Drawquarium launches on Steam in November with a free demo

Rokaplay and Berlin-based independent developer Kaleb have announced Drawquarium, a sandbox aquarium simulator launching on Steam on November 13, 2026. A free demo is already available, giving players an early look at a game where their own drawings become animated fish, plants and other creatures inside a personal underwater world.

The central idea is deliberately simple: draw something, place it in the aquarium and watch it come to life. Players can create fish, jellyfish, rocks, castles, submarines and even spaceships, with templates available for anyone who does not want to start from a blank canvas. PNG import is also supported, so artwork made in another program can be brought into the aquarium. Wacom tablets are supported alongside mouse drawing.

More than a screensaver

The creatures can be fed and cared for as they grow. Gold scales earned through that routine unlock aquarium decoration and customisation options, including different sand colours, driftwood, rocks, lighting and player-created structures. The finished aquarium can then be used as an animated desktop wallpaper, keeping the fish moving on screen while the player works or studies.

The game also includes a set of practical desktop tools: a Pomodoro timer, diary, task manager, stopwatch and clock. Those features position Drawquarium as something between a creative toy, a low-pressure simulation and a desktop companion. Players can also visit aquariums made by other people, turning the creative system into a way to browse other players’ ideas as well as build their own.

Kaleb is a professional 3D artist from the film industry who taught himself Unreal Engine and Blueprints while developing the project. According to the launch announcement, Drawquarium had passed 75,000 Steam wishlists before release, while a GameTrailers presentation had reached roughly 400,000 views. Those figures indicate interest, but the playable demo will matter more than social reach for a game whose appeal depends on how naturally drawing translates into movement.

Our opinion

Drawquarium has a clearer identity than its cosy presentation initially suggests. The drawing system is the feature, but the aquarium is also a place to store family sketches, odd little doodles or deliberately silly creatures and then see them behave like living things. The desktop-wallpaper mode gives the project a useful reason to exist after the first novelty has faded, while the small productivity tools make the aquarium feel like a companion rather than a menu screen.

The November 13 launch will show whether the care loop and customisation are deep enough to support that idea. For now, the free demo makes this an easy one to test: it is a creative aquarium built around personal drawings, not a conventional fish-management game with a drawing mini-game bolted on.