bad. This game had a lot of potential, but unfortunately the developers abandoned it in an unfinished state. Complete waste of money. Avoid!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is unfortunately abandoned and not finished!!!!! Check out the discussions before you buy!!!!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Abandoned and broken.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So promising, but, developers seem to have abandoned this project. Not worth your time unless you're just bored.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game was abandoned practically from day one. The dev is a liar and the the Publisher are scammers and broke. Stay far away!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Showed promise, but turned out to be an early access cash-grab without updates or news from the developer for 6 months
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I play the game for 5 hours then it crashes. This game is pretty dumb
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →honestly there's so many significantly better alternatives, such as Aquarium Designer and Behind Glass. the game is never updated and is extremely lackluster in content and quality with minimal customization, and so many games do it significantly better.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game had a lot of potential, but after two hours of game play I can't continue. It needs a lot more content and even more bug fixes. The substrate constantly glitches, the missions don't really work, and placement of hardscape is very limited and hard to use.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →they steal money and steam doesn't care
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the last time I buy a game in early access. I payed and nothing game never finished no news since 2019 developper gone with our money!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →edit : hmmmmmmmmm my review might have been a bit optimistic for this game's future. Unfortunate :/ EDIT #2 : It would seem they are back! I'm only writing this review to spread a little light on the situation, and I only recommend this game to fish tank enthusiasts. The game did have a semi-long break without updates but they are still coming through. The game still does have some problems but in my honest opinion, they're slowly being addressed. This game is an aquarium SIMULATOR -…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wanted to love this game, but ended up refunding it due to persistent game breaking issues. Whenever I would shut down the game, it would wipe my save files and I would have to start everything back up from scratch. I will most likely repurchase once it leaves early access, but right now I'm iffy while it's in its current state. Update: I repurchased this back in Jan 2020 and I'm still disappointed with how it plays in addition to the lack of communication from the devs. Stay away…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don't buy this game this game doesn't work and is abandoned by the developers If looking for an aquarium designing game I'd look at other games but not this one as it doesn't work and I wouldn't reccomend this game to anyone please read the negative reviews on this game because this game is not worth buying.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →could be a great game. lacks any help. for instance what is weight for? what are the stats? people who are not fish gurus already need more help and explanations as to how to fix stress levels. more fish also needed. nothing fun like oscars or red devils or any of the big cichlids. maybe some fontosa and plecos and loaches. i guess i expected more. seems very basic
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So, I'll start off by saying I do recommend this game even though it's very niche. I've found it relaxing and fun, just navigating through the fish tank and setting it up. It's a very unique game, unlike anything I've played before. Very thankful it exists. Gameplay/First Look: https://youtu.be/kGnYXqjZbbU
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First Up, This Game is not fun, I have refunded it and it Just didn't feel good at all The graphics where terrible, There was next to no content made/provided. There was no saltwater fish and no coldwater fish (Goldfish) There was only some Tetras, Chichilds, Pufferfish. I didn't enjoy creating the Fish tank anyway, Plus Half of the game is just water care. I Tried so hard to like this game yet it didn't click with me. Conclusion: Don't buy the game, Just pls It costed $28.95 Au and there was…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just starting out but I am liking the stress-relief. Tutorials are a little 'open' but the information is available to guide you. For example, read about the fish before you buy and set up so that you can determine ideal temp, etc. Colour, movement, and sound are all soothing. Overall a great experience.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wish I could post my review without the "thumbs" up or down as this game currently deserves neither in my book. It has potential as a spiritual successor to AQUAZONE: Desktop Life but, at the moment, only works as a cheap imitation (similar to AquaZone: Desktop Garden). I expect to see progress continue toward making this game a worthy Desktop Life successor and hope to change my review to a definite "thumb up".
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I spent 2.5 hours finishing a mission requiring 60 days of tedious back and forth keeping 3 tanks healthy and happy, for the game to crash when i bought a Roman vase for the new mission I was given, There's no auto-save feature. Basically back to where I started. Hard to find enjoyment on things like that. The game itself is interesting, and its pretty, with plenty of new in-game features not found in other games, but needs to be a bit more friendly in terms of progression. I am not going to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Biotope is great! The water in my first tank turned yellow, the PH went very acidic and my fish died. I told my friend the water turned yellow, and she asked her aquarist partner what turns aquarium water yellow? 'Wood!' he said. Sure enough, I had put a piece of wood in my tank. I thought it looked cool and didn't realize it made the water yellow and acidic. And that's the great thing about biotope, it's no mere eye-candy. Taking care of fish is a lot more complicated than most people think.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's not that I don't recommend this game, but I would love to see some improvements before I continue playing again. The best part of this game is the screensaver option, I love running it at night since all my aquariums are no longer in my room. Graphics are decent, placing decor is a little clunky, fish options are good so far. I like how detailed you can see the water parameters, and the fact the water evaporates over time is super neat! However, the water chemistry is frustrating. You…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good idea, but not stable / not working This game has a very good idea (realistic aquarium simulation) however, it appears to be badly implemented. It is not stable and if something is broken, then the game has to be resetted. It is in early development stage over years now, but apparently not any more developed. In my opinion it should not be sold in the steam store
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →keeps crashing or graphics wont load
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Been waiting for the release of this game and finally it's here. Played a few hours to check its game play, features and the assortment of fish and plants. Here are my suggestions: 1. Number of Fish Species: it is definitely understandable that there are only a limited number of fish we can purchase as the game is still being developed, but looking forward to have more options especially SHRIMPS ( Rili Shrimps, Fire Red Shrimps) and other fishes ( Hatchet Fish, other Tetras, otocinclus,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like Fish Tycoon & Fish Tycoon 2 and Biotope looks the same but its to expensive and not 20 € worth. Returned today good luck.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Take care of dem fishys! Wut else :) My Gameplay: https://youtu.be/56T9Wznqft8
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love the otocinclus. I want to feed the otocinclus massively. Please add the normal otocinclus and zebra otocinclus. huh!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is legitimately unplayable. I mean, overlapping text, nothing loading, every tank is empty. I spent so much time trying to get this game to work.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →dead game, did not get my moneys worth in hours. EDIT: they seem to be updating again so this MAY change, we are yet to see RE-EDIT: its been 2 years since last update
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun for 1-2 hours then it gets annoying and grindy. No real instructions in-game on how to maintain water quality, tooltips are vague and UX is severely lacking, to put it mildly. Just watch some videos on YouTube to scratch the aquarium itch.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I recommend this game and not, because after some time of playing when I went into the "Empty Tank" the screen was a picture of moving water and the words on the GUI were not as they should be. So 5/10 but if the developers fix this bug then 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like a nice calming game that you can relaxe to without thinking too much as you play then you'll probably enjoy this. Though I am a critic at heart and have to point out some things that irritated me: For starters the tutorial doesn't teach you how to handle Ph levels, all of my starting fish died on me within minutes of play. For those of you who want to get it despite my review I'll tell you what the tutorial doesn't. When you have a high Ph level for fish/plants, you check this by…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to like it but its just not that good. Quests are impossible because of the amount of time you have to spend adjusting the PH. UI is a bit ♥♥♥♥. Not many fish. Overpriced even in the sale. Refunded but I will keep an eye on it and maybe buy it in the future if it improves.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →- No support since (2024?) Just some guy claiming the rights to the game without updating anything. - Very few fish to select from. Where are my loaches and crabs? - Few plants, none of them floating - Most of these chemicals are not necessary if you're running a good tank IRL and do regular water changes. - The fish colors do not even give away the fishes' health (the obvious thing you would look for) - Clipping issues - The fish will just swim off the screen (full screen) so you can't…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lots of grinding and understanding the gameplay at first even with the tutorial. After 4 hours of gameplay you will get the hang of the game and it is pretty fund to unlock items and complete quests. 8/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAs-0zqx8nk
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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