Review: Aquarium Tycoon is more than just a Fortnite XP farm, it’s also a relaxing cozy game

I play Fortnite constantly. But, once in a while, I find myself wanting to break away from the run and gun chaos of the battle royale. Sure, I could go hit up the racing or rhythm aspects of the game (which I do often). But, it’s easy to forget just how detailed some of the creator-made islands and gametypes can get. I decided to give Aquarium Tycoon a chance and… wow, I’m just impressed.

More accurately, my wife wanted to try it. She played a large portion of it before I eventually took over for various reasons. But, all in all, she loved it for what it was.

Aquarium Tycoon, at its core, is exactly what the name entails. You build an aquarium, fill it with marine life, and earn money. With dedicated hit boxes and ways to generate cash, it’s a glorified clicker. But, I found myself being so relaxed with this random Fortnite island that I just had to write about it.

Aquarium Tycoon Gameplay

Since this is Fortnite, you play as your chosen skin and run around as normal. You get the illusion of choice at the beginning, being able to arbitrarily choose which platform to start building on. Once you choose, you are locked out from building on the other side.

But, that doesn’t matter. The aquarium looks identical either way. This just chooses whether you’re looking north or south and doesn’t affect anything. You start being able to build with cash and a have slow starting money flow. You can unlock flooring and a hitbox pretty much immediately, but you earn more money to build more things.

The hit box is pretty much useless after the first 3 minutes of gameplay, as you can unlock a first dropper (among several over time) that adds funds for you. You build up walls, the main tank, decorations, and more as you go.

You also will start unlocking minigames, such as the souvenier shop, sushi shop, and research lab. Each of them have a cash-elevating minigame. But, you will also have the ability to do a bit more with some of them. I’ll talk more about that later.

The main gameplay in Aquarium Tycoon is exactly this: gain more cash and visitors to your aquarium to unlock more cool stuff. Rinse and repeat.

But, there’s some added aspects that set this apart from your average mobile cash-grab in this same vein. Since this is made in Fortnite, you have an entire map to work with for other side quests that Aquarium Tycoon gives you.

Some objectives are better than others. One has you scouring the entire map for five capybaras that are hidden and need “rescuing”. You will probably need a guide for this one as there is no indication of where a couple of them are at all, and you may only stumble upon the others in exploration.

There’s a bigger island away fro the aquarium full of monsters. They’re basically all mindless Creature From the Black Lagoon knock-offs and you have to kill 250 of them to complete that objective. All it gives you is an achievement, aside from XP for Fortnite.

Achievements are internal to this game mode and reset when you leave the match. But, they do help you figure out your progression, if nothing else.

How to farm Fortnite XP in Aquarium Tycoon

The best part of Aquarium Tycoon is the fishing aspects. There are four types of Fortnite fish that you can use a Creative Fishing Rod for. What they are don’t actually matter because you can feed any of them into one of two machines inside your aquarium. The machines are a recipe machine for the sushi shop and a monster creator machine in the Lab. Each time you trigger it, two things happens: you might get a new creation that causes a cosmetic change somewhere and you earn a ton of XP for Fortnite.

Once you unlock the machines (roughly 15 minutes of gameplay), you can go fishing at the harbor and put them into the machines. Each time you make an attempt, you get between 3,000 and 4,000 XP, with successful attempts giving an additional 8,000 to 11,000 XP. Considering that there are twelve sushi recipes and five monsters to unlock, each one giving 15,000 XP is quite a big boost to anyone who needs it.

For both, all you need is to catch four fish, take them with you, plug them into the machine, and hit the button. If you have a success, you’ll be informed and a new sushi will show up on the counter or a new monster will show up in the monster display.

Keep in mind, you can only complete this once per day. But, you can get quite a lot of additional experience from the “minigames” at shop counters. There is eventually a maximum of XP you can earn in a day, up to around 7 levels of your Battle Pass (give or take).

Similarly, you can also find an inaccessible rock for the monsters to swarm and just take them down with the unlockable weapons you can get. I recommend using the shotgun as killing the monsters does also heal you if you get attacked. But, you earn experience after killing so many in a row.

Coziness and Cons

Honestly, it’s a free game mode in a free game that can help you level up in a cozy setting. I don’t have a lot to complain about from Aquarium Tycoon.

The mode can be pretty jank, if there’s anything that immediately comes to mind. Don’t try to leave your boat while still approaching an island as you will likely lose your boat. For some reason, land doesn’t solidify unless you’re personally touching it. So, riding your boat through an entire island is a great way to save time.

Same goes for the giant cargo ship traveling around the area. That will send you out of the map and into oblivion if you try to climb it.

But, the dopamine hits make it worth it. Being able to buy and build with a single button, easily, on the ground is a function that needs to be directly injected into my veins. With the eventual cash flow, it’s really easy to buy and build everything in a matter of an hour or so to automate while you hunt for capybaras or ducks.

The care that went into this Aquarium Tycoon mode really shows someone who wants to relax while playing Fortnite. Plus, the fishes and marine life all look really cool and offer “trading” cards in the mode to learn more about them.

Final Verdict

Sure, the entire mode was likely created with XP farming in mind. But, the level of depth in Aquarium Tycoon is something I didn’t actually expect from some random Fortnite creators island. If you’re looking for a relatively relaxing way to earn XP in Fortnite that isn’t competitive, I highly recommend looking into Aquarium Tycoon.

Plus, you can bring a friend with a maximum of two players at a time. Make sure you’re in a private match either way, though.

If you want to try Aquarium Tycoon for yourself, the creator is lbbblocks and the Island Code is 2602-0919-0957. If you’re into relaxing Fortnite modes, check out my breakdown of the Lofi Girl island in Fortnite.